After visiting the cave temple on bannerghatta road, I was on the look out for another serene temple. I have been hearing about the Gavi Gangadhareswara temple near basavanagudi, for quite some time now. This sunday we decided to visit it.
It is one of the ancient cave temples in India and currently a preserved heritage site. King Kempegowda, the founder of Bangalore, built the cave temple carved out of a monolith stone. It is said that sages Gautama and Bharadwaja performed penace here. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. There is a small stream of water flowing in the cave at all times.
Gavi = cave, ganga = the stream of water is believed to be ganga. Hence the name Gavi Gangadhareswara.
There are idols of several other dieties inside the cave. Some of them are rare forms of goddesses like Agni and Brahmi.
There seem to be several passages in the cave. It is said that one of them leads to kashi and another one to Shivaganga.
Another specialty about the temple is the phenomenon that occurs on Makar Sankranthi day every year. A ray of sun passes into the south facing cave and passes between the horns of nandi and then disappears after touching the Shiva linga. Local people throng the temple premises that day hoping to catch a glimpse of the rare occurance.
A fantastic and memorable visit !!
Till my next temple visit... keep watching this space for more....
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