Bull Temple, Basavanagudi
Bull Temple is a short and easy hike up the hill from Dodda Ganapathy Temple. It is made easier still as the path is well paved with sturdy looking hand rails. I did regret not bringing my footware, however, as the pavement was rather prickly and wet in patches.
Bull Temple, as one can easily guess from its name, is a Temple in honour of Nandi, Lord Shiva’s vahana as well as principal gana. It was built by Kempegowda, a chieftain, in the 16th century during the time of the Vijayanagara Empire. He also happened to establish the city of Benda-kaal-ooru (city of boiled beans!) or Bengaluru/Bangalore.
Although the above seems to more likely history of the temple, I came across a more interesting story as to the origin of this Nandi on the internet. Apparently, this area was once covered with groundnut fields and one day a bull happened to amble into one such field and decided to stop for a quick bite before moving on. The farmer of this field, upon coming across this trespassing bull, was naturally outraged. He struck the bull, and instead of running away the bull simple sat down and turned into stone. The remorseful farmer built a temple around the bull but found that the bull just kept growing and finally in fear that it would break through the temple structure, he called upon Lord Shiva to intervene. Shiva answered his prayers and struck the stone bull on its forehead with his trident and arrested its growth. This giant bull is now the Nandi that we
had come to visit.
We walked through a rather modern and simple looking temple entrance, which I later found out was built three hundred years later, in the early 20th century. Each of the saivite figures on the various levels of the vimana seem quite untarnished and all facial features are fairly distinct and well preserved. I have to admit, I didn’t quite like it that way. Although it is meant to be copying the Vijayanagara style of architecture, it looks so apparently modern that it ends up just looking like a copy. I didn’t need to be told that it was not built in the late 16th century, it was fairly obvious . But I forgot about this ‘flaw’ (I may even call it that) because as soon as I set eyes on Nandi, I had no space for any other thought in my little brain.
Nandi was glorious. Simple adorned on this uneventful Sunday afternoon, He looked so majestic and so enormous in the small and cramped shrine. The relatively tiny shrine makes His size all the more awe-inspiring and I found it difficult to take my eyes off Him. Behind Nandi, near His tail there was a little (well, relative to Dodda Ganapathy and Nandi, it felt little) gold coloured idol of Ganesha. Opposite it, in a small, neat little alcove shrine is a granite shiva-linga.
It surprised me that Shiva, here, is found behind Nandi. All temples I have been to in the past have an idol of Nandi facing the Shiva-Linga. I wondered if there might be a reason/story/explanation for why Shiva is behind Nandi here, but the priest at the Shiva shrine seemed only interested in giving me monosyllabic responses. Anyway, I didn’t feel like ruining this beautifully peaceful moment with conversation, especially conversation that might end with me feeling utterly frustrated.
I exited the temple somewhat sadly.
When I was a teenager, I heard many people talking about “vibrations” – about how they felt these really positive vibrations in temples, nature, or in the presence of certain people. I was mostly very sceptical. But one day, in my late teens, I went to an old church near my university. It was empty and somewhat dark and all I could see were a row of candles flickering the front, and the shadowy figure of Jesus Christ on the Cross. As I sat in the back row, I felt my eyes close and my hands fold involuntarily. I grew aware of this somewhat warm feeling in my chest; a comfortable feeling; that feeling you get when you are hugged or spoken to kindly after a particularly difficult day; a feeling of being loved and loving; a feeling of peace. Then the moment passed and my eyes opened, but the feeling of well-being remained. And when it came time to leave, I felt sad. I felt sad to leave this place because I knew that eventually the feeling would leave me as I dove deep into the world outside. And on this day, I felt sad again, as we walked out of the temple, past the knick-knack vendors and down the slope to the next temples.
P.S. In case you were wondering about what makes this temple so special – apart from its age, Nandi is carved out of a single piece of rock and is approx. 15ft tall and 20ft long making it the fourth largest Nandi in the country.
Here is how you get there from MG Road
Parking is on the street around the temple and park, although I can foresee major problems on festival days. Vehicles are allowed up the hill till the temple and there is a little space for a few cars and bikes to park on days when there isn't a crowd.
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