Chandalingeswar Temple - Mysteries And More

By Tharangini

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The day was nearly over and the sun had long gone down and we thought we were done for the day. But that was not to be. We were still in Hannumsagar (Read about it here) and tucked into our schedule and in Bilagi Village, about 4 kms from Hanumsagar was the Chandalingeswar temple, waiting for our visit.

It was already dark by the time we reached the temple and wisely I decided to leave my camera bag in the vehicle itself. Me and my phone would explore the temple that day along with the others.

The well lit entrance to the temple

The couple of shops outside the temple, one selling coconuts and the other selling all sorts of colorful plastic toys to entice the kids and make the parents miserable, were still open. Of course there was no one else other than our troop in the temple at that point in time.

A view of the temple

The priest was relaxing outside the main sanctum exchanging stories with some local folks, when we marched in.  This temple was nothing like what I had seen before. It was ancient no doubt and stated to be built by the Badami Chalukyas. With a liberal amount of paint that was slapped onto every single wall face, the original stone structure was nowhere to be seen.  There was however something very quaint about this temple. Maybe it was the time we visited, with only the silence and the sound of the insects to keep us company. This gave it a very dramatic effect.

Entrance to the main sanctum

The second door was
just over 4feet in height

The entrance to the main temple was liberally decked with bells, decorations, photos, old flowers and even wires running around. Walking in through the open grilled gate to enter the main sanctum and then entering another door way after bending generously (and I am not even that tall ) I could see the deity sitting serenely.  It was a bit appalling of course to see the use of tiles everywhere - the walls, flooring and even ledges.  It was peaceful no doubt, but I could not shake the feeling that the original temple vibration was getting blocked by all these artificial additions.

On the way out I literally stopped in my tracks when I saw an oil painted parakeet on the wall that looked really scary. It looked like blood was dripping from its beak, all because the painter had failed to apply brakes on the red paint.

The Nandi facing the Linga

On the outside sat a Nandi facing  the Linga, housed in a  multi columned structure. The grill on the side was covered with multiple coconuts wrapped in cloth bags. Each coconut represented a prayer, a wish or  a deepest desire. The power of belief was unquestionably in display here.

Prayers, desires, wishes and beliefs 

   A number of idols housed in various sanctums
in the temple courtyard

The back of the structure led to a courtyard that housed a number of idols each in their own little brightly lit sanctum. Most of the idols were of Lingas and Nandis. Some of the Lingas were really tiny and some of the idols were very new and strange to me. A lot were highly damaged, yet were somehow painted.

The well where no sunlight ever falls on the water

The main aspect of this temple however was something else. This temple was home to three unique features . The first one was called as the 'Bisilu illada Bhavi' in Kannada, which means the well which gets no sunlight. The priest told that the depth of the well was equal to the height of two grown men. It had water during all times of the year and the water was fresh.  The water was used for various temple activities too.

The fort built without any clay or mortar

The second one was called as the 'Kesaru Illada kote'. This meant a fort built without any clay or mortar. This referred to the fort walls running all around the temple.  Unfortunately there was little we could see in the darkness, but we got an idea.

'Hesaru Illada mara' or the nameless tree

The leaves that were sent to experts
but came back inconclusive

The third and the strangest of the lot was the 'Hesaru Illada mara' or the nameless tree.  This was just outside the temple entrance and armed with the light from our phones,  we stumbled along in the darkness towards the tree.  We were really speculative about this claim. How can a tree not be identified in this day and age? When we reached the tree however, none of us were sure about its identity. We pulled out a few leaves to identify it later and the same was sent to some experts too. No specific answer came out of that either. So in our eyes the 'Hesaru Illada mara' or the nameless tree lived up to its name of being nameless.

Even with all the paint, tiles and other modern additions to the temple, it still managed to intrigue us with its own unique characteristics. If we had visited during the day time, we probably would have lingered much longer. But the good hour we spent there was certainly worthwhile in its own curious way.

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