Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple
Hidden Gems
We talked about how a place gets sidelined because of a more popular place located near it in our previous post on Gommatagiri. This post is yet another classic example of another such place. How many of us visiting the famous Nandi hills know that there is an extraordinarily beautiful 1000-year-old temple present right next to it? Yes we’re pointing towards the Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple of Nandi village, at the base of Nandi Hills (or Nandidurga) in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state.
Route Options
The temple is 60 km from Bengaluru and 16 km from Nandi Hills. There are 2 options to go reach the place.
1) If you are planning to visit Nandi hills in the morning and think of visiting temple later on you need to take left near Nandi Upachar hotel on NH44 and proceed till Karahalli cross. Nandi hills is 12 km left to this junction and BhogaNandeeshwara temple is 5 km left to this Junction.
2)If you are planning to visit the temple directly you can proceed 10 km straight on NH 44 after Nandi Upachar and divert to the service road to the left and take left at Rani cross (Nandi cross). Temple is just 4 km from this junction.
About Temple
Believed to have been originally constructed by the Bana Queen Ratnavali during 9th-century, this temple was extended by the Ganga dynasty, Cholas, Hoysalas, Pallavas, and finally the Vijayanagara kings.
Vasantha mantapa, an ornate 13th century contribution from the Hoysala era to the Uma-Maheshvara shrine is one of the must watch constructions at the BhogaNandeeshwara temple complex
The Bhoganandeeshwara temple houses three temples, the Arunachaleshwara, the Uma Maheshwara, and the Bhoga Nandeeshwara.
Arunachaleshwara is said to represent the childhood of Shiva, Bhoga Nandeeshwara the Youth, and Yoga Nandeeshwara on the Hill top, the final renunciation stage.
This is considered one of the oldest, finest, and most ornate of the Dravidian temples in Karnataka.
Kalyani (temple tank) of this temple is named Shringi Theertha.
This pond is a Vijayanagara era contribution to the temple complex.
This pond is believed to be the source of the South Pinakini (South Pennar) River.
Even though multiple dynasties contributed to the architecture of this, none of them imposed their architectural styles on the structure.
Each of the rulers contributing more towards beautifying the temple retaining the original aesthetic exhibits a rare gesture of mutual respect.
Route we took
Live the experience!
Watch our recent video on Bhoganandeeshwara temple to get the better experience of the place.