India 2007, part 10 (Pattadakal, Aihole)
So, the first temple we came across within the temple complex in Pattadakal was the smallish Kadasiddeshvara Temple built around the middle of the 7th century CE. I noticed on it a swastika which, as a part of a window, adorned a side wall of the temple. The swastika shape is an ancient religious symbol that has since who knows when been used in different Euro-Asian cultures. It certainly continues to have an important and deep spiritual meaning in a large number of nations, there is even an important and a clear difference as to whether the swastika arms go to one or the other side, but unfortunately this symbol was cruelly abused by the Nazis.
The next was Jambulinga Temple. It is also of small dimensions and also from the middle of the 7th century. When Sneža and I were in Pattadakal, this temple was covered by scaffolding since there was restoration going on.
Of course, I will not go now into all the tiny details and write about all the interesting elements on each and every one of the temples, because that could fill up a whole book, but I will just mention things that I find important or that caught my eye. The point is certainly that we visited all the temples and the next one was Galaganatha Temple.
Galaganatha Temple was built around the middle of the 8th century. In the photo above it is possible to see nicely the amalaka, the circular ribbed decoration on the top of the tower called the shikhara. These are all characteristics of the North Indian style of temple construction.
In front of the temple we saw two girls having their photo taken.
Both girls in the photo wear shalwar kameez, a set that consists of pants and a long tunic. With the unavoidable sari, this is another typical garment worn by women in India, with a note that shalwar kameez may also be worn by men, but of course in more appropriate colours and with a simpler design.
The next temple along our path was the small Chandrashekhara Temple that does not have any tower and it is almost invisible between Galaganatha Temple and Sangameshvara Temple. This other one, Sangameshvara Temple is one of the oldest temples in India; its construction was completed in 733 CE. This is the first temple we came across here that was built in the South Indian style that is also called the Dravidian architectural style. As a reminder – among other things, this style is characterised by the pyramidal shape of the tower that rises above the central shrine and that is called vimana.
Then we reached Kashi Vishvanatha Temple.
It is also one of the smaller temples, built in the North Indian style. Like in the case of other temples, here as well the holiest place is the internal shrine in which there is a lingam.
The next one was Mallikarjuna Temple. It is a temple dedicated to Shiva and built around the 8th century in the South Indian, i.e., in the Dravidian architectural style.
This temple is interesting because it is often called the twin of the most magnificent temple in Pattadakal which is Virupaksha Temple. The two temples are practically the same, only Virupaksha Temple is bigger. They were built by two wives of the same king who were sisters and all to the glory of a military victory of their husband, King Vikramaditya. Mallikarjuna Temple was built by the king’s second wife Queen Trilokyamahadevi.
When we entered the temple, we were lucky enough to come across a woman who explained some details nicely, drawing our attention to some specific decorations.
And then we moved on to Virupaksha Temple that is situated right beside the previous one and that was built around 740 by Queen Lokamahadevi in order to commemorate the victory of her husband over the kings from the South.
The interior of this temple was practically the same as in the previous temple we had visited, but this temple was very much active. Inside, in the shrine, there were candles and incense sticks, and a platform that served as an altar and the lingam inside were adorned with flowers, there was also a priest, while people approached bringing offerings.
It is no wonder that this temple is considered the most important one within the complex. It has truly incredibly opulent decorative plastics and it is impressive indeed both from the outside and from the inside.
Right across Virupaksha Temple there is Nandi Pavilion. As I’ve said in the previous part of my India story, deity Nandi is linked to god Shiva and it often has separate temples with bigger or smaller, but often also huge sculptures in the shape of a bull. Just like Virupaksha Temple which in a way it extends from, Nandi Pavilion was also active when we were there. There we saw a lot of people crowding around the Nandi sculpture leaving offerings and burning incense sticks.
While the two of us were standing in front of Virupaksha Temple, both young and “old” were crammed around Nandi, but by the time we went there, there were only a couple of children left.
Then from the outside we made a circle around the Pavilion, which was very pretty from there as well, and from this position between the remains of the enclosure walls and the greenery we could see a part of the Malaprahba river that flows right beside the site.
There we basically got to the end of the site, so we started to go back to the entrance, but along the way we also visited Sangameshvara Temple the entrance of which is turned towards the river, i.e., it faces east.
Before that I took another photo of Sangameshvara Temple together with Galaganatha Temple. In the photo it is also possible to see the Victory Pillar that contains an inscription in an ancient language which deals with King Vikramaditya II to whose glorious victories Mallikarjuna Temple and Virupaksha Temple were built. The latter one is also the most beautiful in Pattadakal.
Now we were ready to move on and on this day this meant a visit to village Aihole. Although in this village there is some hundred temples built between the 6th and the 8th centuries, most of them have been ruined or incorporated into the village. Today, only a few temples stand independently enough to merit a visit. Since we had already visited enough of temples on this day, our visit to those in Aihole came down to two.
First we went to the smallish Hucchimalli Gudi temple.
While we were walking around the temple, we were approached by some children whose parents were sitting in the shade of a near-by tree and they asked us to take photos of them. In all of these places we visited on this day, as well as when we made breaks during the drive, we met both local inhabitants and visitors from other parts of India who wanted to have their photos taken, but nobody actually asked us to send them those photos. To this very day this has remained a kind of enigma for me – why Indians love so much to have their photos taken and not necessarily to possess those same photos.
When asking us to take photos of them, the children most often also simultaneously practiced their English since they asked us countless times what our names were and which country we came from or they just wanted to shake our hands. They were all exceptionally dear in all of this. Later that evening when we returned to Hospet, however, we did encounter beggars who asked us either for food or money. What the children we met during the day asked for, if anything, were pencils and pens, and one girl asked for a book. Unfortunately, the two of us were not prepared for something like that.
The second temple we visited in Aihole is at the same time the biggest and the most impressive one in this place. This is Durga Temple. It also belongs to the creations from the period of the reign of the Chalukya dynasty. Already at first sight it is clear that this is a very unusual temple, taking into account its shape and the rounded back part which is almost like an apse in Christian churches.
Although it is called Durga Temple, it is actually not known who the temple was dedicated to since its central shrine is empty. Admittedly, in the niches that are located in the ambulatory that leads around the central room of the temple, there is a high relief of goddess Durga, but there are also reliefs of other gods, so this is certainly not the reason for its present name. Still, this in no way diminishes its beauty and the specificity of this temple.
As I’ve said, in one of the niches there is a depiction of goddess Durga. In a very complex Hindu pantheon, Durga is one of the manifestations of goddess Parvati, the one that fights evil and demonic forces that jeopardise peace, harmony and prosperity. Thus, she is often shown killing a demon in the form of a buffalo and, to make things about the name even more complicated, in that form the goddess is called Mahishasuramardini. On the other hand, this is a great word for one to play with and practice how fast it can be pronounced.
So, Durga is shown riding a tiger or a lion and has numerous hands each one holding a weapon. This is also how she is presented here in Durga Temple in Aihole.
Durga Temple in Aihole has the characteristics of the North Indian style applied to temple construction, with a note that its shikhara, the tower above the central shrine, is partially destroyed, while its amalaka, the circular ribbed decoration, that normally stands on top of the shikhara has been toppled and it lies down on the ground not far from the temple.
By the time we had finished with this visit it was already the time to start going back to Hospet. The distance on the map is not that big (around 130 km), but we needed good three hours by car to cover it.
There was a lot of traffic jam on the road and that was also an opportunity to get to know the Indian customs linked to the driving a little better. I have already mentioned that Indians use the horn a lot while driving, not only in order to signal to somebody to move off the road, but even more to draw the attention of the others to the fact that the user of the horn is also a participant in the traffic. I think that the main reason for this is that they either don’t have or don’t use at all the rear-view mirrors. The Westerners find the entire traffic in India completely chaotic, but with time one can realise that in this apparent chaos there is indeed certain order (if the word order can ever be used in this context). Namely, what is important is to move at constant speed, without abrupt stopping, to look in front and take into consideration only what is within your line of sight. When this rule is respected, then in principle there are no major problems. This also applies to the crossing of roads and streets. Through abiding by this rule, by the end of our stay, Sneža and I have become serious experts for crossing streets full of cars, motorbikes and other pedestrians.
But, let me go back to the use of the horn. As we drove towards Hospet, we had several situations of the same kind: our driver starts to overtake, let’s say, a lorry. Just when our car comes half way, the driver of the lorry we are overtaking decides that he also wants to overtake, let’s say, a lorry in front of him and then he suddenly starts with the manoeuvre. Then our driver uses the horn, but also needs to break, since the driver of the lorry in front of us is obviously using the rule described above, and that is that he is looking just in front of him without any regard for what is happening on the sides or behind him.
Admittedly, a lot of lorry owners display quite clearly what one needs to do on the road, so the problem lies with those that do not read. The photo below illustrates this with an inscription in English (and probably in some local language) – Horn please!
As the Sun was setting, I also noticed another traffic habit. For quite some time nobody was turning the headlights on and the twilight was already at its end and it was getting quite dark. Still, no headlights on. I had already started to think that they did not have the headlights at all or that perhaps they were saving something, the battery or the fuel. And then, when the night fell, all of a sudden, everybody had their lights on, but only the full beam. Well, let me say I was very glad when we finally reached Hospet.