Love Letters by Artisans

Hello all! Your favourite procrastinating lady is back after a short disappearance. I am pretty sure that by now you all are used to my disappearing and appearing scenes. So as promised earlier I am back with a blog on a Shiva temple located in Khidrapur. Fasten your seat belts and pack some snacks as I take you away from the hustle and bustle of this city to a serene village and the sounds of damaru in the background.

I had wanted to visit the Kopeshwar Mahadev temple located in Khidrapur for a long time. There are many reasons. First, I like visiting Kolhapur, the place has pleasant weather almost similar to my native place Belgaum and the food is mind-blowing. The second reason was of course the architectural grandeur and beauty of the temple. And the most important reason is that it’s the temple of my favourite deity. I am a thorough and thorough Saivite. This god holds a special place in my heart. Maybe because Shiva feels so relatable. His way of expressing all the emotions, happiness, sadness, and anger all feel so human and yet in a way divine. He is an ascetic and yet his and Devi Parvati’s love story is a legend for ages. He lives in the mighty cool Himalayas and the barren scary crematoriums. He is worshipped by kings and ascetics alike. He gets pleased and offers the most powerful boons but gets on his wrong side and nobody can save you from his wrath. He performs the cosmic dance and the sound of damaru enlivens and creates a terrific atmosphere. He is worshipped in the most contradictory forms. In each form he is different and yet still the same saviour of us, the destroyer and yet in destruction lies the beginnings. And now I must stop with the description because I may as well write a novel.

So I guess the reasons stated above were enough for me to plan a visit to the Kopeshwar temple. As much as I was looking forward to this trip I was disappointed when I arrived in the place. It may be because I visited it during the summer season but I found the place not so well kept. Of course, there was an over-smart guide who tried to give us Gyan but was asked to go away. He tried asserting his dominance by telling me not to click photos (anyone who knows me knows that I would have done the exact opposite).

Entering the temple I came across the famous Swargmandapa. That’s when I realized there’s a reason that part of the temple is called a Swargmandapa. When you enter the gateway you come in the inner yard that houses the temple. The temple has a Swargmandapa, mandapa, antrala and Garbhagriha. The deity in the sanctorum is Shiva. There’s a beautiful Shiv linga and it’s worshipped by the villagers. The Garbhagriha has another linga that represents Vishnu as Dhopeshwar. This maybe one of the few temples where shiva and Vishnu are worshipped in the same place and that makes it an important place of worship both for Saivite and Vaishnavaites.

The one thing that annoyed me was the lack of effort seen in actually keeping the temple in a good state. A hero stone can be found casually lying on a heap of stones at the entrance and the most beautiful saptamatrika panel is kept in a dark corner inside the temple. Fortunately, I saw this panel while exiting from the temple's side entrance and was awestruck by its beauty. It has the seven goddesses with their respective vahanas. The vahanas have been carved under the goddesses which makes it easy to identify the goddesses. There’s another deity at the end of the panel but is hardly visible and recognizable. I also came across another panel but it was in such a dark place in the darkest corner of the temple that I could hardly see it even if I was inches away from it. The torch doesn’t help much. I can only assume it was a Navagraha panel. The whole place was much the same, searching for icons in a dark place.

I came across some scenes from the Panchatantra that are depicted on the pillars and that brought back some horrible Pattadakal memories (I prefer to say trauma). I also saw the depiction of what seems like Shiva with Parvati and Ganesh and the god is slaying someone. There were more interesting icons that were not easily recognizable or in the dark corners and hence not easily seen. I spent a lot of time looking at the icons on the pillars. I wasn’t left with much time to explore the outside area of the temple but had a quick tour of the place where I noticed elaborate carvings and lavish ornamentation. An inscription is present on the left side of the temple. Though there are other inscriptions also this one is in a better condition.

Though the Swargmandapa is at the entrance I had decided I was going to explore it at the end. Saving the best for the last. One look at this mandapa and you realize why there are so many conspiracy theories regarding aliens and beings from other planets building our monuments. The carvings are so much elaborate and fine that it makes you wonder whether it was truly the artisans who did it or whether it was the gods themselves who came down one fine day and created this masterpiece. And I must apologize to you people now because I can’t express the wonder that exists here. I feel too small and inexperienced as a novice narrator to write down the iconography of that place. All I can say is that in that moment I thanked all the gods because I was fortunate enough to witness that glory and wonder. It has a circular open ceiling. It is supported by 48 pillars. The inside edge has 12 deities carved on them. There are Ashta Dikpalas and Vishnu, Kartik, Surya and shiva. These deities are shown riding in their respective vehicles along with their spouses. When you stand in the middle of the mandapa you can see only the deities. The spouses are visible when you look at the structure from the side.

One of my pet peeves is tourists who disturb the vibes of any place. And I found a lot of such population during my visit. Oh, how I wish my curses could be as powerful as the sages from centuries ago. The villagers are almost unaware of the actual history of this place. They all have their own stories and theories. I don’t expect them to be pandits in any way but the least that the people who are always snoozing around the temples do is not give wrong information to tourists.

As I come to the end of the blog I realized that I have sounded whiny in many places. Honestly, if you were there in my place you all would complain the same. I don’t know whether it’s good or bad but I see every historical place having its character, an individuality. I see these places as any other person.

Did I mention that this temple is conspicuous of the absence of Nandi? There’s a legend behind it which is related to the self-immolation of sati. I am certainly visiting this temple again and this time for at least a whole day. The missing Nandi, the presence of Vishnu linga in the sanctorum, the madanikas, the exquisitely carved Swargmandapa with an open Ceiling and the Panchatantra and Ramayana scenes on the pillars are certainly worth another visit.

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