Halasuru Someshwara Temple

About Halasuru Someshwara Temple

The Someshwara Temple in Halasuru (Ulsoor) is one of the oldest and largest temples in Bengaluru, dedicated to Lord Shiva as Someshwara. It is managed by the Muzrai (religious endowments) department, and its priests come from the Dikshit community.

The temple follows the classic elements of Vijayanagara architecture: a square sanctum surrounded by a narrow passage, a closed mantapa with decorated walls, and a large open mantapa of forty-eight pillars with four projecting bays and yali (mythical lion) columns. The eastern gopuram is a fine 16th-century tower covered with sculpted deities, and a tall brahma stambha of about 18 feet stands before it. Look for the carvings of Ravana lifting Mount Kailash, Durga slaying Mahishasura, the Nayanmar saints of Tamil Shaivism, the marriage of Shiva and Parvati (Girija Kalyana) and the Saptarishis. There are also shrines to Ganapati, Kamakshi, Vishnu, the Navagrahas and several forms of Shiva. Recent excavations uncovered a temple tank (kalyani) believed to be around 1,200 years old.

Halasuru Someshwara is busy through the year. Maha Shivaratri draws more than 100,000 visitors, and other important occasions include the Brahmotsavam, Kartika Mondays (Karthika Somavara), Annabhishekam, Shiva Deepam, Ardra Darshanam, Sankranti, Yugadi and Navaratri. Anna prasadam is served every Monday. During festivals the deities are taken out in procession on vahanas — the bull, Nandi, elephant, mouse, peacock, goat and snake — and on a silver chariot, accompanied by the temple band.

History

The temple's origins go back to the Chola period, when Someshwara temples were built across present-day Karnataka; Tamil inscriptions in the temple and the Mudaliar community that settled in Halasuru date from that era. Major additions were made in the late Vijayanagara period under Hiriya Kempe Gowda II.

Two local legends explain its founding. The Gazetteer of Mysore (1887) records that Kempe Gowda, resting during a hunt near Yelahanka, dreamt of Someshwara and later found treasure that he used to build the temple. Another account credits Jayappa Gowda (1420–1450) of the Yelahanka Nada Prabhus, who found a linga where he slept and first built a temple of wood.