Shri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple

About Shri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple

The Sri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple in Thigalarapete, in the old heart of Bengaluru, is unusual in being dedicated to the Pandavas of the Mahabharata: Dharmaraya (Yudhishthira) with Krishna, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva and Draupadi. It is built in the Dravidian style with a gopuram, and shows influences of the Western Ganga, Pallava and Vijayanagara periods.

The temple is the centre of the Bengaluru Karaga, the city's oldest festival, held over several days in March–April around the Chaitra full moon. The Karaga is dedicated to Draupadi, worshipped as a form of Adi Shakti, and recalls episodes of the Mahabharata. On the main night a priest dressed as a woman carries the karaga — a towering floral arrangement on a clay pot — on his head through the lanes of the old city without touching it with his hands, accompanied by veerakumaras with swords. The festival is organised by the Vahnikula Kshatriya (Thigala) community, with hereditary roles for its families and priests, and the procession traditionally visits the dargah of a Sufi saint — a long-standing symbol of the city's harmony.

History

The temple is said to be more than 800 years old — older than Bengaluru itself, founded by Kempe Gowda I in the 16th century — and was built by the Vahnikula Kshatriya community; a stone inscription mentioning the Chalukya king Someshwara is linked to its early history. On 9 April 2009 Shankar Narayan, then president of the temple trust, became the first woman to lead the Karaga festival.