On my visit to Sri Nageshwara Swamy Temple, Begur (Bangalore Urban)

 

                            

Shiva with Parvati and His Children

               

                                       

Carved Figures at the Gateway

                                                

Sculptured elephant at the entry way

                          

Sri Panchalingeshwara Swamy Board

                                             

Shrine of Ganesh with Serpent Goddess

               

                                        

Nandi Scuplture at the base of the pillar

   

                              

Nageshswara Temple

                                  

Nandi Mandapa

                           

Sri Kali Kamateshwara swamy

                                               

Sri Nagareswara swamy

            

Nandi Mandapa

                                   

Ganesha with Two hands

                                                 

Sri Karneshwara Swamy

                                     

                                               

Mukha Mandapa

                        

Carvings on outer temple wall

                                         

Hero-Stones in the temple compound

                                 

Hero-Stone depicting Bengalur War

This is a Panchalinga Kshetra (also called Nageshwara Swamy or Naganadeshwara Temple) is situated in a small town within Bangalore urban District. This very ancient 1300-years old temple is about four kms from Begur road from the Bommanahalli junction on Hosur road. A 9th century inscription was discovered here with the earliest reference to Bengalur.

This temple was built by Western ganga kings, Ereganga Nitimarga I (843-870) and Ereyappa Nitimarga II (907-921). On behalf of the Ganga Kings, Nagattara, the famous Jain Chieftain of Begur and Commander of the Western Ganga dynasty (which ruled present day Karnataka and Tamilnadu from 4^th century to 11^th century) constructed this temple in Begur. The remaining shrines were built by Chola, Hoyasala and Vijayanagara kings. The Panchalingas are:

1 Sri Nageswara with Parvati is the oldest temple. Worship of this Linga fulfills the desires of the devotees.

2.  The worship of Sri Choleshwara Swamy cures skin ailments.

3.  The worship of Sri Nageshwara swamy solves business problems and court cases.

4. The worship of Kalikamateshewara swamy blesses devotees with children.

5.  The worship of Sri Karneshwara Swamy gives good health.

The temple timings of this historic temple are 6.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m. in later times four new temple towers or Rajagopurams have been built on four sides. Special poojas are performed in this temple during Kartik Month (Nov), Mahashiva Ratri and Brhama Rathostva in the month of April.

 

According to the legends, Ravana after losing his Atma Linga in Gokarnam visited this temple during his return journey to Sri Lanka and worshipped Nageshwara Lingam here. The Nageshwara temple has a simple square sanctum with a Vestibule (Antarala). Next to Antarala, there is or Navaragna Artha Mandapa) which leads to an open hall or Agramandapa or Mukhamandapa.. This open hall has six unequally placed pillars. This leads to Nandi Mandapa with an idol of Nandi placed on a lotus platform (Padma Pitha). The Nandi Mandapa is supported by four white granite pillars. In the Navaragna or closed hall, the western Gangas set up eight panels in square grid shape around the ceiling with a beautiful sculpture of four-handed Uma Maheswara. Likewise in the open hall or Mukhamandapa there are sculptures of the seated sculptures of Shiva and Parvati, Mahishasuramardini, a unique two-handed Ganesha and Kalabhairava. Near the entrance door there are carvings of Shiva Ganas and loops of lotus flowers. At the top the entrance on the lintel is seen the figure of Gajalakshmi with elephants on either side. The shrine of Nagareshwara is another shrine built by Western Ganga kings. The other shrines of Choleshwara, Kali Kamteshwara and Karaneshwara are seen.

One can also see Kannada inscription dated 890 A.D. which refers to Bengaluru wars.  This is the earliest evidence of the existence of a place called Bengaluru. Besides there are many hero stones set up in memory of war heroes who died fighting in the war.

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 Note :

When Nolamba king, Vira Mahendra, attacked Gangas neat Tumkur at Tumbepadi or Tumbadi with elephant troops, Nagattara bravely encountered them and struck seven arrows on the head of the mighty royal elephant. But unfortunately, he was trampled by the elephant to death.  His successor Irugumaiah erected hero stones in memory of Nagaratta in Begur temple. Nagaratta’s daughter Tondayabbe performed the Jain vow of Sallekhana (fasting unto death) following the death of her husband in the war. In this battle of Bengaluru (890 A.D.) Nagattara’s son, Bhuttanpati or Perumadi, and many other relatives died. Twelve villages were given to Nagratta’s family of which Begur was the chief village. Nagaratta served under the Ganga king, Ereyappa Nitimarga II. Ultimately Gangas won the war. Gangas continued their rule till they were defeated by Rajendra Chola I. Begur once also called as Veppur or Bempuru was once an important center of business, Vedic learning and administration of Ganga, Chola and other dynasties. At a  short distance away from this temple is seen a broken circular mud fortress in which the Kashi Visveshwara temple is seen.

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  4th May 2026                        Somaseshu Gutala

 

 

On my Visit to Bhavanarayana Temple, Sarpavaram (Kakinada, East Godavari Dist.)

  

Sri Bhavanarayana Swamy Temple Tower

  

Beautiful idols on the tower

                                               

Pradakshina Marga around the temple

                                  

Entrance to the temple

                                

Sri Bhavanarayana Swamy in the sanctum

                             

The image of Tirunamam with divine discus and Conch

                                     

The figure of Lord Krishna

                                           

The statue of Lord Hanuman

                                            

Statue of Narada near Narada Kundam

                                   

Garuda Stambhamu

                                    

This temple is located just five kms from Kakinada. This temple is one of the one hundred and eight sacred Vaishnava Khetras. One who stays here for three days will get the merit of performing a hundred horse-sacrifices.  The name of the Lord “Bhavanarayana” means that the Lord bestows salvation just by thinking about Him. As per Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Sage Agashtya narrated the story of Adisesha to Saunaka and others in Nymisaranya. Here Adisesha did penance about Vishnu to get rid of his mother, Kadruva’s curse that all serpents who disobeyed her order would die in the serpent sacrifice to be performed by the king Janamejaya. Pleased with his penance, Lord Vishnu absolved him from Kadruva’s curse and accepted him to serve as His bed and as His seat. He also declared that the place where Adisesha did penance will be named after him as Sarpapura, and that he would stay there with his spouses Lakshmi and Bhudevi.

 

This is also the place where Sage Narada got salvation from his pride and arrogance. According to Devi Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana, Narada felt proud of his penance and boasted before Brahma that he would not be deluded by Vishnu Maya. Later when he came to Sarpapura, he bathed in a lake and became a damsel. At that time Nakunda, the young prince of Pithapuram came and fell in love with the young lady and married her and took her to Pithapuram. There she gave birth to sixty sons named as Prabhava, Vibhava etc later taken as the names of Telugu years. Later another king Ripunjaya invaded Pithapuram and all the sons of the lady and her husband died in the battle. Narada in lady’s form was very much filled with grief and decided to end her life. Lord Vishnu appeared before her in the form of a Brahmin and asked her to take bath in the lake. When the lady took a dip, she became Narada again. Narada a realized his mistake and prayed to Lord Vishnu to forgive him. Lord Vishnu forgave him and named that lake as ‘Muktikasara” the lake of salvation. He also declared that they who take bath here would be freed from their sins. Kartika, Margasira and Magha are auspicious months and Sunday and Saturday are auspicious days for taking holy bath.  Besides, Muktisara there is another temple tank called “Narada Kundam”.  The water from this tank is used in the daily sacred preparation of the temple Prasad.

 

This temple has a five-tiered Raja Gopuram with a wooden door and a compound wall around. The entrance of the temple is east-facing with a stone Dwajha Stambham on the top of which the miniature idols of Garuda and Anjaneya are seen. The sanctum is seen on an elevated platform. Beside the main shrine, there are sub-shrines for Rajya Lakshmi Ammavaru and for twelve Alwars. Another important sub-shrine houses a Swambhu (self-born) idol of Patala Bhavanarayana Swamy mounted on Garuda Vahana, seen below the ground level. Adjacent to this shrine is seen the shrine of Manavala Mahamuni. On the opposite side there is Lakshmi Devi Sannidhi believed to be installed by sage Vedavyasa. On the outer wall of the temple is seen an idol of Ganapathy. On the outer side of the peripheral wall is seen the Nakshatra Vanam with 27 trees representing twenty-seven stars.

 In the open space of this temple, we can see the beautiful painted figures of Lord Krishna dancing on the hoods of the serpent Kaliya and a Thirunamam flanked by divine Chakram and divine Conch. At its two ends of these figures are seen the idols of Anjaneya and Garudalwar. A separate platform for lighting lamps is also seen. A temple garden with stone benches is another attraction here.

 

This temple is also considered as a Rahu, Kethu Dosha Parihara Kshetram and Sarpa Dosha Nivarana Sthalm. A row of serpent-stones is seen in the temple compound.

The architecture of the temple is a harmonious blend of both Chalukyan (7^th to 12^th centuries) and that of Cholas (11^th century). The temple gopuram was designed out of a single rock and the internal walls of the temple were made of sandstone. On the gopuras idols of Gopikas, Apsaras (divine damsels) and ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu are seen. There are stone inscriptions of the Chola Kings (1022-1122) and Kataya Vema Reddy (1395-1414 A.D.). This temple was first renovated by Kulottunga Chola II in 1465 and later by Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu of Amaravati in 1856. This temple is a protected by the Archaeological Survey of India. The greatness of this temple was mentioned by the 15^th century famous poet, Srinatha, in his work “Kasi Khandam” and in “Bhimeswara Puranam”. The nearby tourist places are: Draksharamam, Pithapuram, Kotipalli and Uppada Beach. The temple timings are: 6.00 a.m. to 12.00 P.M. (noon) and from 5.00 p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Those who go to Kakinada should not miss this sacred Vaishnava Kshetra with so many holy shrines.

                          +++++++++++++++++++++

   26th April 2026                               Somaseshu Gutala

MONEY LENDERS

 

                         

Jesus driving out money changers and sellers of sacrificial birds

                             

Shakespeare's "New Place"

   

                             

Traders' Guild in Elizabethan age

                                  

     Banking Services

                 

                    

 1                 Lord Jesus expelled he moneychangers from the court

Of temples for misusing the place as Matthew wrote;

The wandering Jews wherever they went tried in vain

For livelihood but none understood their strife and pain;

The Christian states, to them did not give any right

To own or do any work; none understood their plight;

For livelihood, they turned as money lenders at last

The forbidden profession as per the Biblical thought;

As marginalized group in Renaissance plays

They were portrayed as greedy villains with disgrace;

The Bard of Avon showed some humanistic strain

Showed the Jews as men who feel pleasure and pain;

Though he wrote against lending money on usury

His precept he himself did not obey;

The great bard himself earned much in his days

By lending and collecting tithes in rigid ways;

His spouse, though not well-learned did play

A vital role in lending money to others as well

So many writers in clearing their debts did fail

Destitute, at last ended up in jail;

As the bard of Cumberland rightly said

“Mighty poets in their misery dead.”

 Famed as the “master of mighty line” in his life

Charged with heresy, died in a drunken strife;

  

                       Part -II

In former times, the merchant guilds used to lend

Enough wealth to kings and feudal lords to spend

On their lavish luxuries and to fulfill the needs

Of their people to improve progress with speed;

The guilds besides expanding their trade

Overseas, a vital role, they had played;

They improved their status by their prominent part

In patronizing schools, churches and arts;

A basic concept of banking system they did start

Which helped rulers and other traders a lot;

                       Part--III

Lending and borrowing is a sin no more             

In present times a chance to develop and score

Success in expanding their status and prospects;

A banker is now treated with utmost respect;

Even states brag about rising huge loans as a sign

Of progress and welfare schemes as they define;

Yet providing too many things free leads to decline

Of states in finances and economic strain;

A balanced approach between welfare and progress

Saves people from facing tax-increase and distress;

But be not too tight-fisted and stingy with greed;

Enjoy your life and spend on you can afford and need;

Help others within your limits and spare

Some wealth for the suffering poor; we should care

Even for the welfare of the birds and beasts

Our co-brethren, with kindness we should treat;

Discrete and wise use of wealth a must for all

For the constructive goals and welfare for all;

We keep our earnings secure in banks which lend

Our wealth to persons and industries to spend

And collect from them in return as interest

A part of their gains, banks pay us for what we invest;

We can also borrow money from banks and use

On purchase of house or vehicle we choose;

Or on weddings or children’s studies; but beware

Of using loans taken; spend wisely and take care;

Banks with prompt services serve us a lot

With humanistic touch they play their part

To help farmers, merchants, women and students

But money borrowed should be wisely spent;

Misuse of loans explodes like a bomb in your face

Lands you in soup and brings shame and disgrace;

Money flows like honey in a sieve or down the drain

If you, wasteful expenses cannot restrain;

All of us are lenders and borrowers in one sense

But we should use in proper way our finances.

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Note: 

1       Matthew wrote – Jesus drove out the money changers who charged exorbitant rates to exchange foreign currency and vendors who sold doves as for sacrifices in the temple courts (Open courtyard surrounding the synagogue) in Jerusalem.  He declared the temple as a “House of prayer and accused them of turning it into a “den of thieves.” (Matthew 12:12-13).

       2      Shakespeare in his play “The Merchant of Venice” (1596-1597, published in 1600 A.D.) portrayed Shylock, the Jewish moneylender as a very greedy inhuman person demanding his pound of flesh from Antonio. Still, he tried to show the human side of the Jew when he writes “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the means, warmed by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?” (The Merchant of Venice, Act III scene 1)

2       Chrostopher Marlowe in His play “The Jew of Malta” (1589-1590) featured Barabas as a greedy merchant who used violence and manipulation to take revenge on Christian and Muslim authorities and ultimately fell a victim to his own evil designs.

3      “Neither a lender nor a borrower be – (Act I, Scene 3) In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet” (1599-1601), Polonius spoke the above advice to his son Laertes.

 

4       In real life, Shakespeare was a shrewd businessman who gave loans, invested in real estate business, and bought tithes (agricultural taxes from the parishes of old Stratford) and by this act ,he not only derived profit but also as a lay rector and a major property holder in the town, got the prestigious right of having burial spot in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church for his whole family. He bought 107 acres of land and purchased the second largest house in Stratford-upon- Avon known as New Place in 1597 from William Underhill. It was a large brick-and-timber mansion with ten fireplaces and over twenty rooms. Shakespeare stayed here with his family members from 1597 to 1616.

 

5       Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife was a shrewd manager of her family’s finances. She ran a malt-making business, managed property and gave money on loan.

 

6      Mighty poets in their misery dead” – a famous line from William Wordworth’s poem “Resolution and Independence. "He refers to the troubled lives of Chatterton and Robert Burns who led a life of poverty and made heavy debts. Many Elizabethan poets and writers like Ben Jonson, Robert Greene, George Chapman and Thomas Dekker went to prison as they were unable to clear their heavy debts.

 

7      "Master of the mighty line" refers to Chrostopher Marlowe (1564-93) who used blank verse in a creative manner in dramas charged with emotional force, flexibility and graceful rhythm. But he was charged with heresy as an atheist, and was killed in a drunken duel in Deptford tavern at the age of twenty-nine.

 

8       Trade Guilds: Merchant Associations of various crafts played a prominent role in regulating trade, product quality and expansion of their trade overseas. They acted as financial intermediaries providing loans to kings and feudal lords and town governments to finance wars. They secured royal influence which increased their social status and got exemption from certain taxes. They served as banks to help the local governments. They also provided aid to churches, schools, hospitals and philanthropic organizations. They organized, funded and staged drams like mystery plays. 

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17th April 2026                  Somaseshu Gutala 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARE WE GOING BACK?

 

                              

         

                            

 

1        Once people had trust in their decent looks and dress

With tidy habits and clean-shaven cheeks;

People shuddered at disorderly things immense

They chose colors white, cool blue, and sober green

Their language sounded with due courteous grace

Not meant to hurt feelings in rude, rough ways;

Everyone tried to be a gentle man or woman;

Reckless, shabby ways of style they did shun.

 

2        All of a sudden, we see a sudden sea-change

Unkempt long -grown hair is the modern trend

Skin-tight shirts with shredded jeans strange

Dark flashy tinted shirts printed with bold slogans blend

To show off their bold, defiant don’t-care attitude;

Their language is rough mixed with curse-words crude

Watching movies with sex and crime, their pastime

Addicted to mobiles, they waste their valuable time.

 

3        Old tradition and conventions they mock

They feel ultra-modern and advanced in their mind-set;

And spurn the past as outdated with frivolous talk;

Lacking discretion, they are trapped by the internet

Addicting themselves to drugs, drinks and smoke

Stuffing their bellies with junk food and Coke;

Too reckless in driving to show off their strength

They cause loss of lives and risk their own health.

4        Too much freedom and made-easy methods make

Them lazy ever used to digital services swift

Which blunt their inherent life-skills and break

Personal creative thinking and cause a rift

Between their mind and heart-a hiatus vast;

The interplay of feelings and expression they have lost.

In their looks, a sense of insecurity is seen

They have no time to ponder what true values mean.

 

5        Tempted by outward beauty they easily fall

Into the trap of infatuation which they mistake

For genuine love and stray from all

Of their duties and put their future at stake

They burn their purse and their golden years lay waste

They commit themselves without forethought in haste;

Who accepts a youngster without a profession high

Without high qualifications who will rely?

 

6        His hasty love at last leads him to despair

Or to rash acts of violence and suicide;

Causing loss to parents, unjust and unfair;

A hasty surrender to tempting desires

Surely results in ruining others and self too;

Steadfast love needs a good job and mutual trust true;

Think wisely without rash irresponsible acts

Love will not yield to brutal and shameful acts. 

 

7        Beware of adverse effects of media, Oh Youth!

Don’t trust whatever it says or shows;

Don’t think they show real facts and truth

Don’t be tempted by feats of virtual heroes;

In real life they are not valid, you see

Live not in the unreal world of   fantasy.

Use your own wits and sift fiction from the facts

None supports in real life such unreasonable acts. 

 

8        Don’t get tempted by advertisements false;

On promises of the tinsel world don’t depend;

Overspending will not build up your image but loss

Don’t get cheated by bill boards and modern trends;

Wasting food and water your rash nature reveals

Think how many suffer just for one square meal?

Can you re-create Nature’s gifts you waste

Show concern for the future and act not in haste. 

 

9        Are we going back to ancient age when man dwelt

In caves covering with leaves his body bare?

Exposing body parts is the modern mind-set

Cave-men used stones and spears to scare

The wild beasts, and with rivals to fight

Not much difference; the modern with same spite

Throws drones and missiles with supersonic speed

With same brutal instinct and destructive greed.

 

10     Care for future and concern for Nature show

   Use your power for good and not to cause distress

   Exploiting natural sources too much will throw

   The whole creation into chaos beyond our guess

   Before catastrophe strikes take sufficient care

   Of plants, birds and beasts and lakes; beware

   Of pollution, once lost, you can’t create or retrieve

   What loss you did; in brief live and let live.

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    4th April 2026                    Somaseshu Gutala