Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple is a 9th century temple, that I read about when finding out the other attractions that would interest us during our visit to Lepakshi Temple. It is possibly one of the oldest temples in Karnataka.

I had been to Nandi Hills many times for birding before, including passing through the Nandi town. But I had not heard or rather not noticed the Temple. Well, they say that everything has its own time. The time for the Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple had come 😀 .

Finding our way to it was not difficult, thanks to Google Maps. It was around noon when we reached. After parking the car, we walked in through the main gate. As we did, we noticed a bus load of school children coming also coming in. “Hmm, must be on a study visit”, my wife and I said to one another . But it did not turn out to be that. The temple complex had a huge open space and the children had come for a picnic 🙂 .

Well, we were kind of glad, as it would mean less crowd in the temple 😉 . We proceeded to the temple. The first structure that we got to see was the base of a giant chariot.

I was not sure if it was used any longer. I guessed that in the olden days, it was used to move the deity during specific occasions. There was also structure just to the left of it. I could not make out what it had been.

We left our footwear at the designated stand and then proceeded to enter the temple. Below were our first sights:

They also had these huge stone wheels lying to the right side of the entrance. May be there were used in the chariots in the past.

The inside of the temple complex beautiful. We first walked around the temple complex to admire the intricate carvings and design all around. Here are some of the pictures that I took:

There was also a Kalyani (basically a pond with steps leading down to the pond) in the complex. It was brilliant to see it. Sadly we were not allowed to photograph it nor go down to the water. I suspect it was because it was very old and they wanted to avoid any accidents.

The entrance to the main temple complex is as below:

It also had a tall post just besides the entrance.

The temple has two large shrines, the Arunachaleswara shrine and the Bhoga Nandeeshwara shrine. In between them is a small shrine called the Uma-Maheshwara shrine. This shrine has a kalyana mantapa (marriage alter). The mantapa as very intricately carved ornate pillars in black stone. It is NOT to be missed. The carvings are exquisite! Photography and video recording is not allowed inside the shrines. Hence I do not have any pictures to share of them.

After paying our respects to the deity in the three shrines, we headed out the temple. As I exited the main entrance, I noticed a pole that looked like an obelix just besides the entrance.

Well, it was time to say goodbye to the temple and start back for home. But we were very glad that we had chosen to visit the temple.