The Chalukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c23: Kundgol

The Chālukyan Architecture of the Kanarese Districts c23

Language: English

c23.s1 The Temple of Śambhuliṅga — 7 parts

Kundgol

The Temple of Śambhuliṅga

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THIS temple is of the same style as that of Arvattukambhada in the fort at Baṅkāpur. The only original portion now left is the great hall, the shrine, with its śikhara having been rebuilt. It now goes by the name of Śambhuliṅga, and is in use.

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In the centre of the hall is one of those aṣṭadikpāla ceilings, several examples of which we have already noticed (see Plates XCIV and XCVII). The whole ceiling, which, in these cases, is usually a single slab, six to nine feet square, is divided into nine equal compartments by two cross bars each way. The central compartment holds an image of the deity to whom the temple was dedicated—in this case Śiva dancing upon the black dwarf—while the surrounding eight contain images of the aṣṭadikpālas or regents of the eight points of the compass, each riding upon his own particular vehicle or vāhana. The

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Fig. 30.—A portion of the temple walls at Kundgol.

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outer bays of the ceiling are of the Baṅkāpur type, decorated with lotus and kīrtimukha faces, and the under side of the cornice is ribbed in the same style. The great central ceiling is very much mutilated; indeed, it has the appearance of having been maliciously damaged.

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Upon the dedicatory block over the entrance to the antechamber is Gaṇapati, while above him, in three niches, are Lakshmaṇa, Rāma and Sītā. Over the present shrine doorway is Gaja-Lakshmī, and, within the shrine, is the *liṅga*.

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On either side of the doorway to the antechamber is a panel of perforated screenwork as at Unkal and Baṅkāpur, but not so fine as at the Unkal temple. There are two very good flanking stones to the steps of one of the doorways (Plate XCVII). The hall is supported upon fifty-two pillars.

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The Brāhmaṇs of the village maintain that the temple was originally Jaina, but this is a mistake, as there is not a vestige of Jaina work about it; on the other hand there are hundreds of Brahmanical images, among which are found Brahmā, Varāha, Narasimha, Gaṇapati, Mahiśāsura-mardanī, Śiva and others. It may possibly have been a Vaiṣṇava temple, since Rāma, Sītā and Lakshmaṇa appear over the antechamber door; but, in that case one would hardly expect to find Gaṇapati above a Vaiṣṇava door. As he image has been introduced by the Liṅgāyats, before whose occupation of the temple it may have been, for a time, in the hands of the Jains. There is a large image of a seated Jina and a small standing one of Pārśvanātha just outside the temple at the school house.