Dodda Ganesha Temple
(IPLTOURS)
Ganapati, who was proclaimed as the chief of the ganas by Lord Shiva and was revered as the principle deity to be worshipped among all the deities. It is said that the darsan of Vinayak being called by the names of Ganesh, Vigneshwar, Ganapathi, etc. is must before visiting even the principle deity in temples. Likewise it was said in all the Epics and Puranas that the hurdles of those who worship the idol of Vigneswar prepared with auspicious turmeric in every Worship, Vrat and Function celebrated in the house would be removed and only then the worship or vrat would be completed without any obstructions. There are so many temples in the country with various names to Vinayak.
The size of Dodda Ganapati is increasing every year like the Swayambhu Vinayakas at Bikavolu in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and at Kanipakam in Chittoor district. Growing to the right, Dodda Ganapati is the Monolithic Ganapati reached to the present size. Nadaprabhu Hiriya Kempe Gouda, also known as Kempe Gouda of the Vijayanagara dynasty, while he was wondering, found several stones and on one of the rocks he found the Ganapati image and ordered the sculptors to turn the stone into a huge and magnificent monolithic statue. The largest idol of Lord Ganesh in Karnataka can be seen in this Dodda Ganapati temple. Dodda means big in Kannada. Dodda Ganapati express the meaning of Big Ganapati. Inside the temple, Ganapati appears with eighteen feet high and sixteen feet wide.
The temple attract visitors from all over the country with variety of decorations made to Ganapati during the festival days of one week. Among all the decorations the worship made with the decoration of adorning hundred kg of butter is considered to be the famous decoration. Sometimes, dry grapes and almonds beautifully sting to the butter.
Despite in the warm atmosphere in the sanctum, the butter was not melt. Decorations are also made using all the vegetables available in the market.
There is a spacious flower garden behind the Doddaganapati Temple. The temple kept open from 6-30AM to 1-00Noon and again from 4-30PM to Night 8-00PM.
Bull Temple
Basavanna Temple is located in the premises of Bugle Rock Park, which is attached to the Dodda Ganapati Temple. It is also known as ‘Bull Temple’ or ‘Vrushabha Temple’. In this temple, which is the largest among Nandeeswar temples, there is a fifteen feet tall and twenty feet long idol of Nandi made with granite stone. The temple is built in the Dravidian style. Once in an year, devotees offer groundnuts during the Groundnut festival held in the month of Karthika (December) month.
The monolithic statue of Nandi is constantly covered with new layers of butter. Groundnut sellers and devotees visit Kadalekai Parishe festive season. The temple is named as Bull Temple after large granite Nandi placed on a stone slab in the sanctum of the temple. The statue turned black after rubbing with charcoal and oil for years together. The temple has only a small shrine in the Vijayanagara style opposite to the gate. The present dome over the temple was built about two hundred years ago.
The largest idols of Lord Ganesh and Nandeeswar housed in the same courtyard is located at Basavagudi in the southern part of Bangalore in the state of Karnataka. Basavagudi is located at a distance of 6 km from the Bangalore Majestic Railway Station.
