Did you know that in the Kadu Malleshwara Temple, the Shiva deity as a small linga, deified in a shrine on a small hillock is known as Malleshwara (a form of Lord Shiva) which gave the name to the suburb of Malleshwaram of Bengaluru, established in a forest area in the 15th century?
The Kadu Malleshwara Temple (ಕಾಡು ಮಲ್ಲೇಶ್ವರ), also known as Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, was initially built in the forested area which was earlier known as Mallapuram. When built, intially it was a small shrine on a hillock with the Linga of Lord Shiva. The credit for building this shrine is attributed to Venkoji Rao, step brother of Chatrapathi Shivaji, in the 17th century (1669) when he came here with his minister Baji Rao Peshwa. The original name of the place Mallapuram was changed when the Malleswaram was developed as an upscale suburb of the Bengaluru city during the British Raj in the 17th century when plague affected the region. As this temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva was existing at that time the suburb got the name after the deity of the temple as Malleswara with a prefix 'Kadu' (meaning 'forest' in Kannada) indicationg the forest area amidst which the temple was located; and has since been popularly called Kadu Malleswara Temple. In 1898, a devotee named Yale Mallappa Shetty renovated the temple to the present status. In 1981 the Goverment of Karnataka also carried out some renovations in the temple complex.
Kadu
Malleshwara Temple has a rajagopura at the entrance, built in Dravidian
architectural style. Shiva is worshipped
here as Mallikarjuna or Malleshwara, and the deity, as a small Shiva linga is
deifieid on a hillock approached by a
series of stone steps (40 steps in two stages) from the open courtyard,
following the Rajagopura.
As is the norm in Shiva temple, a statue of Nandi (mount of Lord Shiva) pays obeisance to the Lord Shiva, facing the inner sanctum. The surroundings look very attractive with green trees and plants.
Near
the entrance of the temple on the left side one can see a mandapa and the
kitchen.
The
Vimana or gopuram of garbha gudi (inner sanctum) was built later in 1993.
Recently, a mukha mandapa (outer mandapa) was added. To the back of the inner sanctum, on its
southern sidie, deities of Dakshina
Murty and
Lord
Subrahmanya are seen and on the north, the statue of Chandikeswara.
In
the Mukha Mandapa, the deities of Ardhanareeswara, Kashi Viswanatha, Ganapati
and Kalabhairava are also seen.
The navagraha platform is also seen in the Mukhamandapa. There is also a Anjaneya (Hanuman) temple with a bilwa tree seen behind it. There are innumerable serpent stones and a huge serpent statue near the foot of the hillock as part of the Naga Pratishthapana vow undertaken by devotees.
The divine importance of this small shrine is highlighted in an inscription on the rock face of the stairway that says: "Whoever tries to destroy or harm the place will be reborn as crows and donkeys. If it is done by a Hindu, it would be considered equivalent to eating a cow in Kashi and if it is damaged by a Muslim, it would be equivalent to eating pork." Further, the antiquity of the temple has been mentioned in the well known News paper 'Hindu' as 7,000 years old.
The
temple complex also houses a very impressive
Nandishwara Teertha Temple (Basava Theertha), diagonally opposite to the
main shrine of Malleswara; theertha means 'holy water.' It is believed to be the main origin of the Vrishabhavathi
River.
This
temple has an elegant courtyard and a Kalyani (a stepped tank of a water
body) and a south facing Nandi statue
from whose mouth flows a clear stream of holy water which falls on the Shiva
Linga placed below as an oblution offering. Surrounding the Kalyani is a double
storeyed colonnaded structure.
This
temple was a chance re-discovery in 1997
when excavations were carried out in a place south-east of the Kadu Maleshwara temple. This Nandi Theertha is now considered integral to the main Kadu Malleswara Swamy temple. A shrine to Ganesha is also present in the vicinity.
The temple is located on the main Sampige Road in the 15 cross of Mallewaram suburb in Bengaluru.