I lived in Malleshwaram in Bangalore as a child in the early 70s. I visited the Kadumalleshwara temple regularly. At the time, at the bottom of the many steps of the temple, there was a garden sort of space growing plantains. I also remember the oxen going round and round, to crush lime to make mortar for building construction, opposite the plantain garden and near the Nagara Katte and Peepul trees near the Kadumalleshwara temple and 2 other temples.
Years later in 1995, a Kalyani and an ancient temple of stone pillars with a Nandi and a Linga inside was discovered buried under the soils of the banana garden! This newly discovered temple & Kalyani is amazing in that there is a continuous flow of water from the Nandi's mouth which falls on to the Linga! No one knows the origin of this water. ( I am sure scientists can trace the origin of the water but then the mysticism of the water flow would be lost!) The water flows into a Kalyani with stone steps and this too was buried under the soil! This water is the origin of the Vrishabhavati river!
Believe it or not, some people wanted to hide this finding under the banana tree garden to sell this land to a builder. But people discovered there was this Kalyani and temple buried and immediately fought to have this land restored to the original condition i.e. Kalyani and temple. So instead of another high rise Bangaloreans got a lovely Kalyani.
Here are a few photos I took when I visited this temple in May 2016.
Bangalore needs more such miracles...The politicians are killing Bangalore by burying all the water tanks in landfill and selling the land to developers who build buildings. This is resulting in a drastic fall in ground water level in Bangalore and a host of other ecological disasters. If more such Kalyanis are found, the people will fight to save them as religion always wins in India!
More such Kalyani discoveries means, more space for ground water to be restored, more storage space for rainwater and so on.
Observe the photo above. This entire thing was buried under soil! I simply cannot understand how the entire thing of more than 40-50 feet in height got buried and more importantly forgotten by the people! Surely people lived around here continually and passed on the information from one generation to next about the existence of this Kalyani. There must have been documents too.
( I have read of the documents detailing the amount of gold and precious stones given by Krishnadevaraya to the Tirumala temple. This proves that people in India did document things) I simply cannot fathom how such a structure can be buried and it's very existence completely forgotten...
Above is the water flowing out of the Nandi's mouth.
The Nandi above is newly installed.
Above you can see the water from the Nandi's mouth flowing down into the brass container and then on to the black stone Linga. The source of the water is the earth and according to wikipedia, this may be the origin of the Vrishabhavati river. Imagine a river in Bangalore! This is the most thrilling news for people who love Bangalore. This river in olden days flowed and reached Kanakapura, outside Bangalore.
Imagine if, the corrupt asshole politicians of Karnataka came to their senses, did something to revive this river and let it flow as it did in the ancient days...imagine if they recovered a path for the river to flow and reach the Arkavathy river...if the flow is overground, unpolluted and a path's created by it's side for people to walk on. Imagine if all the water tanks of Bangalore were recovered and became tanks again? The earth under Bangalore would be replenished with water and Bangalore would become green and beautiful again. Bangalore would join the ranks of great cities of today which have rivers flowing in them like London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam and so on.
Read the article Northern Ireland's secret underground river by Eliot stein in BBC.com.
Years later in 1995, a Kalyani and an ancient temple of stone pillars with a Nandi and a Linga inside was discovered buried under the soils of the banana garden! This newly discovered temple & Kalyani is amazing in that there is a continuous flow of water from the Nandi's mouth which falls on to the Linga! No one knows the origin of this water. ( I am sure scientists can trace the origin of the water but then the mysticism of the water flow would be lost!) The water flows into a Kalyani with stone steps and this too was buried under the soil! This water is the origin of the Vrishabhavati river!
Believe it or not, some people wanted to hide this finding under the banana tree garden to sell this land to a builder. But people discovered there was this Kalyani and temple buried and immediately fought to have this land restored to the original condition i.e. Kalyani and temple. So instead of another high rise Bangaloreans got a lovely Kalyani.
Here are a few photos I took when I visited this temple in May 2016.
Bangalore needs more such miracles...The politicians are killing Bangalore by burying all the water tanks in landfill and selling the land to developers who build buildings. This is resulting in a drastic fall in ground water level in Bangalore and a host of other ecological disasters. If more such Kalyanis are found, the people will fight to save them as religion always wins in India!
More such Kalyani discoveries means, more space for ground water to be restored, more storage space for rainwater and so on.
Observe the photo above. This entire thing was buried under soil! I simply cannot understand how the entire thing of more than 40-50 feet in height got buried and more importantly forgotten by the people! Surely people lived around here continually and passed on the information from one generation to next about the existence of this Kalyani. There must have been documents too.
( I have read of the documents detailing the amount of gold and precious stones given by Krishnadevaraya to the Tirumala temple. This proves that people in India did document things) I simply cannot fathom how such a structure can be buried and it's very existence completely forgotten...
Imagine if, the corrupt asshole politicians of Karnataka came to their senses, did something to revive this river and let it flow as it did in the ancient days...imagine if they recovered a path for the river to flow and reach the Arkavathy river...if the flow is overground, unpolluted and a path's created by it's side for people to walk on. Imagine if all the water tanks of Bangalore were recovered and became tanks again? The earth under Bangalore would be replenished with water and Bangalore would become green and beautiful again. Bangalore would join the ranks of great cities of today which have rivers flowing in them like London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Amsterdam and so on.
This article is about how a used and abused polluted river was 'buried underground' and flows through a manmade underground canal and is now free from pollution. The same could be done for Bangalore's river originating from this temple...there is definitely a lot of money in Bangalore...if the politicians were not stealing it. This money could be used to improve Bangalore and make Bangalore livable again by saving this river, using it,.
We could also reclaim all the ancient 'ke-re-ga-lu' i.e. water tanks and Kalyanis. Bangalore is made up of more than 300 villages. Many villages in olden days had a water tank called "ke-re' just outside the village to supply them with water, to hold the rain water, etc. The filthy politicians built over these water tanks. And the water tanks disappeared. The concretization of the Bangalore earth with buildings and roads prevent water from seeping into the earth and replenishing the ground water level. Also every third person building his house on his 'site' or plot of land, is digging wells and this excess number of wells is also depleting the ground water. Bangaloreans cannot rely on the government water supply as the taps are dry 44 of the 48 hours in two days. My mother has to wake at Ungodly hours when the water comes in taps and 'catch' the water and store it in hundreds of vessels so that it lasts for two days i.e. until the water is supplied next. My sister had to fight with a fellow tenant for the water as they had one water 'connection' for the house shared by 'two' families. The water in the connection is meant for one family but the building owner has built two apartments and rented to two families but there is only one water connection and not two.
It makes me so angry and frustrated that there is no way to save and use the rain water! How can one build tanks to hold rain water in the limited space? Though the government has mandated that people save rainwater or drain it into the earth, the engineering for this plan is poor in many houses and people don't want to invest it it.
I have strayed so far from the topic I started off with!
The tanks I have seen disappear in my life:
There was a sort of tank or some water where the Chowdiah memorial hall is now. The Chowdiah memorial hall is built over it. It may be the water run off from the Sankey tank, I think.
The Hebbal tank was so big before and has gradually reduced in size...roads and buildings built over it.
There was a tank next to Basavana Gudi in Gandhi bazar I think...but i have never seen water but empty space filled with waste. Now it's built over. I have to check if there was a water body there.
I will add to this list as I recall.
My husband's relative had been swimming in a huge water tank around 1940s maybe which is now 'Majestic bus stand'.
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