If you are on the SH-17 near Ramanagaram where the block-buster movie Sholay was shot, you will definitely get a chance to view the cyclopean masses of delicately poised rocks. As students at Bangalore’s BMS College of Engineering, we often walked past one such set of rugged rock formations on the heightened land where the Bugle Rock and Bull temple stand. Little did we realise then that the area’s name Basavangudi was derived from that temple.
The bare area, strewn with boulders of all shapes and sizes, has changed. There are tall, magnificent trees that form a beautiful canopy for an open-air theatre. Of late, a beautiful park with a musical fountain has come up. Icons of Kannada littérateurs adorn the park. To add to the literary setting, on a recent Sunday morning visit, we saw people absorbed in books. While many youngsters were pouring over notes and textbooks, a pretty young thing was immersed in Thomas Hardy’s Two on a Tower.
Further up on the hill is the historical Dodda Basavannagudi, popularly known as the Bull Temple. It is easily one of the city’s oldest tourist attractions. The Yelahanka prabhu, or chieftain Kempe Gowda often referred to as the ‘founder’ of Bangalore, is credited with building the temple in 1586. In the temple, an imposing garlanded Nandi, the celestial vehicle of Lord Shiva, occupies the centre of attraction. The bull has been carved out of a single granite block. Devotees believe that the idol has ‘grown’ from its original height of 4.57 to 6.2 meters, and length from 5.10 to 6 meters. In an attempt to limit its further growth, iron rods have been implanted in the bull’s head. Basavannagudi is built in classical Dravidian style, using gray granite polished with a mixture of charcoal and groundnut oil. The temple draws a large numbers of visitors — something that has been happening for many years. On the auspicious Shivaratri day, the temple witnesses a huge crowd. Legend has it that the peanut-growing fields in the surrounding villages were invariably ransacked on every fullmoon night. The angry farmers, seeing their cash crops ruined, long suspected this to be the work of a gang of serial robbers. To nab the marauders, the farming community armed itself with crowbars and axes and lathis, and waited in the green patches on the night of the fullmoon. Just when their long vigil was about to be abandoned, due to sleep and weariness, the farmers heard rustling sounds. Alerted, one of the farmers swung into action and charged in the direction of the sound. The axe struck a large body. Not wanting to take chances in the dark, other farmers also joined in the attack. By then the pointed end of a crowbar had delivered the coup de grace. Hearing the commotion, others from nearby homes came running to the scene of the massacre. To everyone’s horror they found that the rod had struck not a ‘thief’ but a ‘huge bull, golden in colour’. As dawn broke, the dead bull mysteriously disappeared. The farmers later learnt that the bull had come to the fields not to graze on the vegetation, but to guard the crop. Shortly thereafter, the farmers first made the connection to the incident and the discovery of a stone idol of a bull in the vicinity. The villagers rushed past the boulder swells and up the hillock to its top-most point. They found a motionless Nandi sitting there, overlooking the fields. They apologised before the bull. It is said that Kempe Gowda had visited the area soon after the catastrophic fullmoon incident. Seeing them on top of the hillock, he asked the farmers who they were propitiating. On being told the story, the pious and benevolent ruler went up the hill and offered his obeisance to the bull. Later, he built the temple. Now, half a millennium later, the ritual of thanksgiving continues as the kadalekayi parishe. Every year the first crop of peanuts is offered to the bull, following which is a grand fair. Grateful farmers believe they will get good rains and a bountiful crop if they offer their prayers on this festival day at the temple of the celestial bull.
— janardhanroye@gmail.com
