Move over Türkiye and Azerbaijan, India has some stunning historical places, and many of them off the tourism radar. While test driving the new Kia Carens Clavis, we discovered two such sites, which, unfortunately, even our friends in Bengaluru hadn’t heard about.
One is a queen’s temple, another a rebel’s fort.
Bhoganandishwara Temple
An officer of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told us that the temple, 50 km north of Bengaluru, is perhaps the finest and the most ornate of the Dravidian temples in Karnataka. It’s a twin-temple built side-by-side. The northern shrine is dedicated to Bhoganandishwara (a form of Lord Shiva), and the southern to Arunachaleshwara (also a form of Shiva).
Each shrine consists of a garbhagriha (womb chamber, or the innermost sanctum), a navaranga (hall of worship), and a sukanasi (chamber between garbhagriha and navaranga).
The ceiling over them has ashtadikpalakas (guardians of eight directions), with Shiva and Parvati in the central panel. These eight directions in Hinduism are East (Purva), Southeast (Agneya), South (Dakshin), Southwest (Nairutya), West (Paschim), Northwest (Vayavya), North (Uttara), and Northeast (Ishanya).
In front of the navaranga is the Nandi Mandapa (housing the statue of Nandi, Shiva’s sacred bull).
It is among the oldest surviving temples in India (constructed started in 810 CE, and continued for over a century), but the most important feature of this temple complex is that it was made by a queen – Ratnavali, the chief consort of Bana King Bana Vidyadhara.
Gudibande Fort
Almost 50 km further north lies the Gudibande Fort. Driving directly from Bengaluru, you have to take the NH44, the longest highway in India – from Kanyakumari to Srinagar – and turn left from a village called Varlakonda. The NH44 is a busy highway, but as you turn left, you will likely see roads so empty, they feel haunted.
A drive 10 km further takes you to the beautiful and blue Bhairasagara Lake. The place hardly sees traffic, and you’ll have a hard time locating plastic waste, a usual sight at most tourist destinations.
A 5-minute drive further, to your right, you’ll almost miss the Gudibande Fort. “It wasn’t supposed to attract enemy attention,” a tea-shop owner told us. “It’s made entirely of stones from the hill on top of which it’s located, and that ensures it blends with the environment.”
You have to take a few hundred stairs to the top, which takes about an hour. The fort, the story goes, was constructed by a chieftain Byre Gowda in the 17th century. Locals say he used to rob the rich and help the poor – a Robin Hood-kind of character, but unlike Robin Hood, Byre Gowda was a real person.
The walls of the fort are well preserved, and on top is a Shiva temple. Locals told us it’s one of the 108 Jyotirlingas – the lingam, or the radiant sign of the Almighty – in the world. But there are signs of disfigurement, a common sight at all tourist places in India.
Gudibande is a place where you would come to do nothing. For people who love to drive, or ride a bicycle, the drive is a heaven, so is the place. The roads are well-paved, free of traffic, and the air as clean as it perhaps was in the times of Byre Gowda.
Go visit India – it can change your life.