Bull or Nandi Temple in Karnataka
Nandi temple in Karnataka is also known as Bull Temple that belongs to the 16th century. The Nandi temple enshrines a sacred bull called as Nandi who is Lord Shiva’s vahana. This Nandi Temple or Bull Temple is located in the capital city of Bangalore, Karnataka. The Nandi temple enhances the Dravidian style of architecture.
The Nandi temple was built by Kempe Gowda. The idol of Nandi is carved with a single granite rock of about 4.6mts tall.It is a sculptural magnum opus. The idol of Nandi or Bull is faces towards Lord Shiva haunch at the back with idols of Lord Surya and Goddess Candra on their chariots drawn by horses. The Nandi temple enshrines a small Lingam adorned in a beautiful Gopuram. Since the Bull is called as Basava, the locals named this temple as Basavanagudi. It is believed that from the idol if Nandi the river Vishwa Bharathi originates from its feet in the Nandi or Bull temple. The Nandi temple premises has a unique and large Ganesh idol made of 110 kilos of butter in the Ganesh temple. And this deity of butter is distributed as a prashada on every four years to devotees.
History of Bull Temple:
There is a great history for the Nandi temple in Karnataka, when a legend known as Sunkenahalli was cultivated for groundnut then a bull started grazing in the well-grown groundnut crop. On seeing this a farmer got enraged and hit the bull with a club, immediately the bull sat down becoming motionless and was transformed into a stone. The farmers felt guilty for their repentance and built a temple for the bull. And the Bull started growing in height, then the farmers were worried and prayed to Lord Shiva who advised them to redeem a trident buried a few feet away from the bull and place the trident on the forehead of the stone statue to stop it from growing. Farmers followed the Lord’s advice and the bull stopped growing. Even today one can see the trident placed on bull’s forehead. From then onwards farmers of that place offer their first groundnut crop to the Bull and held a Groundnut fair near Nandi temple premises named as Kadalekayi Parishe every year in the months of November and December.