Gavi Gangadhareshwar Temple

Gavi gangadhareshwara temple is one of the oldest temples in Bangalore. It is inside a cave - hence the name.

The temple complex is on a monolithic rock. On the courtyard of the temple you will notice damaru(drum), trishula (trident) and two  discs, all of which are on stone pillars. The discs are called suryapana and chandrapana and they face each other. And there is a brass dhwajastambha (flag post).

Suryapana and Chandrapana facing each other

Dhwaja Stambha

Trishula

Damaru

Observe nandi on both sides

 The temple is inside the cave and you should climb down the stairs. The height of the cave tapers as you go inside the temple. The pradikshina paths (there are two of them) are so low that you need to bend and walk.

Every year on 14th January, on Makara Sankranti, the ray of sunlight passes through the nandi in front of the idol and then falls on the idol. People from all over the state come here to watch this wonderful spectacle.

Image from haribhakt.com

What kind of calculations might have been used to achieve this? The idol is at least 6-7  feet below ground and the door is quite narrow. So for the sun ray to pass through there to the idol is really great. It is really marvelous.

The temple was constructed by Kempegowda in 1600s. It seems there is also a painting of this temple in British records. Look at this image.

When I tried to get some background information on the temple, I came across a scholarly article in Livemint about the temple.  Have a look at it.

One more thing this article mentioned was that , the shadow of western pillar falls on eastern pillar and on other solstice, shadow of eastern pillar falls on western pillar.