Sri Panchalingeshwara Temple, Govindanahalli

9th August 2009

Govindanahalli is a small village about 5 km from Kikkeri. Strangely, the priest at Brahmeshwara Temple in Kikkeri was not aware of Govindanahalli. A person who was in the Temple overheard my conversation with the priest and provided me the directions to Govindanahalli.

As we approached Panchalingeshwara Temple at Govindanahalli, an air of freshness swept across. The Temple was situated amidst the fields and was visible from a far distance. It was nice to see the Temple neatly maintained Temple with lawns surrounding it.


The Temple was quite huge with five Sanctums in the same Temple. Each has Shiva lingas which are named as Ishanyeshwara, Tatpurusheshwara, Aghoreshwara, Vamadeveshwara and Sadyojateshwara. A statue of Nandi is present in front of these sanctums. While Aghoreshwara and Vamadeveshwara have Nandi statues outside the Temple, others are inside the Temple.

The Temple has a long corridor, but lack of light inside the Temple made the task of taking picture difficult.


We found that sculptures were missing in some places of the Temple. One possible explanation is that they were stolen.

These empty areas formed favorite place for my daughter to pose for the camera!!



A local at the Temple could not provide much information about the Temple. The “Shashana” (writing) inside a Temple might provide some details. But decoding the old script was not a task for a novice like me. One of the sculptures had a name “Ruvari Mallitamma” scripted on it. He must be the one who built the Temple.


A nice piece of art from Hoysalas!!

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