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| The Parvati and Kumaraswamy temples in Sandur KA deccanherald.com |
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| Kumaraswamy temple, sandur, Bellary dist., KA .deccanherald.com |
The Kumaraswamy temple and the adjacent Shiva-Parvati temple close to Sanduru, Bellary district Karnataka are famous places of pilgrimage for the Hindus. Roughly 1200 years old the temples are located in the midst of thickly wooded areas. Both temples built by the Chalukyas rulers are nationally protected monuments. Once known as as Skandapuri in honour of the temple dedicated to Skanda, or Kumaraswamy, lots of devotees come here for worship and prayer.
The Kumaraswamy and Parvati temples built in the eighth century by the Chalukyas of Badami have highly intricate carvings. Hence in this area rich in iron and manganese ores mining activities are banned by the central government. The quarrying work close to the temples may affect the basic foundation of them as the miners frequently used controlled explosion to widen the quarries.
The presence of these temples was not known until the 15th century when it was discovered in the the thickly-wooded Swamimalai hills by the ruling clan of this area- forefathers of M.Y. Ghorpade, a member of the ruling clan. The main deity is Shiva nd his consort Parvati. The other temple is dedicated to God Kumara swamy, son of God Shiva.
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| Kumaraswamy temple Sandur, KA seeglobal.in/ |
An interesting aspect of this temple dedicated to God Kumaraswamy was until 1990s women were not allowed inside the temple though they could visit the Parvati temple for prayer and bhajan. The reason for not admitting women into the temple is beyond comprehension. The temple priests used to say God Kumaraswamy was almost like a saint and did not prefer women entering the temple premise. He looked upon each woman as his mother, hence women were not even allowed to have a glance of the idol of god in the sanctum. They barricaded the sanctum and used curtain to prevent women taking a peep into the deity in the garbagriha.
In the case of Sabarimala Ayyappan Swamy temple located at roughly 4134 ft tall hills in the Western Ghat area (a part of Periyar Tiger Reserve) Kerala state the god is a Brahmachari (celibate). The presiding deity symbolizes confluence of Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and other Śramaṇa traditions Lots of women visit this hill temple every year during the Mandalapuja days (15 November to 26 December and Makara sankaranthi time (14 january), etc but, before the age of 10 and after the age of 50. Sabarimala doesn’t distinguish people on the base of religion unlike other temples in Kerala. However, women in the reproductive age are strictly not allowed to enter the temple. For nearly two years, women's non entry became a controversy across the country and particularly the politicians made a mountain out of a molehill.
In the case of Kumara Swamy temple, the ex-ruler of this area Murarirao Yeshwantrao Ghorpade, (M.Y. Ghorpade,) who was a Finance minister in the Congress ministry of Karnataka and also a chief trustee of this temple was influential and took serious steps and introduced certain social reforms and facilitated the entry of women into Kumarawamy temple in 1996 shunning discriminatory attitude toward women.
Way back in the 1930 when temple entry of Harijans (dalits) became a serious issue across India spearheaded by Gandhiji, in places like Madurai, etc of Tamil Nadu, Harijans were allowed to enter the Kumaraswamiy temple and pray near the sanctum for the first time. The credit again goes to ex-ruler M.Y. Ghorpad, a western educated person with progressive attitude. After learning of this on his visit to Sandur in 1934, Mahatma Gandhi said, “A small state in south India has opened the temple to the Harijan, the heavens
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| Kumaraswamy temple Sandur, Bellary dist. KAmacrotrekkingteam |
During the same period in the 1930s Maharajah Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma on November 12, 1936 made a proclamation and abolished the ban on the so-called 'low caste people' or avarnas from entering Hindu temples in the Princely State of Travancore, now part of Kerala, India. Popular lawyer and Congressman A. Vaidyanatha Iyer (16 May 1890 – 23 February 1955) of Madurai on the advice of Gandhiji and Rajaji with support from Muthuramalinga Thevar (as associate of Netaji) spearheaded the temple entry movement in Madurai Meenakshi temple of the then Madras Presidency in 1939.
Tit-Bits:
The National Institute of Rock Mechanics (NIRM) in 2019 submitted a report to the Mines and Geology department and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), stating that the mining within the 500-metre radius of Kumaraswamy Temple in Swami Malai forest will have adverse effect on the old temple monument and the bio-diversity of this region. The local people also demanded the government not to allow any mining operation within the radius of 2 km from the temple to save the fauna, fauna and the old temples.
https://www.civilsocietyonline.com/travel/an-oasis-in-a-valley/
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