I could even have called this post ‘The Tale of Two Brothers”, only displaced in time, that is “:)
The ‘older’ brother – is the Nandi, in front of Hoysaleswara temple in Halebeedu.The temple was built during the reign of King Vishnuvardhana (1121 AD).
It is a duet temple, and has two shrines to Shiva – one in the name of the king – Hoysaleshwara, and one in the name of his queen Shantala – Shantaleshwara. Two huge Nandis face the shrines.
Here is one of those Nandis – which I call “ಅಣ್ಣ” – Older brother 🙂
The Nandi below is another famed bull from Karnataka – This is in Chamundi hill near Mysore. The statue seems to be from sometime during Mysore’s Odeyars rule – definitely a creation from a time later than the 15th century.
I call this one “ತಮ್ಮ” – Younger brother :). If you go to Chamundi hill, do not miss to pay him a visit.
The ‘brothers’ may be centuries old, but remain as charming as when they were sculpted!
According to the Wikipedia, both these are among the largest 7 Nandis in India.
Picture courtesy: My camera.
-neelanjana
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ಆಗಷ್ಟ್ 7, 2009 at 9:39 ಅಪರಾಹ್ನ
Karthik
I visited the Nandi at Lepakshi just last week, and I really must agree with you about the charm and grandeur of it. Truly majestic and beautiful. Still have to see the ones at Rameshwaram and Thanjavur out of the 7 largest in India.
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ಸೆಪ್ಟೆಂಬರ್ 23, 2009 at 10:58 ಫೂರ್ವಾಹ್ನ
A South Karnataka Slideshow « ಅಲ್ಲಿದೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮನೆ
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