Hoysala Malleshwara Temple, Machalaghatta

     "Machalaghatta" is a sleepy village of Nagamangala taluk , Mandya District. This place houses a lesser known Malleshwara temple belonging to the 13th century probably built during the reign of Hoysala king Someshwara.

         With this little information, our search began for this place. After a lot of inquiries of the route to this place, we drove towards  to Cheenya (located on the Nagamangala -Pandavapura road). After making it to Cheenya , an elderly person rightly directed us to the Machalaghatta village. Finally, after a few inquiries we reached the temple which was situated outside the village. At the first look, we knew the temple had under gone renovations.

Malleshwara Temple

   This soap stone temple doesn't  have an appearance like the other famous Hoysala temples from outside. Though it felt simple compared to the Hoysala standards, it looked wonderful. The temple was locked and without a single soul around, we had to head back to the village to find out the priest's whereabouts. We found out that the priest lived in the neighboring village(Raghuramapura). We reached  the neighboring village only to find the priest pretty busy with his agricultural work. On approaching him, he was kind enough to make an alternate arrangement for us to see the temple. Thanks to him since we were able to see the temple interiors which turned out to be a Hoysala master piece. The pillars, ceilings, door frames, lintels and sculptures were all intricately carved .

Outer Ceiling

Central Ceiling

Central Ceiling - Full View

   The central ceiling is an 8 angled star shaped lotus with 3 blocks of carvings in each angle, the center one depicting the Ashtadikpalas while the others contained  mango leaves, toranas and orchestra.

Pillar

Nandi

Door Frame

Lintel

Lord Malleshwara

Lord Ganapathi

Sapthamathrikas

   There are some Kannada  inscriptions on the outer wall of the temple. There is also a beautiful sculpture of Lord Bhairava, just opposite to the entrance of the temple. There is a hero stone by the side of the temple . and a little farther away from the temple.  

Inscriptions

Pillar

Lord Bhairava

Hero Stone

Parvathi Parameshawara

        This is a  wonderful place to visit and  is very close to the famous Melukote temple. The temple was renovated with the help of Mr Hedge (Dharmadhikari of Dharmastala ). The temple priest's contact numbers are as follows: 9845781822 (Kumar) and 8861962968 (Raju) - Both residents of Raghuramapura

     Directions from Bangalore : Bangalore - SH17- Mandya - Right turn (towards Melukote) - Jakkanahalli - Right turn (towards Nagamangala)- Travel about 6 kms - Right turn (there is a small board in Kannada) - Travel about 2 kms to reach Machalaghatta

Distance from Bangalore : 135 kms

Places to visit around : Melukote , Nagamangala, Hosaholalu, Kikkeri, Govindanahalli, Ranganathittu bird sanctuary and many more .

Trip Date: 26 Jan 2011

Related posts:
1. Sri Kalleshwara Temple, Anguru  
2. Temples of Aralaguppe
3. 100 lesser known temples of Karnataka