Big Bull is the new attraction of Bengaluru

ENARADA, Bengaluru, November 24, 2014

By Guruprsad

The huge sculpture of Nandi (Vehicle of Lord Shiva) has added an excitement in Bengaluru, with devotees flocking to worship and atheists arriving to witness the beauty.

The Nandi statue with a height of 10.25 feet and a  length of 15 feet, weighs over 65 ton, was sculpted from a single black stone and installed amid religious programs including Homa, Mass Feeding and special pujas  on November 17 by Sri  Bayalu Basava Seva Trust at Sri Bayalu Basava (Open Nandi) Temple complex on Dommasandra- Chandapura road  in Kommasandra village, 2 kms from Muthanallur cross on Sarjapura Road.

Following a popular belief of Nandi blesses with good health and sensing a special power in the age-old temple, people of all ages and from all walks of life visit the temple on every Mondays, Shivarathri and  annual Jathra during Vijayadashami without fail.

The beauty of huge Nandi sculpture  in Bayalu Basava Temple complex at Kommasandra village near Sarjapur Road is attracting people from all walks of life. Terming it inauspicious to place the ‘big size’ Nandi in front of the temple where the original Nandi worshipped is smaller in size,  the new Nandi was installed at a ground near the temple. Photo by ENARADA.COM

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Volunteers prepares and distribute  tasty ‘rasayana’  prasadam using Banana, Jaggery and coconut offered by devotees. Enterprising devotees used to bring  grocery to prepare food, offer ‘Naivedhya’ and eat it by sharing with others present. Recently, cooks are appointed to prepare sumptuous ‘Prasada’ on every Monday’s, to distribute it, similar to the practice of ‘Dasoha'(Mass feeding) conducted by Lingayat mutts.

When the strength of devotees grew, Kommasandra  and neary villagers joined hands together to develop the temple further.

The big challenge was constructing a permanent structure for the idol of Basava. According to myth, Basava who was travelling  from  Mysore  to Tamilnadu, chose this place for staying permanently  as it was an open field and there were plenty of groundnuts to feast.

The deity of Basavanna at the Bayalu Basavanna temple. Photo by ENARADA.COM

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Many attempts to construct a temple was defeated in the past as Basava would strike the temple walls with his legs during night,  thinking it was an obstruction to roam around freely, according to old timers in the village. By keeping this point in mind, the trust formed by local people constructed the temple which is open all around and does not have a door for Girbha griha.

Muniraju .C., member of the trust, speaking to Enarada.com said over 350 devotees voluntarily  contributed Rs.85 Lakhs towards jeernodhara (renovation) of the temple.

“After erecting the compound wall for the temple property of 9Acres and 36 Guntas, people suggested to install a huge sculpture of Nandi in the open space in front of the temple  and the committee members of the trust agreed,” said Muniraju.

The separate fund mobilisation for Nandi project started in the month of May 2013 and the task of making a huge Nandi was entrusted to a team of 11 sculptures headed by Kumara velu and his son Vaidyan. Muniraju said his team has travelled to a quarry in Coimbatore 35 times so far starting from identifying the stone to installing it.

The temple trust committee revealed an interesting story  for installing the new Nandi  away from the temple, as against the  normal practice. According to them, a sudden crack developed  in the statue after about 40% of the work was over. The second attempt to sculpt the statue started by identifying a new stone. Again the crack appeared at the beginning of work. After consulting with scholars, it was decided to shift the venue,  as the new Nandi was  big in size  where as the original deity of Basavanna in the temple is small in size and the work went on smoothly.

“We have spent Rs.17.05 Lakh on the new Nandi deity, Rs.13.08Lakhs for constructing steel reinforced platform, Rs.73 Thousand for transportation and several lakhs for conducting special mandal pujas for 48 days from the day of inaugural. We are yet to provide a chamara (shelter) for Big Bull,” said Muniraju.

As the next task, temple administration is planning to construct a Kalayana Mantapa (Marriage hall) for the benefit of poor people.

The hardships of people involved in developing the temple are giving big dividends in the form of joy on the face of people who are visiting the temple.