With this pic, I am beginning a new series of articles called ‘Explore Bangalore’. The Shikhara or Gopura (gateway tower) clicked below belongs to Sri Kalika Durga Parameshwari temple near Vidyaranyapura. Specialty of this tower is the sheer height, it is 108 feet tall. This temple is very famous for the various kind of special pooja’s are offered to goddess Durga. I had to attend a wedding of my engineering days classmate and since I had a bit of time, thought of visiting this temple!
Within this temple premises, you can find 9 different avatars of this goddess. Also, you can find many more idols including Sri Venkateshwara swamy, Narasimha, Krishna, Hanuman, Vijaya Durga devi, Kalika Devi, Sharabeshwar etc., Also while exiting this temple you can notice Nataraja idol made of cement. You can also notice sculptures all around the temple depicting various stories of the Goddess and Shiva. Since photography is not allowed inside the temple, I couldn’t click any of those except the main tower. See the bigger picture by clicking on the photo.
To reach this temple, you need to travel through ISKCON, Yeshwantpur, BEL circle and then towards Vidyaranya pura via Doddasandra. Special Pooja offered to the god every new moon day and on Tuesday/Friday/Sunday during Rahu kal. The temple also offers free lunch to visitors on special days.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Can I take My Car ride to kankadurga temple above the hill.
Hi Karthik, you can go to the temple by car and there is ample space to park your car. However, this temple isn’t on top of a hill AFAIK :)
More posts in the series?
Yes!!!
Nice post Mohan. Looking forward to more posts in the series!
Thanks Sujata. Sure will post more frequently going forward.
Nice thought Mohan. Appreciate your creative thinking nature with such beautiful photos. Any special dieties being performed here during navaratri? Please provide more info if you have. Looking forward to visit this place :)
Yes, I just got the confirmation that there will be special poojas being performed on each of the Navaratri day. Visit the temple during this durga pooja time, you will enjoy it better.
I’ve been to Vidyaranyapura several times.. Never visited this temple.
Hmm.. In my next visit probably.
I’m looking fwd to the “Explore Bangalore” series.. Its my fav city in the whole world. Pls include Indiranagar.. anything about it. Even the flyover will make me happy ;-) hee hee
You should visit the temple right now. Special poojas are going on right now at this Durga temple. Bangaloreans must visit this temple during navarathri days, which has started today!
Nice photograph. And temples in south India are so beautiful and imposing. If you come to Chennai, be sure to visit the Kabaleeswaran Temple in Mylapore. Another beauty. By the way, a technical point – a Shikhara is different from the Gopuram. Shikhara is the tower right above the ‘grabha griha’ whereas the Gopuram is the tower over the temple entrance – sorry couldn’t resist that since I was a student of history!
Ah! thanks for correcting. Sure, I will plan to cover that when I visit next time.
lovely post Mohan.
I am an ISKCON follower.
Thank you for this awsome post and picture..
Thanks! keep visiting back for more.
Good stuff mohan… keep writing such information. These will be my guides when I come down to India in another couple of years :)
Thanks! you can hire me as a guide too :D
Hi Mohan,
This is a wonderful initiative. I’m looking forward to more exciting places. I keep going to this Bhannerghatta zoo or forum or Bull temple, that it gets a little bit boring after some time. :-)
Cheers,
Iyappan
Sure, will post more about not so known places in and around bangalore :)
A very good initiative and I am sure this will help me a lot in exploring bangalore though its been 5 yrs now in Bangalore :)
My friend stays in Vidyaranya pura but we never spoke about this temple. Thanks a lot for sharing this info. Would love to see more such posts.
Yes! I know many people are like you out there :) There are lot of good things/places in and around Bangalore and one shouldn’t miss them… keep watching for more in this space :)