About

Dodda Basavana Gudi OR Basavana Gudi popularly known as bull temple located in is situated in Bull Temple Road, Basavanagudi, whose name came because of the temple itself. Basavana means Bull’s and Gudi means Temple. The Bull Temple is one of the oldest temples in Bangalore built in 1537, during the period of Kempe Gowda, who is known as the founder of Bangalore. the bull is honored as Shiva's mount in this temple on the same platform as the Vishvanath Temple. It is also called "Nandi temple". The temple has a giant bull (4.6 meters tall), carved out of a single boulder. It is a sculptural masterpiece.  The monolithic bull is believed to be much older than the temple itself. The image of 'Nandi' has been made out of a single granite stone. Initially, the color of the bull was grey and gradually, it turned black as devotees apply coconut oil to it. As per the sayings, the river Vishwa Bharathi originates from the feet of 'Nandi, the bull. Behind this enormous image, there is a Shiva lingam. Like most of the other temples of India, Bull Temple also has a story behind its establishment. It is believed that the temple was constructed to pacify a bull, who tried to gnaw away the entire groundnut grown in the fields nearby. It is also thought that the statue keeps on growing in size further and further. One can see a trident on the forehead of the bull. It is said that the trident was placed here as per the advice of Lord Shiva, to prevent the bull from growing further. 

The architectural style of the temple rejuvenates the notion of Dravidian architecture. In the vicinity of this temple, there is a shrine of Lord Ganesha by the name of Dodda Ganesha Temple. The unique feature about this shrine is that the huge image of the Lord is made out of 110 kilograms of butter after every four years. It is amazing to know that the butter never melts. After every four years, the butter deity is broken and distributed amongst the devotees. 

Festival 

Kadalekaye Parishe (Groundnut Fair)

The Bull Temple houses the Nandi bull revered as the vehicle of Shiva. Legend has it that this temple was built to appease a bull called Basava that would raid the fields and destroy the crops just before the harvest in and around Basavanagudi, which was then known as Sankenahalli, a village predominantly surrounded by groundnut fields, thus causing a lot of apathy to the farmers.  the tradition followed for more than five millennia by Kannadigas and the migrants who embraced the culture still creates magic. The more than a kilometer stretch from Ramakrishna Mutt till the Bull Temple with vendors, buyers, devotees, and tourists is a testimony to the fact that tradition is kept alive. This year the two-day annual groundnut fair will begin near Dodda Basavanagudi (Big Bull Temple) and Dodda Ganapathi Temple in Basavanagudi.

The fair begins on the eve of Karthika Somawara (last Monday of Hindu month of Karthika) and is called the chikka parishe (small fair) followed by the dooda parishe (big fair) on the next two days. Over 500 small farmers and traders put up their stalls all along the Bull Temple Road pavement starting from Ramakrishna Ashram. In the past, Basavanagudi was surrounded by places like Guttahalli, Mavalli, Dasarahalli and other places where groundnut was cultivated. On every full moon day a bull would charge into the groundnut fields and damage the crop. The farmers then offered prayers to Basava Nandi to stop this and pledged to offer their first crop.

Subsequently, an Idol of Basava was found close by. It has been said that the Idol was growing rapidly, and the farmers nailed an iron peg on the head of the idol, which is visible in the form of a trishula even to this date. Later in the year 1537, Kempe Gowda dedicated a temple to ‘Dodda Basava’ on top of the Basavanagudi hillock and installed the Idol. This temple is known as the Bull Temple. Ever since the farmers from surrounding villages come here every year and offer their annual harvest of groundnut as offering to Lord Basava. This is accompanied by the annual fair, which is known as the Kadlekai Parishe.

The fair is held in obeisance to Lord Basava. More than 6 lakh people participate and Rs 10-crore turnover is expected this year. Apart from groundnuts, there are stalls selling bangles, traditional toys, clay trinkets, and food items. The fair is being organized by the Department of Muzrai and the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, and special arrangements have been made for devotees to have darshan at Bull Temple and nearby temples.

history of Kadlekai Parishe.

A  legend behind the Kadlekai Parishe is that in olden days farmers were aghast to learn that their crop was being devoured in the night by some, one of the farmers wanted to investigate and on Kaarthika Maasa night which was pitch dark, he found out that the culprit was none other than Lord Shiva’s abode Nandi or Basava. Since then farmers collectively pledged their first crop to the Lord Basava. Another legend founder of Bangalore Kempe Gowda had come to the temple and learned about the story. He had prayed for the welfare of the farmers at the temple, where he had a vision of a treasure which he acquired later was used to build a temple based on the architecture of Hampi of Vijayanagar empire. Incidentally, the big Bull Temple or the Basava Temple is on the hillock near Bugle Rock in Basavanagudi.

Timings