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 Bangalore
Chokkanarayan
Swamy Temple
Domlur
 Did you know
there is 10th century Chola temple situated in a by lane, very close to
 the main Domlur Road is west-facing , called the Chokkanarayan Swamy
temple which is the oldest in the
City. The
temple stands on a high base and probably was in the centre of the
locality and once a prominent structure. One question you may ask Chokka
means it should be a Shiva Temple , no your are mistaken it is Temple of
Lord MahA Vishnu, yes in Chokka mean beautiful in Telugu, You may see the
deity and say Swami Entha Chokka anka Unaru? ( That means how
beautiful swami is is )
The illustrious kings of the Chola, Pallava, Hoysala, Vijayanagar,
dynasties who were great patrons of scholars, but they have built several
temples in Southern India.
The pilasters in the sanctum sanctorum and the Navaranga walls and the
name Chokka Perumal, suggests that the temple is of Chola origin, there
are some old Grantham scripts to prove it was built by Cholas The whole of
the Chola belongings of Bangalore were in the Illaipakka Nadu (present day
Yelahanka) of Rajendra Solavala Nadu (Gangaikondacholan). Domlur itself is
referred to as Tombalur and as Desimanikkapattanam in the inscriptions.
T he Epigraphia Karnataka , Volume 9 of Bangalore district mentions
six inscriptions. The Tamil inscriptions of Chakravarthi
Posalaviraramanatha Deva are addressed to the authorities of all temples
in his kingdom. One epigraphy says that all kinds of taxes, tributes and
tolls of Sondekoppa village have been granted by Devaraya II of
Vijayanagar to the temple. The wet and dry lands in Tombalur together with
wells, trees, houses are granted to Lord Sokkapperumal.
On
the door frame dated about 1270 AD, it is written in Tamil that one
Alagiyar donated the two door posts. Another Tamil inscription says, one
Talaikkattu (maybe a general) and his wife donated as tax-free the temple
property, for the God Tripurantaka Perumal, as also the dry and wet lands
in the village of Jalapalli, the tank at Vinnamangalam and other lands
below the big tank of Tombalur. The charge of the temple was given to
Talai Sankurappachariyan.
Another inscription speaks of Poysala veera Ramananda who donated 10 pens
for the temple from the Tombalur revenue account in 1290AD. From the
inscriptions in Kannada, on the stonewall skirting the door entrance, as
also an inscription on the right which has the seal of a cow and its calf.
Renovation of this monument has been extensively done, as the original
structures are only the sanctum sanctorum, and two ardhamantapas in front
of it. One of this has an underground cell that is fully covered. This was
earlier meant to store valuables. All that remains is a pointer that is
slightly longer than its counterpart, on the inner side of the arch
jutting downwards.
The
images of Maha Vishnu or Chokka Perumal, his consorts Sri and Bhoo in
 the
garbhagruham, are carved from the saligrama stone from Gantaki Nadi
(Nepal), the only place where the sacred stone is found. It was found that
one of his consorts Bhoo Devi had a small chip off her nose. To correct
this, the entire figure was scraped and the same was done to the other
consort Sri Devi too. There is also equally beautiful Uthsavar Moorthy of
Chokka Narayana swamy with Sri and Bhoo Devi.
The Thirumanjanam is performed to the main deity only on Saturdays.
The
Vijayanagar style Navaranga pillars and the front mantapa are later
additions. The sculpture on
 the Navaranga pillars depict the kolata scene,
fight of Vali
and Sugreeva and a lion figure at the base. An interesting feature is the
presence of eight pranic points discovered by a retired chief executive
engineer 10 years ago.
The Chola temple was renovated 20 years back and the whitewashing was sand
blasted thereby restoring its antiquity. On the outside, at the right
corner to the front is a Ganesha shrine, which is a later day addition.
The Cholas are credited for bringing Vaishnavisam to Karnataka in the late
10th century and early 11th century. It was the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhan
who brought it to the heartland of Gangavadi around 1116.
Just
a furlong further down is an Anjaneya temple and it is said that if a line
is to be drawn the head of his deity is positioned beneath the feet of
Chokkanathaswamy. Though the oldest among the three old temples in
Bangalore, the other two - Gavi Gangadhareswara and Ulsoor Someshwara are
more well known ( They are Shiva Temple) .
As per
Pancharathra agama daily Aradhana's are performed and in the month of
April/ May ( Annual Car
festival of the Lord is conducted . Special Pooja is conducted on
UGADI Day , Vishnu Deepam, Dhannur masa Pooja and Thommal Sevai Alankaram
is done on Vaikunta Ekadasi Day.
The Temple Timings are Daily Morning 8.30 Am to 12.00 Pm and Evening 6.00 Pm to
9.00 Pm. On Saturday special Pooja is done
Smt.Shakunthala Mami ,
Sri Chokkanarayan Swamy Temple,
Domlur, Bangalore :560036.
Cell : 9448083815 Tel: +91 80 25353815
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