2,500 year old Chola temple in Palace turns a devotee hot spot

A temple at the precincts of Amba Vilas Palace, with paint flaking out at places, still attracts devotees in large numbers, on Mahashivaratri. Built by a Chola king, this temple with the diety of Someshwara is believed to be 2,500 years old. It has a firm place in the history, as the lore related to the founding of Yadu dynasty, to which the Wadiyar’s, the erstwhile rulers of Mysuru belong to, having a detailed account on its significance.

Sri Kodi Someshwara Swamy temple located at the corner of Jayamarthanda Gate of the Palace, is now being maintained by the department of Religious Endowment and Murzrai. The idol of Linga was consecrated by the Chola king Someshwara, according to its priest Narasimha Shastry.

Barring regulars, the temple is rarely visited by other people during normal days. On Tuesday, when the temple opened its doors in the early morning hours for Mahashivaratri, people visited the temple in large numbers, even till the midnight hours for night vigil. The temple remained open throughout the day to enable the devotees. On normal days, the temple is open between 7 am and 11 am, and 6 pm and 7.30 pm.

Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of royal scion Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar paid her obeisance at the temple. It has been a tradition among the Wadiyar’s to worship the deity regularly, irrespective of occasions, explains Shastry.

Shastry who inherited priesthood of the temple from his father Laskshminarasimha Shastry is the seventh generation priest of the same temple. According to him, the Chola king consecrated the Linga to ward off the sin he had committed, as mentioned in Srinivasa Kalyana. However, what makes the temple special is the idol of Lord Ganapathi, also consecrated in the same sanctrum sanctorum, a rarity in the temples.

The temple then was located on the kodi (shores) of Doddakere (lake) with the waters hitting against the stairs of the temple. It was at that time Yaduraya and Krishnaraya brothers came down to Mahishanaooru (which later became Mysore and Mysuru) from Dwaraka. The brothers were resting on the stairs of the temple, when they dreamt of helping a woman in distress, as mentioned in the books on Wadiyar’s. The brothers helped the woman in distress and Yaduraya married her daughter, thus laying the foundation for Yaduvamsha, the rulers of which came to be known as Wadiyar’s.