Karanatakavaishnavatemples.net

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.

The 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

Sri. Keshavachar , Bhattar ,
Sri Chokkanarayan Swamy Temple,
Domlur, Bangalore :560036.  Tel: +91 80 252