Dharmaraya Swamy Temple

About Dharmaraya

Shri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple is one of the oldest and famous temple situated in Bangalore city. It is unique as it is dedicated to the Pandavas and not found anywhere else in India.

History

The exact historical background of the city and the history of the temple like the name of the builder, date of construction is not clear.

When we look at the history of the temple, it is believed that the temple was constructed by the Ganga Arasu people. These people also known as Vanhi Kula Kshatriyas or "Thigalas" The Archeology survey department which has undertaken a study of the stone and masonry has concluded that this temple is about 800 years old. It is also learnt that when Bangalore city was built by Kempe Gowda in 16th century, the Kempegowda Gopuras (towers) were built in the four corners of the city keeping the Sri Dharmarayaswamy Temple vimanagopura kalasa as a centre point. The four towers are the Ulsoor tower in the North-East, The Bellary Road Tower in the North-West, The Lalbagh Tower in the South-East, The Gavipura Tower in the South-West.

The Gonga Arasu or Ganga Arasu kings used to build their towns near lakes or river beds and also, built their temples at a lower level to the ground with a further lower level pradakshina patha. Sri Dharmaraya Swamy temple was built in the Sidhikatte lake bed area & it is below the land level that existed prior to current Bangalore. It is also learnt that this old town was called as Kalyanapuri, a Town of Temples, Ponds & Religious centres. Later, it was named as "Bendhakaluru" and then as "Bengaluru".

Karaga festival

Bangalore Karaga is a famous festival celebrated in honour of Mother Goddess Draupadi. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil, which is also symbolic of the power of women.

Karaga begins with the flag hoisting ceremony (Dhwajarohana). On the first day, the Veerakumaras and the priest wear janivara (sacred thread worn as a band over the left shoulder) and kankana(sacred thread tied on the wrist). Prayers are offered by the priest, the Veerakumaras and the Chakridaararu. From 2nd to 6th day, aarthi is performed in the evenings at the Cubbon Park shakti peeta and then at eight water sources used during the celebration. On the 6th day, women pray to Mother Draupadi Devi and perform an elaborate aarti. This ritual is also called as the festival of lights. The 7th day is known as Hasi karaga, during which, the goddess is symbolically readied for her marriage. She emerges from the lake, decorated as a bride and carries the kalasha(pot). The Veerakumaras pay their obeisances to her and escort her to the Sri Dharmarayaswamy Temple. On the 8th day, Pongal, prepared by the wives of the Veerakumaras, is offered to the goddess.

On the full moon day, the marriage of the goddess is performed and the utsav murthis are taken in a procession. This procession is performed in the night and this is the famous Karaga procession. The procession does not stop anywhere and is always in a dynamic state. The Prasada of lime received from the goddess is said to bring relief from ailments and misfortunes. The 10th day is Shanthi pooje to Potha raja, a guardian deity and the brother in law of the Pandavas. The 11th day is Vasanta utsava and finally, the flag is brought down signalling the end of festivities.

Interestingly, the Karaga priest has to perform austerities for six months before the Karaga and during this period, he wears his wife’s Mangala sutra. It is returned to the wife during a symbolic marriage ceremony on the 10th day of Karaga. She will not be seeing her husband from the time of Vijayadashami as he will reside in the temple till the Karaga is over. So when the Karaga procession stops in front of her house, unlike the other devotees, she cannot come out to be blessed.

Gowdas, Ganacharyas, Chakridaararu are the ordained sects among the Vahnikula Kshatriyas to carry the tradition of conducting the Karaga. Chakridararu are those who perform the various pooja activities at the time of Karaga. These include the ghante poojaris, who are the gurus and carry out the temple rituals, the family of the Karaga priest, the descendants from the clan of Potaraja, Banka dasayya (announcers of the Karaga) and Kolkararu (messengers). These five families have a Kula purohita(clan priest), who is a Brahmin. He performs rituals as per the shastras (sacred texts). All the rituals are steeped in secrecy. Overall management and supervision of the festivities is done by Ganacharyas. All these categories of functionaries are supervised by the Gowdas, who ensure smooth functioning. Karaga or Karagaattam actually represents a dance by females, generally Devadasis. Devadasis are none other than degraded buddhist nuns_they were forced to do this.

Architecture and styles

The temple resembles the architectural features of the Gangas, the Pallavas and the Vijayanagara styles. The garbhagruha is in Ganga style, the vimanagopura is in Pallava style and the mukhamantapa is in Vijayanagar style, which shows the development of this temple in three different ages. The fourth stage of development of rajagopura and sabhangana was taken up in 20th century.

The earlier rajagopura was built well before Kempe gowda founded Bangalore in the year 1530 A.D. Kempe Gowda was an ardent devotee of this temple. Bangalore city was designed keeping this temple as its reference. The temple area was developed as Halasuru pete. This area is also known as Kalyanapuri. The temple had vast area around with a Kalyani & Dharmachatra, which however are not found today.

There were Pallavas style carved chambers between prangana & the newly built sabhangana, these carved chambers were removed and replaced by Ashtalakshmi Idols. The study quotes that the vimanagopura which is in the Pallava style matches with that of the Magadi temples & Halasuru temples built by Kempe Gowda.

Historical records

The temple records reveal that Sri Immadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar of Mysore visited the temple in 1811 A.D. to confirm for himself the fame and real truth of Karaga Shakthyotsava since it was as famous as the Mysore Dasara even during those days. The king brought two sharpened swords (Alagu) as presents to the temple, to perform the Aluguseva with these alagus and to test whether the Alaguseva was true of not. The Veerakumaras of the temple accepted the alagu and performed the Alaguseva. The two swords broke into pieces when the Veerakumaras offered alaguseva to the Goddess. The king was overwhelmed and became an ardent devotee of the goddess Adhishakthi Draupadi. After this incident, it is said that the king’s sick mother recovered from a fatal disease and the king also had a peaceful and prosperous life. The king was happy and donated huge properties in the form of land and jewels to the temple.

The administration of the temple was taken up by the Mysore royal family. The Dharmadarshi committee managed the temple in the name of the Maharaja of Mysore. After independence, the temple was taken to Muzrai department with special community privileges. Presently this temple is the oldest temple in the Muzrai records and is maintained by the Muzrai department.

More than the Historical references and its backgrounds, the practices followed by the temple serve as a proof of its antiquity. The sthothras recited during the Karaga Shaktyotsava are in the aravu language, spoken prior to the historical period.