Someshwara Temple Halasuru

Getting there

• By road

  The Namma Metro station Halasuru is on Old Madras Road, at the end closer to CMH Road. The other station in the area, Trinity, is at Trinity Circle.

Why devotees come here

Someshwara Temple in Halasuru, Bengaluru, is dedicated to Shiva and is said to be the oldest temple in the city. A legend says Kempe Gowda was told in a dream to build it with buried treasure. Its open hall has forty-eight carved pillars.

Someshwara is Shiva, and the temple is said to be the oldest in Bengaluru. The temple stands in Halasuru, also known as Ulsoor, one of the oldest neighbourhoods in central Bengaluru. Legend says Kempe Gowda, whose capital was Yelahanka, was out on a hunt far from home when the local deity appeared to him in a dream. In the dream the deity asked him to build a temple using buried treasure.

Major additions and changes were made in the late Vijayanagara period, under Hiriya Kempe Gowda II. Three generations of the Yelahanka dynasty also renovated and beautified the temple. Workers relaying the courtyard floor later found blackstone idols believed to be about 1,200 years old, and sculptures from the Ganga period were found here too.

The temple has a square sanctum, the garbhagriha, meaning the inner chamber, with a narrow passageway around it. The open mantapa, a pillared hall, has forty-eight pillars carved with divinities in frieze. The eastern gopuram, the tower over the entrance, is a typical 16th century structure. Mahashivaratri, Brahmotsavam and Karthika Somawaram are its main festivals.

Festivals

• AprilSomeshwara Car festival

  The idol is taken in procession on a flower chariot.

• ShivaratriMahashivaratri

  A major festival for Shiva devotees, with more than 100,000 visitors.

Tips for your visit

• Anna prasadam is provided every Monday.
• Sri Subrahmanya Temple, Halasuru, is close to this temple.

Questions people ask