Kopeshwar Temple is at Khidrapur,

Kolhapur district Kolhapur district (Marathi pronunciation: olʱaːpuɾ is a district in the Maharashtra state of India. The city of Kolhapur is its district headquarter. It is situated near Panchaganga river. It is bordered by the Sangli district to the Nor ...

, Maharashtra. It is at the border of Maharashtra and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

. It is also accessible from

Sangli Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks o ...

as well. It was built in the 12th century by

Shilahara The Shilahara Kingdom (IAST: Śilāhāra; also Sinhara, Shailahara, Shrilara, and Silara) was a royal dynasty that established itself in northern and southern Konkan in 8th century CE, present-day Mumbai and Southern Maharashtra ( Kolhapur) ...

king Gandaraditya between 1109 and 1178 CE. It is to the east of Kolhapur, ancient & artistic on the bank of the

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

river. Even though Silaharas were Jain kings, they built and renovated various Hindu temples, thus depicting their respect and love for all religions. Kopeshwar means angry

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

Structure

The entire temple is divided into four parts ''Swargamandapa'', ''Sabhamandapa'',''Antaral kaksha'' and ''Garbha gruha''. The Swargamandapa has a vestibule with an open top. The sanctum is conical. The exterior has stunning carvings of deities and secular figures. Elephant statues sustain the weight of the temple at the base. In the interior, we first see Vishnu (Dhopeshwar) & Shivaling facing north. But there is no Nandi who has a separate Mandir. Separate Actor-Pendal also called swarga mandap, hall, old pillars, carvings of gods & male and female artists in various poses are attractive. The ceiling is semi-circular with matchless engravings. On the outside, complete 'Shivaleelamrit' is carved. The Kopeshwara, an ancient & artistic temple situated on the bank of Krishna is a fine example of ancient sculpture. It was built in the 11-12 century by

. The ceiling is semi-circular with matchless engravings. Inside there is a statue of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within ...

( Dhopeshwar) and Shivling " Kopeshwar " facing north. There is no Nandi who has a separate Mandir. Separate Actor-Pendal, hall, old pillars, carvings of gods & male-female artists in various poses are attractive. This is the only Shiva temple in India with an idol of Vishnu.

The Legend

It is believed that Daksha, who did not like his youngest daughter Sati marrying Lord Shiva, conducted a Yagna to which he did not invite the couple. Sati visited her father's house on Shiva's Nandi to confront her father. Dakhsa insulted her in front of the guests present at the Yagna. Unable to bear any further insults, Sati jumped in the fire of Yagna and immolated herself. When Lord Shiva came to know about it he was infuriated. He punished Daksha by severing his head. Lord Vishnu pacified Shiva whereupon he restored Daksha's head but with a goat's head. The furious Shiva was brought to this place by Lord Vishnu to calm him down. Hence the temple got its unusual name as Kopeshwar (wrathful god). This explains why Lord Vishnu is in the temple in the form of a ling along with Shivling and Nandi is not seen in this temple as Sati rode on the Nandi while visiting her parents' home.

History

The present temple was built by Shilahara kings who were native to Karnataka. They were feudatories of Rashtrakuta. Apart from the legend, the name might have originated from the ancient name of the town, which was "Koppam". The town witnessed two major battles. The first one took place in 1058 CE between

Chalukya The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

king Ahavamalla and

Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century B ...

king Rajendra. The Chola king Rajadhiraja was killed during the battle, and the coronation of the second king, Rajendra Chola took place right on the battlefield. The second battle took place between Shilahara king Bhoj-II and Devagiri

Yadav Yadav refers to a grouping of traditionally non-elite, Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern state ...

king Singhan-II, during which king Bhoj-II was captured by Yadavas and was kept captive on the fort of Panhala. This event is recorded in the 1213 CE inscription near the south entrance of the temple. This battle brought the rule of the Kolhapur branch of Shilaharas to end.Deglurkar, 2016 There are about a dozen inscriptions on the inside and outside of this temple, out of which only a couple of inscriptions are in good condition now. These inscriptions reveal the names of few kings and their officers. All these inscriptions except one are in Kannada language and script. The only Devanagari inscription in Sanskrit language is by Singhan-II and is located on the outer wall near South entrance of the temple.

Swarga Mandap

When we enter the Svarga Mandap, it is open to the sky with a circular opening. Looking at the sky one gets mesmerised and gets a feeling of looking at the heavens, justifies the name Svarga Mandap. At the periphery of the Svarga Mandap we can see beautifully carved idols of Lord Ganesh, Karthikeya swami, Lord Kubera, Lord Yamraj, Lord Indra, etc. along with their carrier animals like peacock, mouse, elephant etc. If we stand at the center of the Svarga Mandap we can see idols of Lord Brahma on the left hand side wall of the entrance of sabha mandap. In the centre, we can see the Lord Shiva Kopeshwar shivling situated in the Garbh Gruha & towards right hand side wall we can see the beautifully carved idol of Lord Vishnu. So at one glance we can see the Tridev ' Brahma Mahesh Vishnu '. A stone pedestal mounted east of the temple's southern door has a carved inscription in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

, written in

Devnagari script Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ...

. It mentions that the temple was renovated in 1136 by Raj Singhadev of yadav dynasty.

Pop culture

This temple recently came into the limelight when the film shoot of Katyar Kaljat Ghusali was done for the song of "Shiv Bhola Bhandari" in the temple.

Nearest cities

is 36 km and

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is k ...

is 60 km

Nearest Railway Station

Sangli railway station is 36 km

Sources

* Kanhere, Gopal Krishna. ''The Temples of Maharashtra''. Maharashtra Information Centre 1989 p. 105 asif * Deglurkar, G. B. "Koppeshwar (Khidrapur) Mandir Ani Moorti". 2016. Snehal Prakashan, Pune.

References

External links

Kopeshwar temple in Khidrapur

Gallery

KopeshwarTempleKhidrapurKolhapur.jpg KopeshwarTempleKhidrapurKolhapur1.jpg KopeshwarTempleKhidrapurKolhapur2.jpg KopeshwarTempleKhidrapurKolhapur3.jpg Kopehwar Back Side.jpg Kopeshwar SideView.jpg Kopeshwar Sculpture 01.jpg Kopeshwar Sculpture 02.jpg Kopeshwar Sculpture Ganesh.jpg Kopeshwar Entrance.jpg {{Hindu temples in Maharashtra Hindu temples in Maharashtra Tourist attractions in Kolhapur district