01Mayurasharma’s sword
The Mahavamsa of Lanka says Ashoka’s missionaries went to Vanavasa, and the town appears in early inscriptions as a Satavahana centre. Its glory came with the Kadambas. The Talagunda pillar inscription, cut about 455, tells the founder’s tale. Mayurasharma, a young Brahmin, went to Kanchipuram to study the Vedas and was humiliated in a quarrel with a Pallava horseman. He put away his books, took up the sword, and fought the Pallavas until they recognised him as king of the land up to the western sea. His successors ruled from Banavasi and later made grants across the region.
02Madhukeshvara
The Madhukeshvara temple was begun under the Kadambas and rebuilt and added to by the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas, Vijayanagara and the Nayakas of Sonda, so it carries a thousand years of styles in one compound. The linga is honey-coloured, which gives the name. Inside is a stone cot, the kalla mancha, carved by a Sonda ruler, and a large Nandi faces the sanctum. Pampa, the first great Kannada poet, wrote in the 10th century that if one were born again it should be in Banavasi, even as a bee or a cuckoo. The Kadambotsava festival is now held here each year.
The life of this place
- 3rd century BCEThe Mahavamsa records Ashoka’s mission to Vanavasa.
- c. 345Mayurasharma founds the Kadamba kingdom.
- c. 455The Talagunda pillar inscription records the dynasty’s origin.
About 23 km from Sirsi. The temple is in daily worship; Kadambotsava is held in winter.
