हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Shri Nagesh Temple, Bandivade

One of the few great Goan temples that never had to flee: it stood in Ponda, beyond Portuguese rule, and an inscription of 1413 already records gifts to it. Its wooden friezes carry the whole Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Built: In worship by 1413 CE (Vijayanagara-period inscription); present halls 18th centuryWhere: Goa (Ponda taluka)Deity: Bhagwan Shiva as Nagesh Maharudra15.41° N, 73.98° E
  1. 1413 CE (Shaka 1335)
Photo: Prasad Gaude · CC BY-SA 4.0

01A temple that stayed

Most of Goa’s famous temples are refugees, carried into Ponda from Salcete and Tiswadi in the 1560s. Nagesh was already here. A stone inscription at the temple, dated Shaka 1335 (1413 CE), from the years when Goa was a province of Vijayanagara, records grants made for its worship. Shiva here is Nagesh Maharudra, and around him stand the shrines of the parivara devatas, Ganapati and Lakshmi-Narayana among them. The temple faces a broad tank fed by springs, with a five-storeyed deepastambha in the courtyard that is lit in tiers at festivals.

02The epics in wood

Inside the hall, along the beams, runs a long carved and painted wooden frieze: scenes of the Ramayana on one side and the Mahabharata on the other, set out in order for a devotee to read while walking. The present halls are of the 18th century, when the Ponda country passed to the Marathas and Hindu worship there was secure. Maha Shivaratri and the temple jatra in Kartik are the great days.

The life of this place

  1. 1413 CE (Shaka 1335)An inscription records grants for Nagesh’s worship under Vijayanagara rule.
Visiting

About 4 km from Ponda, near Farmagudi; Mangeshi, Mahalasa and Ramnathi are all within a short drive.

Nearby

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Shri Ramnath Temple, Ramnathi

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Shri Mahalasa Narayani Temple, Mardol

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Shri Mangesh Temple, Mangeshi

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