History, Importance, Timings, Festivals, Architecture, Interesting Facts and Travel Guide of Shri Kotilingehswar Temple, Kolar, Karnataka, India
Kotilingeshwara Temple, the unique temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is situated in a small village Kammasandra in the Kolar district of state of Karnataka. Kotilingeshwar temple houses the world’s tallest and largest Shivlinga of 108 feet high and huge idol of Nandi which is 35 feet in height placed on large platform of 60 feet length, 40 feet width and 4 feet height. In temple campus, Shivlinga and Nandi is surrounded by large number different shared shivlinga where more than 90 lakh Shivlinga installed. Basically, this project is to installed one crore Shivlinga in temple campus thus temple was named as Kotilingeshwara Temple.
Interesting Legends associated with Kotilingeshwar Temple and great devotee Manjunath.
Long year ago, Kammasandra village was known as "Dharmasthali" where Manjunatha Sharma, the great devotee of Lord Shiva lived here around 1250 years ago. He was born in family of Shaiva Brahmins here in village. Even being Brahmin, he always insulted Lord Shiva from the childhood. But later on he realized his mistake and started worship of lord Shiva with true devotion. One day Manjunatha and his family visited the Lord Shiva temple nearby, unfortunately few incidents occurred at that time which were believed as bad omens and every single holy deepa in the temple became unlit. Thus local people started blaming on him and accused for this incident. But, King Ambikeshwaravarma, of astrakuta Dynasty and another Shaiva devotee, had requested Manjunatha to prove his innocence by making every lamp glow again. Then Manjunatha had sang the devotional song Mahapraņa Deepam composed by Maharishi Vyasa and made them glow brighter than ever before. After this, everyone accepted that Manjunatha became the devotee of Lord Shiva and also realized his old mistake of insulting Lord Shiva Crore time. To overcome his pas sin, Bhakta Manjunatha, had created ten million shivlinga with help of Maharaja Ambikeshwaravarma and his family. Hence the name the temple was named as Kotilingeshwar where koti means crore.
Ramayana, one of the great epics in Hinduism describes the battle between Lord Rama and Demon King Ravana. The long and deadly battle showed the victory of Shri Rama. It is said that Lord Rama traveled to Rameshwaram from Dhanush Koti and there he offered pujas to the Lingas and prayed for all those people who lost their lives in that great battle. This happened in the Treta Yuga.
To increase the culture of dignity, peace and prosperity was the main motive behind the Kotilingeshwara Temple. In the year 1980, the Kotilingeshwara temple was constructed by Swami Shiv Murti. In the same year the first Linga was installed in the temple premises. The temple was built in 15 acres of land. The Koti denotes 100 lakh while Lingas refer to the Shiva Lingam. As on today there are around 90 Lakh Lingas which are installed in the area. There are 11 sub temples in the compound which are dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, Maheshwara, Venkateshwara Swami, Annapurneshwari, Santoshi Maa, Panduranga Swami, Panchmukhi Ganpati, Shri Rama, Panchmukhi Anjaneya and Kanika Parmeshwari. At the temple there is also a tree called Nagalinga tree, which is believed to bless the unmarried women with their happy married life. There are also replica of 18 main Shakti peethas in the temple located. The main attraction of the temple is the Giant Linga which stands 108 feet tall with a huge Nandi which is around 35 feet. This Linga was constructed in the year 1995. This Linga is considered to be the tallest Linga in the whole world. This giant structure can be very well seen from a long distance before reaching the temple.
More than a thousand people come here every day to worship Lord Shiva. The Maha Shivratri, the auspicious festival of Lord Shiva is celebrated with great enthusiasm every year. The everyday puja is also held in the temple in both the timings of the day. The puja begins with the great chores of Lord Shiva with the drums and the Diya’s by the devotees. The devotees can install the Shiva Linga on their name on any day of the year and worship here, there is some charge of doing this. Near to the temple there is a meditation hall where the devotees can meditate in peace. The marriages are also held in the temple on an everyday basis to bless the couple. Also temple has Rest house to accommodate the tourist.
Entry Fee for temple - INR 20 per person.
Camera Fee: INR 100 per camera.
Shiv Linga Installation Fee: Starts from around INR 6,000.
How to Reach Kotilingeshwar Temple, Kammasandra, Kolar, One of important city of Karnataka, India
Though Kammasandra is small village but due to Kotilingeshwar Temple, it is major pilgrimage and tourist destination of Karnataka. Thus it is easily reachable via road, rail and air network from Kolar. As Kolar is one of the important historical city near Bangalore in Kolar district in state of Karnataka and home to several ancient temple. Thus, it is easily accessible via road, rail and air network. Kolar has major railway station from where you can get train to all major station of India. You can get government and private vehicle from nearby cities to reach here by road. You can reach here via air connectivity easily as Bangalore airport is at just 65 km from Kolar. City is located at just 66 km from Bangalore, 150 km from Vellore, 147 km from Hogenakkal waterfalls and 32 km from Kolar Gold Fields
