Sri Dakshina Mukha Nandi Teertha Kalyani Kshetra also known as Nandi Teertha is one of the best recently found mysterious temple in India. This temple is Located in front of the Gangamma temple and diagonally opposite to the Kadu Malleshwara Temple, North-Western area of Bangalore city. The temple derives its name from its surrounding.
Discovery
In the year 1997, construction began on an empty land diagonally opposite to Kadu Malleshwara temple. It was during an excavation of a mound for construction in 1997 that workers discovered the spire of a temple. They dug deeper and found that there was a large temple on the mound.
The Archaeological Survey of India, ASI then completed the excavation, and found a perfectly preserved central pool of water surrounded by granite steps and pillared mantapas.
The temple houses a Shivalinga continuously bathed with water dripping from the mouth of a stone Nandi statue. There are conflicting reports about the age of this temple. However, it is at least 400 years old, although some sources date the temple as about 7000 years old.
So what makes this temple Mysterious?
When Archaeological Survey of India cleaned the mouth of Nandi (Bull), what they found was a small stream of water started pouring out continuously.
And when the land was cleared at the bottom, they discovered that the water fell on the Shiva linga and joined the Kalyani in the middle of the temple complex.
The source of the continuous stream of water from the Nandi’s mouth is unknown.
It has been hypothesised that water flows from the Sankey Tank here but has not been proved thereby remaining mysterious. It is said to be the main source or birthplace of the Vrishabhavathi River.
Nomenclature
‘Dakhshinamuka Nandi’ means ‘South facing Nandi’.There is a continuous stream of water that flows out of the Nandi’s mouth, which is considered to be holy water, referred to as ‘Tirtha’ in Kannada. The water from the Nandi’s mouth falls onto the Shivalinga and flows into a stepped tank in the middle of the temple, called a ‘Kalyani’ – Temple tank in Kannada. ‘Kshetra’ means a ‘place’ in Kannada and is often used to refer to a place or region of historical or religious importance.The combination of all the above elements adds up to the official name of the temple.
Source – Wikipedia.org, Image – Wikimedia.org