Talakad

'A tiny village , made of vast stretches of sand dunes, and a river flowing through it'. Unbelievable! It stands at a sharp bend of the Kaveri river eastwards from a southerly course, with sand covering around 850 acres. Talakad, reminds me of our rich cultural past. Placed amidst vast paddy fields, are five shiva temples, known as 'Panchalinga'. Getting a glimpse of the five lingas spread around is believed auspicious. Thus the adventure....

'We felt like the, ship of the desert, walking through the sand dunes. Scorching hot sun was ignored by our high spirits'.

Vaidyeshwara, Pataleshwara, Maruleshwara at Talakad, Arkeshwara at Vijapura, and Mallikarjuna at Mudukuthore are the imporhtant counts. As it is with every historic place, this too was ruled by different dynasties; Ganges in 246AD, Cholas in 11th century; A hundred years later by Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana; By Vijaynagar kings in 16th century and then by Wadiyar's of Mysore. Its said that, around 30 plus temples still lay buried underneath the sand dunes!



# Vaidyeshwara temple built in Dravidian style, is from the Cholas, with ornamented sculptures of Granite; with Colossal dwarapalakas adoring the entrance.

# Pathaleshwara is comparitively small, located in excavated pit, dating back to 10th century, built by Ganges. The linga here
is said to change colour to red in the morning, into black in the afternoon and white by evening!!

# Maruleshwara temple is also located in the excavated pit and has a 5ft tall linga.



# Arkeshwara temple is built by Vijaynagar kings and has a row of lingas.

# Mallikarjuna temple in Mudukuthore is situated on a small hillock and dates back to the period of Ganges.



The Talakad sand dunes are protected by the Karnataka state archaeological department.