Reviving a dead monument

PARAVASUDEVA TEMPLE 

Gundlupet ( Chamarajanagar District , Karnataka , about an hour from Mysuru) was earlier known as Vijayapura,  a town  within a fort. After the Maharaja of Mysore Dodda Devaraja Wodeyar died  in 1673 at Hangala ( near Vijayapura) his son Chikka DevarajaWodeyar , cremated him on the banks of Gundlu River. He also  built an Agarahara near that site and enlarged the fortification of the place. With new settlements arising , commerce flourished there and it became an influential big-town ("pete") and eventually came to be called Gundlupete. 

Chikkadevaraja built the Paravasudeva Temple in memory of his father and he endowed it with rich grants. Later , during the time of the brief Sultanate , the grants were cancelled and the Agrahara slowly disappeared . By early 1900s , the Temple too fell into decay. 

The magnificent images of the garbhagriha , the bronzes and some parivara idols  were shifted to the ancient Vijayanarayana Temple in the same town .The ornate porch was also dismantled and erected as the patalankana of the Vijayanarayana temple. 

 

Paravasudeva Temple was  left neglected for over a century  . Only after the brick vimana collapsed a few years ago , the State Archeo Dept decided to take up renovation  work . Things went well for a while , but work is presently on hold because of paucity of funds ! 

A pillared corridor runs along tghe temple tank, standing in a good enough condition. 

( Year of this Visit is 2015 .  By now, renovation work should be complete)