A splendid Stele in a dingy den
He has been sitting almost right in our backyard all along . But its only now , on an unplanned visit at a darkening twilight hour , that i was destined to see him : all dusty and grimy , but not one bit diminished in beauty or majesty . Thanks to a chance meeting with the priest who takes care of him in a small, quiet village beyond the famous Brindavan Gardens in Mysuru. It was pure good fortune, getting to see the fabulous murthi up close . Real close ! The UmaMaheshwara stele , Kanveshvara Temple , Hosa Kannambadi . Kannambadi , a large village ( Ooru ) on the bank of River Kaveri , was taken over by King Raja Wodeyar of Mysore from the palegara , Dodda( /Hebba)yya in 1608, and became an extension of the City. But this Ooru has a longer lore going back to puranic times when Rsi Kanva is said to have built his hermitage here to do penance - a penance so intense that it “ did not waver even when K...