Mandya’s Hoysala legacy: Hidden gems that beckon history buffs’ attention Premium

For weekend travellers with a passion for history and archaeology, Mandya district is an excellent place for an immersive experience. But the temples in this largely agrarian region, belonging to the period of the Hoysalas, have failed to grab as much attention as they deserve.

For weekend travellers with a passion for history and archaeology, Mandya district is an excellent place for an immersive experience. But the temples in this largely agrarian region, belonging to the period of the Hoysalas, have failed to grab as much attention as they deserve.

Perhaps proximity to Mysuru, a popular tourist destination, has robbed the sheen off Mandya. However, it has more monuments of national importance and hence protected by the Archaeological Survey of India, compared to Mysuru district.

There are as many as 20 ASI-protected monuments in Mandya against a mere seven such monuments in Mysuru. When both the State-protected and the Centre-protected monuments are considered, Mandya has 50 such monuments of national and State importance against 39 in Mysuru district.

Yet, tourism is underdeveloped in Mandya, except for Srirangapatana, given it is conveniently perched on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway, making it easily accessible. There is also the religious site of Melukote which is also popular for film shooting.

The need to bring the lesser-known monuments to public light is not from a mere tourism perspective alone but to showcase a slice of history and heritage which has been obscured from a majority of the people due to lack of information and distance.

The architecturally significant Panchalingeshwara temple at Govindanahalli in K.R. Pet taluk of Mandya district is a case in point. The region has a hoary past, and its antiquity has been documented by historians who point out that Govindanahalli was a part of Gangawadi under the Gangas of Talakad, and later it came under the Cholas.

It was annexed by the Hoysalas, who ruled the greater part of Karnataka during the 12th and the 13th century CE and during whose period there was a burst of temple construction activities while the sculptors and the architects achieved near-perfection in their artistic endeavour.