Tungabhadra River And Sasivekalu Ganesha

Tungabhadra is a very important river in this region and most of the political and cultural history is significant due to this river. At this region the river takes a number of twists and turns due to the rocky terrains. Hampi is located somewhere in a path in the middle of the mighty river. The river along with the large boulders and rocks was never easy to be crossed except if one has already accepted his defeat.

This river is formed due to the union of two rivers as the name suggests. These are the Tunga and Bhadra River. The Tungabhadra emerges from the Western Ghats and finally meets another mighty river of the east, which is the Krishna and then finally meets the Bay of Bengal. The striking attraction here is the hydroelectric project started here and thus the dam that is built over the river. This place gives a fantastic view of the whole city of Vijayanagar ruins.

The Vijayanagara kings utilized this river to the fullest and built many dams and canals that were mostly used to feed the local water bodies and the palace water bodies. Few of them are still in use to water the surrounding agricultural areas.

The ancient name of the river was Pampa. Legends say that Pampa was the daughter of Lord Brahma and she was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. She did hard penance to please the Lord and thus pleased with her devotion, Lord Shiva married her and so he is also known as Pampapati. It is said that the name ‘Hampi’ has its origin in ‘Pampa’ and you can also find a lot of Shiva temples in the area.

 

Yet another magnificent monolithic sculpture, this statue of Lord Ganesha is around 8 feet tall and is kept in an open pavilion. It is said that the stomach of the deity resembles the shape of a mustard seed and hence the name as ‘sasivekalu’ means mustard seed in Kannada. The lower left hand and the trunk of the statue are broken, and the stomach of the statue of the deity is tied with a snake. Legend has it that Lord Ganesha ate too much and hence tied a snake around His belly to prevent it from bursting! The statue is located in the southern part of Hemakuta Hill, not too far from Kadalekalu Ganesha Temple.

The statue is carved out of a single huge piece of rock and measures about 8 feet in height. There is an open pavilion created around the statue. If you look carefully, you can see some inscriptions on this pavilion, inscribed by the traders  who belong to Andhra Pradesh. The inscription is as old as 1500 AD and says that this statue was built in memory of King Narasimha, the Second, of the Vijayanagar Empire. This temple and statue is indeed one of the finest specimens of Indian sculpting skills.

Moving north to the Sasivekalu Temple, you'll come across another huge statue of Lord Ganesha, known as the Kadalekalu Ganesha; another highly devoured statue in the region. Going south, you can find Vishnupada Shrine. All these monuments and temples are located at a walkable distance.

History of Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple

How to Reach Sasivekalu Ganesha Temple