A place of pride

The centrally placed high-rise lingam provides a spectacular perspective to the truth in a simple but powerful way — representing the pre-eminence of God in relation to His creation, writes Tejwant Singh

A unique open-air temple complex, now drawing worldwide attention, is coming up in the undulating green wilderness of Karnataka. A good two-hour drive east of Bangalore takes you there. One can also make a convenient short hop by Brindavan Express or any other morning train running between Chennai and Bangalore. Alight at Bangarapet and take a taxi or a local bus to the temple’ site.

Here at a small sleepy village of Kammasandra, an embryonic idea has matured into a sky-kissing form of a lingam (Shivalinga). Incidentally, this place is very close to Bethamangalam lake, which once attracted hordes of tourists interested in boating, fishing or pleasure-outing. Most of the water of this natural lake is now sucked by Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), a Ministry of Defence undertaking.

Although the old environmental charm of this lake is hard to recover, Kammasandra has not only regained some of the lost glory of this area, it has also created a new place of pride on the tourist-cum-religious circuit of Karnataka.

The centrally placed high-rise lingam provides a spectacular perspective to the truth in a simple but powerful way — representing the pre-eminence of God in relation to His creation. The lofty lingam overlooks a sprawling six-acre concrete field, where rows and rows of diminutive lingams offered by the visiting devotees lend an awe-inspiring sight to the surroundings — a spectacle not seen elsewhere. It is plainly an effort to highlight His cosmic sway bearing up the multitudes without taking recourse to any esoteric or theological jargon. Secondly, since the sprouting of all life is itself transient, the increasing number of lingams symbolises that there will be an end at the end.

This project is the brainchild of Swami Samba Siva Murthy. After a brief stint with BEML, he started working on his dream-plan in 1980 near his native Kammasandra. With his own resources, he constructed a boundary wall around his six-acre agricultural land and the lingams began arriving from a workshop near Mysore.

The question which comes to mind is whether Swami Samba Siva Murthy will be able to achieve the one-crore target in his life time. He has already gone past the 48th milestone of his life. During the past 18 years of dedicated work, the total has just notched the two-lakh mark. But talking to other priests, one can see the brightness in their eyes. They are convinced that the target will be achieved whether Swamiji is around or not.