Shri Someshwara Swamy Temple Karnataka

Halasuru Someshwara Temple is located in the neighborhood of Halasuru in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is one of the old temples in the city dating back to the Chola period, it is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.^[1] Major additions or modifications were made during the late Vijayanagara Empire period under the rule of Hiriya Kempe Gowda II.

Someshwara temples were built by the Chalukyas of Kalyani in Karnataka. During that period we see Tamil inscriptions as a few Mudaliars (Tuluva Vellala) were settled. These Mudaliars, originally Tulu speaking, had settled in parts of TN especially Arcot.The temple is being managed by the Muzarai department. The pradhana archakaru of this temple is Shri Ramanatha Dikshitaru along with Shri Sundara Dikshitaru and Shri Shanmukha Dikshitaru.

Legend

In the “Gazetter of Mysore” (1887), Benjamin Lewis Rice describes a legend behind the consecration of the temple. Kempe Gowda, while on a hunt, rode far away from his capital Yalahanka. Being tired, he rested under a tree and fell asleep. The local deity Someshwara appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to build a temple in his honor using buried treasure. In return the chieftain would receive divine favor. Kempe Gowda found the treasure and dutifully completed the temple.

According to another version of the legend, King Jayappa Gowda (1420-1450 CE) from a minor dynasty of the Yelahanka Nada Prabhus was hunting in a forest near the present Halasuru area, when he felt tired and relaxed under a tree. In a dream, a man appeared before him and told him that a linga (universal symbol of the god Shiva) was buried under the spot where he was sleeping. He was instructed to retrieve it and build a temple. Jayappa found the treasure and initially built the temple out of wood.

Another account attributes the temple to the Chola Dynasty with later renovations made by the Yelahanka Nada Prabhus.