An ancient temple in Karnataka has been demolished by the government authorities without even serving notice. The 600-800 year old Mahadevamma and Kala Bhairava temple in Nanjangud was demolished in the wee hours of September 7. Many in social media including Mysuru MP Pratap Simha condemned the insensitive approach of the district administration.
The Mahadevamma temple located on Hullahalli road in Nanjangud was demolished by the district administration following the court order to remove encroachments in government land and creating traffic issues. The revenue officials along with the police started the demolition drive around 4 am in the morning and by the time Sun rose the majestic tower and Garba Griha of the temple were brought down.
The villagers accuse that the administration hadn’t served any eviction notice and went about demolishing the temple secretly in the dark. In the videos doing rounds in social media, villagers pointed out that the temple had inscriptions and Veera Kallu(Hero stone). The villagers claim that the temple is 600-800 years old.
If the temple is that old it begs the question how it could be encroaching government land. Mysuru MP Pratap Simha was disturbed by the incident and raised concerns about it in the quarterly progress review meeting of the district. Daiji World reported that the MP took the administration to task for singling out Hindu temples for demolition while many mosques encroaching government properties are left untouched.
He accused the district administration of ‘not taking the locals into confidence before undertaking eviction exercises, and demolishing the structures like thieves’. He further said, “You had no problem in demolishing a temple near Hullahalli. But the same officials are dithering on the matter of demolishing the wall of a mosque for the expansion of Irwin Road.”
He also questioned their reluctance to touch mosques that are encroaching a pond and mushrooming all over N R Mohalla and Shaktinagar. Even though he appeared to be upset about the incident, he could only say that the district administration should have discussed it with the religious leaders and locals before going about it secretly.
Locals have started restoring the temple with a makeshift Garba Griha. But the historical aspects of the temple are damaged and lost. The incident shows how difficult it is to change the fundamental nature of the state without deep rooted reform to the constitution and re-orientation of bureaucracy and police. It shows how little power matters in reclaiming Bharat’s civilizational values, if bureaucracy and police reforms aren’t brought about.
(Featured Image Source: Twitter)
Did you find this article useful? We’re a non-profit. Make a donation and help pay for our journalism.
HinduPost is now on Telegram. For the best reports & opinion on issues concerning Hindu society, subscribe to HinduPost on Telegram.
As responsible citizens we shud allow in fact demand govts in all states to remove all religious structures standing on Govt land/ as encroachments . But here what is surprising is this temple was not built after Independence but stands for centuries. So how can this be an encroachment ? So the govt must hv proper explanation since it has not put in the public domain. This temple is nothing like Babri or encroachment/ sacrilege mosques built on Mathura Kashi sacred temple sites..