Sunday story: Miners beware, keep away from our ancient shrines!
It's a perfect picture of serenity - until you shudder hearing the blasts carried out by iron ore mining lessees in Kumaraswamy Hill.
The miners have been striking it rich in the ore-rich forests of Ballari, raking in the moolah to build business empires and fund the rise and fall of governments. But at serious risk is Karnataka’s precious heritage, which is slowly getting eroded because of the constant hammering from blasts carried out by mining machines as they tear away at the earth’s interiors. One such historic structure facing ‘extinction’ outside the mining town of Sandur in Ballari district, is the 1200-year-old Kumaraswamy temple complex belonging to the Chalukya-Rashtrakuta period. Shivakumar G. Malagi traces the descent of this temple complex from the ancient wonder it was, to a crumbling structure, with its beauty hidden below coats of dust.
To get to the hallowed Kumaraswamy shrine, one has to trek along a narrow dirt track which branches off from a winding, dust-laden road and leads to Kumaraswamy hill in the Swamimalai reserve forest.
It's a perfect picture of serenity - until you shudder hearing the blasts carried out by iron ore mining lessees in Kumaraswamy Hill. “There are two to three blasts every day,” the temple priest told Deccan Chronicle adding, “Everything shakes when it happens.” In the ancient complex, one temple is dedicated to Lord Kumaraswamy (Shiva and Parvati's younger son) and the other to Parvati.
These are protected monuments and have been declared to be of national importance under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remnants Act, 1958. But who cares about protecting them? The walls of Kumaraswamy temple complex were once grey but are now red because of the dust perpetually hanging in the air, all because of mining.
A thousand years ago, no one would have thought of recklessly plundering the earth's riches like the miners of Ballari have been doing now. Or else who would construct such a magnificent temple right in the middle of a sea of ore? The temple complex is in the midst of the mining hotbed of Sandur and so close that contractors have erected their boundary pillars just beside the temple wall, showing their disdain for the rules which govern protected monuments.
Kumaraswamy Hill, referred to as ‘Krauncha Giri’ in mythology, is believed to be the first abode of Lord Karthikeya in south India. The unique feature of the mountain is its elliptical shape with a diametric narrow pass. According to legend, this gap was created when Kartikeya pierced the mountain in the battle with demon Tharaka, with his weapon to kill the demons who were hidden inside the mountain. This legend is held in high esteem in Hindu texts, including Mahabharata and Skanda Purana. Krauncha Giri is also associated with legends of the revered sages, Agastya and Parasurama. Even poet Kalidasa in the work, Mega Sandesa, describes the gap in the mountain.
Kumaraswamy Temple is located in the south-west corner of the hill. According to one account, the Parvati temple was built by the Badami Chalukyas (7th -8th century) and has the idol of Parvati as the main deity.
The temple now called Kumaraswamy temple, was constructed during the rule of the Rashtrakutas (8th-10th century). It remained in oblivion for a couple of centuries and was discovered by the Ghorpades, the local rulers, in the thickly-wooded Swamimale hill in the 15th century. The Ghorpades declared the temple open to Harijans as early as the 1930s. After learning of this on his visit to Sandur in 1934, Mahatma Gandhi said, “A small state in south India has opened the temple to Harijans, the heavens have not fallen.” Women were earlier not allowed to enter the shrine. Murarirao Yeshwantrao Ghorpade lifted the ban in October 1996 after which nearly 3,000 women worshipped at the temple.
In the last two decades, the shrine has fast been losing its sanctity and serenity due to the intense mining in the hill. Recently, the Karnataka government had auctioned seven category ‘C’ mines, cancelled for gross irregularities to ‘end-users’ in pursuance of the orders of the Supreme Court. Two iron ore mines, M/s Hothur Traders and M/s Karthikeya Iron ore and Manganese, which are located in Kumaraswamy hill, have been allotted to private steel plants which are expected to resume mining operations shortly.
There are a couple of other mines including state-owned mines operated by NMDC and Mysore Minerals Ltd located in the vicinity of Parvathi and Kumaraswamy temple, waiting for forest department clearance to resume mining in the virgin areas in Kumaraswamy Hill.
“You can see cracks all over the temple complex caused because of blasting. The fragile temple is sure to collapse once mining operations resume in the hill,” says Pennappa, a devotee from Kamatur village which was one among 14 ‘Inam Villages’ of the temple during the rule of the Ghorpade kings.
T.M. Shivakumar, an advocate from Sandur says that urgent action is required to conserve Kumaraswamy hill. It is also significant due to its location near the sacred valley of Vibhuthi gudda and is replete with natural springs and evergreen forests rich in medicinal shrubs.
“The entire Kumaraswamy Hill range should be declared a heritage site of national importance and a blanket ban should be imposed on mining in the hill,” urged Shrishaila Aladahalli, a green activist. Agreeing with him is Chidambar Nanavate, a wildlife enthusiast who contends that there is an urgent need to speed up the conservation of the forests, water system and temple to retain its historic value.
Ironically, despite the rampant mining all around, no action has been taken by either the Central or state government to study its impact on Parvathi and Karthikeya temple. The Supreme Court, in a judgement dated July 1, 2013 had observed that “the protection and preservation of ancient monuments has to be necessarily kept in mind while carrying out developmental activities. The need for ensuring protection and preservation of ancient monuments for the benefit of future generations has to be balanced with the benefits which may accrue from mining and other development related activities”.
Further, the court observed that “the Govt of India will appoint an expert committee/group to examine the impact of mining on monuments declared as protected under the 1958 Act and take necessary remedial measures”.
In pursuance of the court's direction, an expert committee headed by Ms Sathyabhama Badrinath, regional director, Archeological Survey of India, southern region visited the temple complex on September 7, 2017. Hundreds of devotees gathered at the temple complex during the committee's visit and alleged that the SC ruling is being blatantly violated by mining contractors and demanded that a blanket ban on mining must be imposed in Kumaraswamy hill range.
Kumaraswamy temple complex isn’t the only ancient temple threatened by mining in Sandur, there are fourteen ancient temples atop the hills including the Hari Shankara Temple, believed to have been established by Adi Shankaracharya.
Nations which forget their past and do not care to save their history for posterity are doomed to a lifeless existence amidst steel and concrete monstrosities. Atop Kumaraswamy Hill, the deities to whom countless generations looked for hope and succour, are now waiting to be saved - from the greed of miners for whom history can wait for the ore waits to be plundered.