Vaidyanatheswara Temple, Talakad

Talakad, also known as Talakadu, a small town near Mysore city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried in the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan. 

Talakad has three temples of Lord Shiva and one temple for Lord Vishnu. The most important temple among them is the Vaidyanatheswara temple, which is also called Vaideeshwareswar temple. 

As per the legend, an ascetic, Somadatta by name, and his disciples traveled to worship Lord Shiva in this town. All of them were reborn as wild elephants. Still, they did not forget Lord Shiva. They considered a particular tree as Lord Shiva and worshiped the tree.

Once, two hunters named Tala and Kada struck the tree with an ax and found blood oozing out of the tree. Upon hearing the heavenly voice, they dressed the tree's wound with leaves and fruits. Thus the hunters healed the tree and became immortal. Since Lord Shiva recovered himself through this incident, Shiv Linga of the temple is named Vaidyanatheswara. (The word "Vaidya" means "healer".)

Vaidyanatheswara temple was built in granite in Dravidian architectural style in the 14th century CE by the Chola kings. The religiously significant temple is artistically beautiful too. Two huge Dwarapala images at the main entrance or Navaranga are beautiful. The entry is intricately carved with many beautiful icons. A chain of granite rings hangs from one edge of the roof on the outside without any joints. It shows the talent and imagination of the sculptors of those days.

Shiva Linga in this temple is a Mukha Linga (Face embedded on Shiv Linga). Parvati, Vishnu, Alamelumanga, Shivlinga, Kalikambal and Ganesha are also found in the sanctum along with the presiding deity. Manonmani, the Goddess of the temple, is located in a separate shrine.

The corridor around the sanctum houses many sub-shrines for Shiv Lingas. The shrines of Shanmukha, Vinayaka, Pancha lingams, Chamundeswari and Chandikeswara are also found in the temple. There is a small shrine that has a big Nandi placed on top of the roof.

Overall, you will get a spiritual and traditional experience when you visit the Vaidyanatheswara temple of Talakad town.

Happy travelling.

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