Pushkarini
Santhebennur,
Channagiri Taluk, Davanagere District
Sante-Bennur
is a small town located Channagiri
Taluk, Davanagere Dist. It’s
approximately 20 kilometers and 40 kilometers from Taluk and District
Headquarters respectively.
This is the biggest Pushkarini in Davanagere District. This Pushkarini is also known/called as Ramatirtha Pushkarini.
Though this place is so close
(App. 10 kilometers) from my native village Dodda-Mallapura, I had never got a chance or
interest to visit this place due to so many factors like poorly maintained Etc...
But at-last with a great decision visited this place with my 3rd
static eye along with my childhood friend cum distant relative to look at this
historic place.
Pushkarini campus area has 2 gates at Front
(Channagiri Main Road) and Back (Village Internal Road). Area is huge and a
lawn is maintained towards the main gate (Channagiri Taluk).
Brief History regarding Pushkarini:
Pushkarini are water reservoirs or wells built
as part of the temple complex near Indian temples. They are called Temple tanks, Kalyani, Honda, Kunda, Sarovara,
Tirtha-Bhavi, Talab, Pukhuri, etc. in different languages and regions of
India. Some Pushkarini's are also
well famous for curing various diseases and maladies when bathed in it. Science
has proved this is due to the effect of medicinal plants available in nearby
mountains or areas.
In our Indian History we can see
such Pushkarini's kind of
architectures as part of the Indus
Valley Civilization. It said these were built as a place to have
Great Bath.
This Pushkarini built with Stepwell
architecture. In India, a Stepwell
is a deep masonry well with steps going down to the water level in the well. It
is called by other names like Vav,
Baoli and other different names in
different parts of India. These were mostly built by kings and were richly
ornamented. They often were built by nobility, some being for secular use from
which anyone could obtain water.
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History:
As per few historians, it is said
that before 16th century this place was called by name Bennuru. Latter in 16th
century it was renamed to Rangapura.
In 17th century the same place was named as Santhoshapura. But latter it was again renamed as Santhebennur by then chief of Basavapatna.
It said that Pushkarini was built during Vijayanagara Rule which is around 16th
century.
Few people say “Bidanur Dynasty”
spoiled the beauty of this place during war time.
According to a few people, Mysore Maharaja
used to visit Ramatirtha Pushkarni with his queen/s for resting.
(NOTE: Due to shortage of time, This section (History) is incomplete, Will be added latter. Sorry for the inconvenience)
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About Towers:
Entire Pushkarini is surrounded many small towers and steps build
using stones. It has one official entrance kind of architecture, which is
exactly at the height of Pushkarini’s
highest water level. As we have steps at all four sides, people can enter the
water resource from any sides. Overall it has 8 towers including 1 big tower at
the center.
Pushkarini has one very big center tower at
the center surrounded with water on all sides. This tower is also called as “Vasanta Mantapa”. This has 4-levels of
construction with the approximate height of 50 feet. It’s Base and side walls
are completely built using stones. As we go top, it has a balcony kind of
architecture. And the side walls for every floor in this tower have good people
and animal statue kind of designs. This gives an additional attraction to the
tower. At the top most it has Gopura.
Opposite to the Pushkarini is a big empty room. This was
built by Ranadulla Khan, commander of the Sultan of Vijapura (Bijapur), a few centuries ago. There is a saying that he built this as a "Musafir
Khane" (Guesthouse). This is
currently used to store maintenance equipment’s of this area. Not to mention,
this also looks as if it is not cleaned from so many years.
Entire area and architecture of
this place shows the skills of our old generation. At the same time, it’s shame
on us that we are not even capable of maintaining it.
Maintainance:
This Pushkarini is very much damaged due to very neglected and
low maintenance by govt. Most of the towers are broken and still failed to get
attention from our govt and people.
As the water is stagnant, the
cleaning activities are must for this place. Though govt has appointed a
care-taker for this place, they are failing to clean water.
Here we can also find a grass of
2-4 feet long, which is also attracting cows and other such domestic animals.
Which also fears the visitors for harmful insects like snakes Etc...
People also use this Pushkarini water for their worship/Pooja
stuffs during any occasion or festivals. This is also leading to contamination
of water to some extent. And not to mention people throw the waste items during
pooja into Pushkarini or at the nearby
surroundings of pond.
Current status:
People use to conduct the weekly
fairs inside this place. This resulted in much more damage of this place.
Latter the archaeological department took some initiative and put a fence
around the borders and restricted people to change their weekly fair to other
place of the town. It installed some boards (which are almost seeing the
ground) and appointed a care-taker for this area.
Though the history says it was
built by Hindu community, currently
this place is known simply as Honda
or with the name Navab-Bhavan by this younger generation. This
may be due to increase in Muslim community surrounding to these areas. To
wonders most of the people in place itself know the history of this place.
(Includes me till I wrote this blog J)
Thank You Notes:
Your comments
are more valuable and helpful for me to improve my writing skills. As well the
information present here is not 100% accurate. Hence would request to point out
if any correction is needed in this page.
For more
photos of this place/town, please visit
Thank you,
Regards,
Source:
