Temples in Kannambadi

Kannambadi is a small village in the Krishnarajapet taluk of the Mysore district in the Karnataka State. There is a temple dedicated to Kanvesvara; in the ancient days, however, the deity was known by the name of Kannesvara.

Kanvesvara (Kannesvara) temple

On a stone found near the temple, there is an incomplete inscription, dated in the year a.d. 1115 which runs as follows (translation) (Epi. Car., Mysore, Krj., 34):

“Kulottunga Chola deva ruling the kingdom of the world: in his 45th year, the year of Jaya, Madiyanna, son of Koramuta Hadeya Baya of Vadugavile, caused the two temples of Kannesvara to be erected”.

On a stone to the north of the doorway in the inner enclosure of this temple, there is an inscription dated in a.d. 1119, which mentions the rule of Tribhuvanamalla Vira Ganga Vishnu-vardhana Hoysala deva ‘over the kingdom of the world’ which reads as follows (extract):

“for the god Kannagondisvara, the king, being in Talakad in the enjoyment of peace and wisdom, directed his minister....” (The rest of the inscription is lost.)

Another incomplete record dated in about a.d. 1150 found on a loose stone close to the temple mentions that the

“Mahamandalesvara who captured Talakad, Kongu, Nangali, Uchchangi, Banavasi and Hanungal, the strong armed Vira Ganga Pratapa Hoysala Narasimha deva was in the city of Banavasi ruling the kingdom in peace and wisdom—his wife, the senior queen and crowned queen Mailala devi...”

On the pillars of the mandapa south of the central shrine, there is an inscription which mentions grants made by some residents of the great agrahara of Kannambadi for the god Kanvesvara. This is a much later record dated in a.d. 1579 (?)

This temple is attributable to the last decade of Kulottunga I.