As our KSRTC bus raced down the super-hot tar roads of Gadag district in the month of March in 2019 the mercury in the thermometer threatened to cross the 45°C barrier. We had just visited the massive and artistically built mountain fort of Gajendragad and had just discovered that around 12km from Gajendragad, on the road to Ron, there lay a sleepy little hamlet dotted with temples which were architectural marvels in themselves. That little hamlet, just off the State highway was known as Sudi!
This was the fourth edition of our Karnataka exploration tour. Driven by the passion to explore the beautiful Karnataka forts and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj connection, we had dived headfirst into the archaeologically rich ocean of Karnataka in 2016 and never looked back!
At first, we googled for forts in Karnataka but as we dug deeper and deeper, we found hidden jewels in the form of ancient temples, stepwells and in some cases haunted bungalows too! Now a visit to Karnataka had become an annual affair and I for sure looked forward to it all year. To speak crudely, it is now an addiction and this love affair will continue for my entire human existence!

We scored the hit on Sudi by pure accident. Our plan was to visit Gajendragad, the fort of the brave Ghorpade Maratha clan, explore it and the Ghorpade Wada and then proceed to Gadag to explore the fort of Shrimantgad and the Lakkundi temple complex. But while reading on google we spotted a link to Sudi temples. The treasure chest that opened up after we took the clickbait, literally blew our minds and we decided to take the detour and explore Sudi!
Our packed KSRTC bus, took a right turn off the highway and lumbered onto a smaller road, breaking my chain of thoughts. As we moved toward the small bus stand in the village, we passed a school ground where children were busy indulging themselves in the national past-time of India – Cricket! There standing at the edge of the ground, raised on a high stone platform, glowing orange in the late afternoon Sun and with its two spires rising up and kissing the skies stood the Jewel of Sudi – The Jodu Kalasa Gudi or the Twin Kalash Temple!! Before we could feast our eyes on this architectural marvel, a bunch of trees in a compound blocked our view. But through the vegetation, we could see some more monuments inside the compound. Bags on our backs, we jumped off the bus as soon as it came to a halt and started our move towards the Compound first.

Inside the walled compound, stood few structures, their architecture style giving away their antiquity. Two Mandapas and a Stone Plinth were the first ones to be spotted. A Mandapa is a pillared structure with a stone platform and roof generally used to conduct rituals or can also be used to provide shelter for idols. One of them housed a huge six feet tall stone Nandi (Basavanna) idol with a damaged snout while the other had a 3 feet tall Stone Shivalinga with a flat top! And on the stone platform stood a massive Shivlinga. This one had a round top. The platform itself was about 3 feet in height on top of which the Shivlinga stood taking the total height to approximately six feet. It was lit up by the late afternoon sun, the hot rays bouncing off its shiny surface!
Walking a bit further we came across a small temple outside which stood two half broken statues. It was a simple Ganesh temple without any carvings. Hence, the presence of those statues outside stumped us.
“They were Thieves!”
We spun around towards the source of the words. A youth with a shaggy lock of hair was sitting nearby. “Those idols, they were Thieves who were caught and punished for their crimes. Their statues were made to remind people of their deeds and what happens to those who commit crime!”, he continued looking at the befuddled expressions on our faces. It was a local legend no doubt but such folktales do have a place while writing history.
“Anna”, We asked him using the local moniker for ‘brother’, “Who built these temples?”
Taking out a pouch from his pocket, he took a pinch of tobacco and started to rub it in his palm and said, “Do you know the rulers of Badami? The same kings built these temples!”. Saying so, he picked up the tobacco in a pinch and put it away under his right cheek.
“Great! Anna, what is your name?”
“Basavaraj!”, he said getting up to leave. The tobacco had probably kicked in and he wanted to enjoy it!

Saying so, he went on his way after we thanked him and left us to study the beautiful monuments of Sudi. The statues outside the temple were actually Dwarpalasand are a common feature in Hindu Temples. The Ganpati inside the temple sanctum sanctorum was a single stone six feet idol which sported a huge belly and had a serpent wrapped around its belly! With a Modak in his hand and his big ears, the god had been sitting for ages in the temple, listening to everything!
This Ganpati idol is very similar to the one in Badami, albeit a lot smaller! The temple was very cool inside in contrast to the hot weather outside and did provide us a little relief!
A few feet away from the Ganpati temple lies one of the best carved and also one of my favourite stepwells in Karnataka. Although very small in size, the stepwell called Nagakunda, is adorned with carvings and has a grand arch which marks the entrance of the stepwell. The entire stepwell has vimanas carved on its walls, a typical architectural feature of the Chalukyan temple architecture. Today, this well is as dry as a bone! It is a sad state of affairs indeed! When our illustrious ancestorsbuilt temples, they made sure they dug and decorated Kalyanis or step-wells which were essential sources of water for the temple. The precious rainwater would be collected and used for activities year-round! If we could rejuvenate these thousands of step wells, maybe we could provide some relief to the water problems of today!

When later we read up on Sudi, we found out some amazing information regarding this little village! What Basavaraj had told us about the creators of these temples was a little bit incorrect. Sudi was setup by the Western Chalukyas or the Kalyani Chalukyas – this dynasty was a revival of the Badami Chalukya Dynasty and ruled almost of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra as we know today. With their capital at Kalyani (Basava-Kalyan of today), this dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, finding its resurgence in the late 10th Century CE and continued till the end of 12th Century CE. Far from the sleepy little hamlet today, Sudi was once the bustling regional capital of a region known as Kisukadu-70 or Kuskudi-70 today.
It was known as “Sundi” and was governed by Akkadevi who was the sister of the third Chalukyan King, Vikramaditya V. Akkadevi was a well-known and loved administrator and also had Torgare-60 and Masavadi-140 under her governance. In 1069 CE, Sundi became the capital city of Kisukadu-70 region and remained till at least 1084 CE when Vikramaditya VI was the King. Each province had a name and the digits against it denotes the number of villages assigned to that Province. This means, Sundi/Sudi was the capital of Kisukadu province which governed 70 Villages and was often called “Rajdhani Sundi”

Vikramaditya VI was the most successful King of the Western Chalukya dynasty. His reign is known as “Chalukya Vikrama Era” and he was instrumental in stretching the borders of the Western Chalukyan empire from the Narmada in the North, to the Kaveri in the South, the entire Maharashtra & Karnataka coast to the West and till Vengi in the East. It was in his reign that Sudi came to the forefront along with the Lakkundi as Royal Mints. The Dharwad Gazetteer mentions that goldsmiths were licensed to mint coins. They were led by the Royal Mint Master – Uttavoja – who struck gold coins for Vikramaditya VI. The heaviest coins minted here were called Gadyanaka and weighed 96 grains which equals 6.22 grams.
After the collapse of the Western Chalukyas in 1089 CE, the control of Sudi went to the Kalachuri dynasty followed by the Suenas, Hoysalas and then the Vijayanagara empire. However, apart from mentions in Kalachuri inscriptions, Sudi finds no mention in any Hoysala or Vijayanagara inscriptions. It seems that the town was forgotten and the once illustrious city faded into oblivion! Today, it is just a small bus stop on the Gajendragad – Ron highway!
In spite of this, the remnants of the Chalukyan Architecture from that glorious and prosperous era still enthral and bewitch us! After exploring the Nagakunda, two main monuments remained. The magnificent twin towered temple of Jodu Kalasa Gudi and the Mallikarjuna temple. Our feet turned towards the school grounds where the Twin Spired temple stood high on a platform. The Jodu Kalasa Gudi is built on a stone platform approximately four feet high and has both its Shikharas intact with Kalashas at the top. It has two Sanctum Sanctorums (Garbhagrihas) – one facing East and the other facing West. It has a Huge Stone Nandi which is east facing. It indicates that the eastern Garbhagriha must have been the principal or main Shrine. The Eastern Shrine also has a Stone Shivlinga above which is a Makara Torana which indicates that the Temple was sponsored by the Kalyani Chalukyas. There are two inscriptions written in Halegannada (Old Kannada Script) inside the Mandapa which indicate that indeed the Temple was built in the reign of the Chalukyan King Someshwara I (1042 -1068) by his minister Mahasamantadhipati Nagadeva. In fact, the famous expert on Temple Architecture, Prof. Adam Hardy has insisted that the temple was originally called Nageswara Temple after its famous patron.

No sooner had we entered the Jodu Kalasa Gudi temple than we had aroused inquisitiveness of the kids playing cricket there. Many of them abandoned the game and tagged along with us, trying to communicate with us in broken Hindi and Kannada! As we entered the temple, local villagers sleeping inside or chatting sat upright in attention!
It was clear that in spite being such a rich architectural specimen and placed so close to the world famous Badami, Sudi does not get much visitors! We asked them where we could find the Mallikarjuna Temple – the last one on our list – and were directed to the village square.
Just like the Jodu Kalasa Gudi has two Garbhagrihas, the Mallikarjuna Temple has three! Such kinds of temples are called Tri-Kuta temples. In fact, in the small village of Hooli, near Saundatti in Belagavi district there is temple called as Panchalingeswara which has 5 Garbhagrihas and all 5 of them have huge Shivlingas in them! Fortunately, the Hooli temple is well maintained and protected. The temples of Sudi, however, are yet to receive that treatment and care!
Hoping that the authorities do the needful at the earliest, we entered the temple. The three Garbhagrihas open up into a Mandapa which is supported by pillars. The south shrine contains an exquisite statue of Bhagwan Shri Vishnu in his AnantaShayana pose, sleeping on his Serpent while being surrounded by Ashta-Dikpala. The ten incarnations of Vishnu are depicted on the Prabhavali around the idol. This idol is indeed a spectacular example of craftsmanship and we find many similar Vishnu idols in Karnataka. Bang opposite to this is a standing idol of Uma-Mahesh (Parvati & Shiva). The main shrine which is east facing is dedicated to Shiva and has a Nandi idol facing it.

Surprisingly, this Nandi is very small as compared to the other Nandi idols found in Sudi. Above the pillars in front of the main shrine, aMakara Torana is found carved with Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh idols. An inscription dating back to 1054 CE indicates that the temple was built around that time in the reign of Someshwara I. A gift of land was made to the god Akkesvara – this seems to be the name of Shivlinga in the Mallikarjuna temple – by various officers assembled at Sundi. The full staff with their names and the offices they held is mentioned on the inscription. It also mentions that a statutory constitution was formed for the temple of Akkesvara by this group of officers.Unfortunately, over the course of time, some part of this inscription has been damaged. However,in Karnataka, many of the inscriptions have been documented giving us a lot of information about the history of monuments!
With all the monuments visited and the sun heading for the horizon, it was time to bid goodbye. Proceeding to the bus stand, we waited for our bus to arrive.

My mind did a quick recap of all the wonderful monuments we visited. Built using the “Sudi Style of Chalukyan Architecture”, un-named artisans had created magic from the formless, hard sandstone – magic which continued to enchant people worldwide even after a millennium! As the bus rolled into the bus stand, we scrambled ourselves and boarded it. Throwing up a cloud of smoke, its engine growled and we got back on the road. One visit to this wonderland is not enough, I thought, Rajdhani Sudi indeed has a lot more to offer!
Just before the bus took a turn and got back onto the highway, I looked back at the village. The school ground was now deserted but the Twin Tower Temple stood alone. The setting sun had cast its setting rays on the Jodu Kalasa Gudi, illuminating its twin spires with gold as they stretched upwards towards the orange evening sky! Kings and Dynasties had come and gone but the Jodu Kalasa Gudi had endured and stood firm, seeming as certain as Time itself!

The Writer is a Financial Planning Professional & is currently the Group Head at Samarth EduFin Services Pvt Ltd. He also has an intense passion for Trekking, Traveling, Blogging and Photography. When not working, you can find him exploring the Mountains and in Jungles in the remotest of places. He writes frequently at the blog https://www.rational-mind.com/