Started my day by visiting the Ancient Temple of Kolhapur called Kopeshwar Temple.
Temple is located at:Khidrapur, Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. It is at the border of Maharashtra and Karnataka It is also accessible from Karad and Sangli as well.
As The Ancient Story goes: "Sati" the beloved wife of Lord Shiva went to his father's place to attend the Yagnya along with Nandi. Her father "Daksha Parajapati" insulted her & said Hurtful Things to Lord Shiva. Humiliated "Sati" jumped in the Yagnya fire and ended her life.Lord Shiva Was In Rage When He Got To Know About Her Beloved Wife "Sati" & he created "Virbhadra" (The Demon From His Hair) to destroy Prajapati's yagnya. Lord Shiva Was Very Angry Because He Lost His Wife "Sati", so the name derived is 'Kopeshwar Mahadev'.He Got Soo Angry That The Entire Universe Started Shaking & Was At The Verge Of Destruction. To pacify Lord Shiva from anger Lord Vishnu came there & stopped Lord Shiva from destroying the world, so the name ' Dhopeshwar ' was given to the idol of Lord Vishnu. Since Nandi had gone with ' Sati ' , we do not see a Nandi idol in the Kopeshwar mandir.
History Of This Temple: Apart from the locals saying, the name might have originated from the ancient name of the town, which was "Koppam"(Anger). The town witnessed two major battles. The First one took place in 1058 CE(Current Era) between Chalukya King Ahavamalla and Chola King Rajendra. The Chola King Rajadhiraja was killed during the battle, and coronation of second King, Rajendra Chola took place right on the battlefield. The second battle took place between Shilahara Bhoj-II and Yadav Singhan-II, during which Shilahara Bhoj-II was captured by Yadavas and was kept captive on the Fort of Panhala. This event is recorded in the 1213 CE(Current Era) inscription near the south entrance of the temple. This Battle brought the rule of Kolhapur branch of Shilaharas to end. There are Dozen Of Inscriptions All Around The Temple, out of which only a couple of inscriptions are in good condition now.
These inscriptions reveal names of few Kings And Important Peoples. All these inscriptions except one are in Kannada language and script. The only Devanagari inscription in Sanskrit language is by Singhan-II and is located on the outer wall near South entrance of the temple.
Attraction:
Swarg Mandap- When we enter the Swarg Mandap, it is open to the sky with a circular opening. Looking at the sky one gets mesmerised and gets a feeling of looking at the heavens, justifies the name Swarg Mandap. At the periphery of the Swarg Mandap we can see beautifully carved idols of Lord Ganesh, Lord Karthikeya swami, Lord Kubera, Lord Yamraj, Lord Indra, etc. along with their carrier animals like mouse, peacock, elephant, etc. If we stand at the center of the swarg mandap we can see idols of Lord Brahma on the left wall of the entrance of sabha mandap. In the center we can see the Lord Shiva Kopeshwar shivling situated in the Girbh Gruha & towards right wall we can see the beautifully carved idol of Lord Vishnu. So at one glance we can see the Tridev ' Brahma Mahesh Vishnu '. A stone pedestal mounted east of the temple's southern door has a carved inscription in Sanskrit, written in Devnagari script . It mentions that the temple was renovated in 1136 by Raj Singhadev of Yadav Dynasty.
