Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple

The Bhoga Nandeeshwara complex in Nandi village, at the base of Nandi Hills, is a pair of Shiva temples: Bhoga Nandeeshwara on the north and Arunachaleshwara, added soon after, on the south. The village is 8 kilometres south-west of Chikkaballapur and about 55 kilometres north-east of Bengaluru. Dated to the 9th or 10th century, Bhoga Nandeeshwara is the oldest surviving temple in Karnataka built in the Nolambavadi style of Dravidian architecture, and later the Chola, Ganga, Hoysala and Vijayanagara rulers all added to it. The Archaeological Survey of India protects the complex.

The twin shrines share a large courtyard and an open hall. Each has its own pillared hall, vestibule, sanctum and Dravida-style tower, with pierced stone screens and a Nandi pavilion facing the sanctum. Between them is the small Uma-Maheshwara shrine, whose marriage hall rests on ornate black stone pillars carved with Shiva and Parvati, Brahma and Saraswati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, and Agni with Swaha Devi. Other carvings show Narasimha, Durga and Surya.