Saundatti
Encyclopedia
Savadatti is one of the oldest towns in Belgaum district
Belgaum district
Belgaum district is a district in the state of Karnataka, India. The city of Belgaum is the district headquarters in North Karnataka. By the 2011 Census of India, it had a population of 4778439...

 in the south India
South India
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

n state of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

. It is a celebrated pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 centre located 78 kilometres from Belgaum
Belgaum
Belgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....

. Savadatti is also the name of the taluk
Tehsil
A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....

 (sub-district), which was previously named Parasgad. There are several ancient temples in Saudatti.

History

The historical name of the Savadatti was Sugandavarti. It was the capital of the Ratta dynasty
Ratta dynasty
Ratta dynasty was the branch of Rashtrakutas. Savadatti , historically known as Sugandavarti was the capital of Ratta dynasty during 875-1250, later capital shifted to Belagavi historically known as Venugrama...

 (from 875-1230), until the capital shifted to Belgaum
Belgaum
Belgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....

.
  • During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Belagaon (Belgaum
    Belgaum
    Belgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....

    ) was the capital of the Rattas, the chieftains of Savadatti. The fort at Belgaum was built by Bichiraja (Ratta Dynasty) in 1204.
  • The Ratta clan was one of several which came out of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty
    Rashtrakuta Dynasty
    The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...

    .
  • Rattas of Savadatti accepted the overlordship of Taila II (AD 973-977).
  • Two of the pillars at Belgaum fort have Kannada
    Kannada language
    Kannada or , is a language spoken in India predominantly in the state of Karnataka. Kannada, whose native speakers are called Kannadigas and number roughly 50 million, is one of the 30 most spoken languages in the world...

     inscriptions in Nagari script
    Devanagari
    Devanagari |deva]]" and "nāgarī" ), also called Nagari , is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal...

    , one inscription from around 1199 is attributed to the Ratta king Kartaveerya IV.

The Rattas (Rashtrakutas) of Saundatti

  • In one of the inscriptions related to Rattas of Saundatti it is mentioned that Krishna III
    Krishna III
    Krishna III, whose Kannada name was Kannara , was the last great warrior and able monarch of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty of Manyakheta. He was a shrewd administrator and skillful military campaigner. He waged many wars to bring back the glory of the Rashtrakutas and played an important role in...

     having appointed Prithvirama as a chief feudatory had dignified the Ratta dynasty of Saundatti.

  • The Rattas of the saundatti, who were used to represent themselves as lords of the Lattaluru(present day Latur
    LaTur
    La Tur was a Mexican airline that operated from 1988 until 1992 when it was taken over by TAESA.-Company history:Set up in 1988 to help develop the tourist market, La Tur began operations using McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft. One year later, the Airbus A300-600 was introduced for flights to Europe...

    ), could have represented their ancestor as Manyakheta
    Manyakheta
    Manyakheta on the banks of Kagina River in Gulbarga district, Karnataka state was the capital of Rashtrakutas from . It is 40 km from Gulbarga city. The capital was moved from Mayurkhandi in Bidar district to Mānyakheṭa during the rule of Amoghavarsha I...

     pua var adhisvara
    if they wanted to avoid Lattalura pura var adhisvara.

Inscriptions

  • At Saundatti, Jain inscription slab written in Sanskrit and Kanarese (Kannada) of Krishna Rashtrakuta
    Rashtrakuta
    The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...

    , Shaka 797 (c. 875 AD), and Vikramaditya
    Vikramaditya
    Vikramaditya was a legendary emperor of Ujjain, India, famed for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity. The title "Vikramaditya" was later assumed by many other kings in Indian history, notably the Gupta King Chandragupta II and Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya .The name King Vikramaditya is a...

    , Shaka 1017 (c. 1095 AD).

  • At Saundatti, in front of the Western Chalukya-style Ankeshwara temple, there is an inscription carved into the wall by the Ratta Chief Ankarasa.

Jainism

  • The Rattas of Savadatti are Jains by religion.
  • In the 11th century Rattas of Saundatti and their provincial governors were great patrons of Jainism
    Jainism
    Jainism is an Indian religion that prescribes a path of non-violence towards all living beings. Its philosophy and practice emphasize the necessity of self-effort to move the soul towards divine consciousness and liberation. Any soul that has conquered its own inner enemies and achieved the state...

    . Kartivirya's son, a Jain saint Munichandra, a minister to Laksmideva and a teacher, and has the title of Acarya, the founder of Ratta-rajya.
  • Savadatti has two small Jain basadi
    Basadi
    Basadi is a Jain shrine or temple.The word is generally used in South India, including Maharashtra. Its historical use in North is preserved in the names of the Vimala Vasahi and Luna Vasahi temples of Mount Abu...

    s dating back to Ratta times.

Tourism

Savadatti fort

18th century Savadatti fort was built by the Sirasangi Desai with 8 bastions.
Savadatti fort has a Kadasiddheshwara temple, surrounded by four bastion
Bastion
A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...

s. Around the Kadasiddheshwara temple in the inner chajja of the prakara there is a row of beautiful carvings of geometrical patterns with over two hundred designs, some painted.

Renuka Sagara

Renuka sagara is a reservoir for the Malaprabha River
Malaprabha River
The Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka in India. It rises in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 792 m in the state's Belgaum district...

 adjacent to Saundatti, formed by the Navilatirtha Dam. The name Renuka sagar because of the famous Renuka (Yallamma) temple Yallammagudda Saundatti.

Yallammagudda

The temple of Goddess Yellamma is a popular pilgrimage site for Shakti devotees. Every day, hundreds of pilgrims visit the temple with great devotion. The congregation is especially large, crossing the ten lakh mark on two auspicious days Banada Hunime and Bharathi Hunime. The century-old temple of Yellamma is situated atop Yellamagudda, amidst picturesque Ramalinga Hills about 5 km from Savadatti. Between Savadatti and the temple is the magnificent fort of Parashghad, dating back to the 10th century.

Navilatirtha

The Renukasagara, formed by the Navilatirtha Dam touches the low-lying areas of Saundatti. There is a spot called Jogulabhavi here, where there is a temple. Pilgrims take a holy dip here before visiting the Yellamma Hill. This Samādhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....

 is in the area called Ramapur at Saundatti, which is humming with religious activities.

Shirasangi Shri KalikaDevi Temple

Shirasangi a small village located approximately 25 kilometers from Saundati is very famous for Shri Kalikadevi temple. The temple is known to be very ancient and is believed to be the place where Shringa maharishi worshiped Shri Kalikadevi. Shirasangi is also famous for Shri Tyagveera Lingaraja Desai. Shri Lingaraj was one of the main donors to give land to K.L.E Society.

Savadatti Temples

The town has temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...

s dedicated to Ankeshwara, Puradeshwara, Nagarkere Mallikarjuna, Veerabhadra, Ulvi Basavaeshwara, Mouneshwara, Dyamavva and Venkateshwara
Venkateshwara
Venkateswara also known as Srinivasa, Balaji, Venkata and Venkatachalapati , is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Venkateswara means the Lord who destroys the sins of the people...

, which is the largest.

Puradeshwara temple

The Puradeshwara temple in the later Chalukya style is a trikutachala with three ardhamantapas, a common navaranga and two mukhamantapas. Gurlhosur Chidambar temple is also an historical temple. All three garbhagriha
Garbhagriha
Garbhagriha or Garbha griha is the small unlit shrine of a Hindu temple.Garbhagriha or ' is a Sanskrit word meaning the interior of the sanctum sanctorum, the innermost sanctum of a Hindu temple where resides the murti of the primary deity of the temple...

s with pierced windows have shivalingas. The shikhara, now damaged, over the central garbhagriha is in Kadambanagara style and the navaranga pillar
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...

s are lathe
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...

-turned. Inside the niches of the navaranga are images of Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...

 and Veerabhadra
Veerabhadra
Veerabhadra is a Telugu film released on 29 April 2006 and was directed by AS Ravi Kumar Chowdary. Balakrishna plays the lead role. For the first time, Tanushree Dutta appears in a Telugu film. Sada plays the Second Heroine in the movie.One of the Biggest disasters of Tollywood and Bala krrishna...

. This temple has been renovated very crudely. On the day of Ugadi
Ugadi
Yugadi or Ugadi or "Samvatsradi" , Konkani/Marathi: युगादी yugādi, , formed by sandhi of yuga "age" and ādi "beginning": the beginning of an age) is the New Year's Day for the people of the Deccan region of India. It falls on the different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar...

, the rising sun's rays fall directly on the main shivalinga. The outer walls have fine sculptures depicting Hindu mythology
Hindu mythology
Hindu religious literature is the large body of traditional narratives related to Hinduism, notably as contained in Sanskrit literature, such as the Sanskrit epics and the Puranas. As such, it is a subset of Nepali and Indian culture...

 and there are inclined chajjas all round. The open mukhamantapa, a later addition, is also in the same style with massive pillars.

Ankeshwara temple

The Ankeshwara temple in Desaigalli, built by Rattas in 1048 is in the Western Chalukya style and is below the ground level. There are steps descending to the mukhamantapa.
In front of the temple, there is an inscription carved into the wall by the builder, Ratta Chief Ankarasa.

Also visit

  • Chalukyas
  • Rashtrakuta
    Rashtrakuta
    The Rashtrakuta Empire was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and the 10th centuries. During this period they ruled as several closely related, but individual clans. Rastrakutas in inscriptions represented as descendants of Satyaki, a Yadava well known...

  • Branches of Rashtrakuta Dynasty
    Branches of Rashtrakuta Dynasty
    Several Branches of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty were created by the kings, commanders and relatives of the Rashtrakuta family during their expansion into central and northern India in the eighth to the tenth centuries. These kingdoms ruled during the reign of the parent empire or continued to rule for...

  • Navilateertha
    Navilateertha
    Navilatirtha it a well-known picnic spot, in Belgaum District, North Karnataka in Karnataka, near Saundatti, on the Renuka sagara , which is on the Malaprabha river....

  • Parasgad fort
    Parasgad Fort
    Parasgad Fort is a ruined hill fort in the Belgaum district of Karnataka state, India. magnificent fort of Parashghad, dating back to the 10th century and built by famous rulers of Ratta dynasty...

  • Sogal
    Sogal
    Sogal is a place in Belgaum district, Karnataka, India. The name of the place is ascribed to a sage, Sugola Muni, who is believed to have lived in the area, but one inscription speaks of "Sovala." Located on a hillside, Sogal has many temples, including the Someshwara temple, and is of great...

  • Hooli
    Hooli
    Hooli is in Belagavi / Belgaum District in North Karnataka India.It is about 9 km from Saundatti.-Introduction:Hooli has so many temples, every temple has its own well. Even at remotest location on the hills has couple of temples....

  • North Karnataka
    North Karnataka
    North Karnataka is an arid plateau from elevation in the Karnataka state of southwest India. It is drained by the Krishna River and its tributaries the Bhima, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra...

  • Tourism in North Karnataka
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