Hosagunda

Introduction:

Hosagunda, a village in Sagar Taluk, Shimoga District of Karnataka, has been the secondary capital of Shanthara Dynasty who ruled Hosagunda from 11th Century onwards for about 300 years. (According to Mr, B. L. Rice, preface to Apigraphy, Karnataka edition, chapter 8, 1904) Today all that we can witness in this village with a rich history is a stone built beautiful temple with God Sri Umamaheshwara.

History:

Hosagunda village is surrounded by deep forests today and we can find plenty of stone inscriptions in and around Hosagunda. According to the stone inscription the name of the first King was Bommarasa who ruled from 1132 AD onwards. But coins belonging to the age of Ganga dynasty and land digging equipments belonging to New stone age found during one of the recent escavations at Hosagunda indicate that history of Hosagunda can date back to New stone age days.

For the reasons not known yet and for which research has to be done, the entire capital township of Hosagunda went to ruins and also the rich heritage and various temples situated there. This must have taken place about 600 years ago, because the last available stone inscriptions on the Hosagunda Rulers dates back to 1320 AD and the gigantic trees of more than 600 years surrounding the temple area in Hosagunda may also be an indication for this estimation.

Hosagunda village today:

It is a village with small population comprising of about 100 houses found today are those who migrated here on a resettlement package about 50-70 years ago, during Linganamakki dam construction. All that has been seen by the present population are historic, monumental Sri Umamaheshwara Temple structure, remains of stones inscriptions and idols of various other temples situated there and an evergreen thick forest of about 600 acres covering the entire capital township and temple areas. Sri Umamaheshwara Temple has been lying abandoned in the middle of this forest without daily worship or pooja for more than hundreds of years.

It was during 1995 with the co-operation of local people, M/s Malnad Research Academy conducted a seminar at Hosagunda to throw some light on its historical and archeological importance. Eminent scholors, Historians and Archeologists participated and submitted their findings and observations.

Eventhough efforts for the restoration of the temple dates back to early 1980's, the process got real momentum during May '2001 when Sri C.M.N. Shastry family with the active support from Sri H.D. Nagarajappa Gowda family and other locals, prominent Historians and Archeologists brought "Narmada Banalinga" (Shivalinga) from Narmada River and got it installed at the Sanctum Sanctorum of Sri Umamaheshwara temple and arranged for the restoration of worship and pooja.

His Holiness Sri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Raghaveshwara Bharathi Mahaswamiji of Sri Ramachandrapura Mutt performed the installation ceremony and renowned Agama shastra Pandith Sri Katte Parameshwara Bhat performed the required rituals as prescribed in the Holy Vedas. The entire operation & function was organized by Sri Umamaheshwara Seva Trust, a specially formed Charitable Trust registered under Income Tax Act, Govt of India.

With the immediate surrounding of the temple getting cleaned up & daily religious rituals and poojas being restored, the temple with rich Kalyana Chalukya archeological splendor was made presentable to the general public.

From then on Sri Umamaheshwara Seva trust under the Honorary presidency, inspiration and guidence of His Holiness Sri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Raghaveshwara Bharathi Mahaswamiji has been very active by taking up various activities and projects concerning historic and archeological research, consevration of biodiversity, botanical research, education, social service.

Various Projects in Historic Hosagudna

With the active particpation of noted Historians and Archeologists, escavation work conducted around Sri Umamaheshwara Temple unearthed many stone inscriptions, Idols and foundations of couple of other shrines, prominent being, Sri Kanchi Kalamma, Sri Prasanna Narayana and Sri Lakshmi Ganapathy, which are more than 800 to 1000 years old.

Apart from various day-to-day religious activities, some of the other activities taken up by Sri Umamaheshwara Seva Trust are listed below:

1) Arranging for the complete restoration of the monumental Sri Umamaheshwara Temple as per archelogical guidelines through the expertise of Sri Dharmasthala Dharmothana Trust, the work has already commenced.

2) Detailed study of various temple ruins available at Hosagunda through Astrological guidelines and Ashtamangala Prasnam and finalisation of the plan for the revival and restoration of all the shrines that are found so far in Hosagunda.

3) Publishing and releasing of book on the history of Hosagunda, a collection of research papers presented by various Historians & Archelogists during the Seminar conducted in the year of 1995.

4) In an effort for conserving the 600 acres of evergreen forest, (with the status of the land still being a revenue land) as sacred forest (God's forest), survey of the forest and fixation of boundary by the Forest department has been already carried out.

5) Sponsered and arranged for the study of the flora & fauna of Hosagunda forest by the Research scholors of Departments of Botany, Kuvempu University, Shimoga. Some of the rare species were found and herbarium of the same has been prepared.

6)Drawing of master plan to develop the God's forest into a treasure of rare medicinal and endangered species by systematically collecting and planting of these plants every year for the next 5 years.

7) Preparation of master plan for developing Hosagunda as Eco Tourism Center apart from becoming a Religious center.

8) In order to encourage the archeological and historical research, alread escavation work is going on with the guidence from eminent Archelogists at different spots at Hosagunda and some interesting points have already come to light. Couple of awareness camps on the rich heritage of the region have already been conducted for the benefit of primary and college students.

9) Plan has been drawn for setting up of an archeological museum and research center.

10) Cleaning of the pond at the surrounding of the temple and forming of trenches for rainwater harvesting in an effort to improve the water body of the area.

Details of Present areas of Operation

1) Arranging for the complete restoration of the monumental Sri Umamaheshwara Temple as per archelogical guidelines through the expertise of Sri Dharmasthala Dharmothana Trust, the work has already been commenced.

2) Revival, Restoration and reconstruction of temple for Sri Kanchi Kalamma, Sri Prasanna Narayana, Sri Lakshmi Ganapathy, Sri Mahishamardini etc.

3) Persuing with Government Authorities to declare the 600 acres of forest as God's forest and presevre it in its present condition.

4) Arranging to plant all kinds of rare and endangred medicinal and other species
in the forest.

5)Conducting historical & archeological escavation and research work at Hosagunda.

6) Getting various ponds & water tanks at Hosagunda, cleaned and distilled in order to improve water body condition in the area.

7) Setting up of Goshala.

8) Setting up of Archeological museum.

9) Setting up of the infrastructure like Guest houses, and other facilities to take care of the pilgrims and eco-tourists who will visit Hosagunda.