Bull Temple

The Bull Temple, also known as Nandi Temple, is one of the oldest temples in the city of Bengaluru. The temple is popularly called as 'Dodda Basavana Gudi' by the locals and is the biggest temple dedicated to Nandi in the world. Nandi, the bull, is the mount or 'vahana' of Lord Shiva and the guardian deity of Lord Shiva's abode, Kailashagiri; according to Hindu traditions. This temple is every Shiva devotee's must-visit destination because Nandi holds great importance to Lord Shiva.

The architectural style of the Bull Temple is mainly Dravidian and was constructed by Kempe Gowda. It is believed that the origin of the river Vrishabhavati is at the feet of Nandi. The entire sculpture of the bull is carved out of one single granite rock. The statue is 4.5 meters high and 6.5 meters long. Coconut oil, butter and 'benne' are regularly applied to this statue. This had led to the originally grey statue to turn black.

On the premises of the Bull Temple, there is also a beautiful temple of Ganesh, the beloved son of Lord Shiva. An interesting fact about this temple is that the statue of Lord Ganesh is made entirely of butter! It takes about 110 kilos of butter to make this artistic statue, and a new statue is made every four years. What is really astonishing and noteworthy is that in the four-year tenure of each butter sculpture, the butter doesn't melt or change shape even once. The butter that makes the statue of the deity is then distributed to the devotees as prasad.