Brushstrokes of Time: Kanale Temple’s Vanishing Visual History Caught Between Heritage and Neglect

Hidden deep within the green interiors of Sagar-Kanale, Karnataka, is a weathered but culturally important relic—the Sri Eshvara Temple, a 150-year-old temple whose murals once danced with color and folklore. Now, these exquisite wall paintings are fading from memory, victims of weather, time, and neglect.

 

The temple, which was built in Vijayanagara architectural style, had once featured elaborate cartwheel motifs, mythical beings, and story murals that had produced the illusion of a divine procession moving along. Locals recall how the walls once used to "move with life." But much of this work was tragically lost during a routine whitewashing campaign.

 

Professor S.A. Krishnaiah pointed out the temple's attic mural of mandalas, Kundalini, and Yoga on International Yoga Day—now greatly weathered and in desperate need of conservation. Other traces, including Kannada script inscriptions and faded depictions of goddesses like Daakini and Shakkini, remain suspended by the temple's apex, accessed only by ladder.

 

Although a mere 12–15 km from Sagar, the village of Kanale remains largely unaware of the temple's historical and spiritual significance. There is a serene temple lake nearby that echoes the temple's serene dignity, imparting a poetic reminder of a threatened heritage.

 

Intellectuals like Dr. Venkatesh Jois and Prof. Krishnaiah are now calling for instantaneous conservation for what is left of this religious narrative expressed in pigment and plaster.

 

References: The Hans India, Kanale Temple News Archive