Enough already, its already the sixth essay and I haven't even got inside the temple yet. But no haste please, this is a sacred place, its early in the morning and the breeze is nice and cool. So I enter into the temple and it was immediately apparent to me that this place was visited by God. It was a cool place, very quiet, very very tall pillars of more than 35-40 feet in height, but the centre yoni patta and the shivling was so giant that you simply couldn't see the shivling. At all. From the floor. It might sound weird but it worked. You couldn't see Him, but you knew he was up there. Fascinating perspective. But that’s for slightly later.
See the full majesty of this wonderful work of art and divinity. Can you imagine the sheer amount of effort made to construct something like this? We are talking full on 20-30 feet on a side slabs of stone being carved in situ. 
The temple has four giant pillars on each corner. With the familiar lotus flower motif on the top. Single stone pillar, no gaps or slices. Single one!
The legend goes that the channels cut into the stone were filled with precious stones on auspicious days, these days its usually lined with flower garlands. You might ask, how on earth do people get up there? But wait for it. 
You climb up the stairs and then have to walk down another flight of stairs to get to the bottom of the temple. 
Looking up. The roof had fallen in but they have repaired it with a fibreglass section. 
Another pillar. 
You can see the roof which has been repaired, the different coloured stone/fibreglass pieces show up the differences. The roof is surrounded with eight carved statues of various dieties
The flagstones were stapled together with these brass staples, but as you can see, some of them have shifted down the centuries, specially the one on the left where the slot has now become mis-aligned. 
I have now stepped down to the floor and am looking up at the soaring stone dreams. Lovely work. 
I am not very sure what was the purpose of these structures, the only thing I can can imagine is that they are the supports for the false balconies on the outside of the temple wall. 
The base of the pillar, exquisitely carved as usual. 
That stone is very precariously perched on it. 
The roof support bases are carved into representations of devas or goddesses. I cannot figure out who they are nor could find any research done on this. 
Despite being multi ton in weight, the carvings are so beautiful that the pillars soar and fly despite giving an impression of ageless solidity. 
I loved the detail work on the roof and how it just fitted together harmoniously. 
A shelf was carved out of the pillar. Presumably to store lamps? 
Walking between the pillar and the wall. 
I am now at the back end of the temple looking at the rear wall on the right. I am sure they must have thought of decorating the blank walls somehow but it wasnt completed. Perhaps it was painted. Who knows? Stone doesnt hold paints that well. 
The base / yoni patta. You can see the massive construction. These are single pieces of stone layered up. Amazing workmanship. 
Peering up. Quite a lot of the stone work has been discoloured by water and the pooping of the zillions of bees down the centuries. 
Another view of the lovely roof. 
Lovely tummy there. I felt quite at home, giving my own corpulent tummy a bit of a shake as well in sympathy. 
Right at the back and looking back outside. 
The beehive. You can see there are three other hives in construction next to the main one. 
Now on the right hand side of the temple. These two rods are used for the priests to clamber up to the top of the yoni patta. 
Another view of the bottom of the roof supports. Nice tummy there mate. 
See the flagstones? They are all stapled together. Amazing, I simply cannot get over how sophisticated the construction is for something that is 1000 years old. 
Here are two rods which connect the side of the temple to the yoni patta. I wasnt very sure how this would work. I guess at one time there was provision made for a staircase where its broken off but now its just these 2 rods. Presumably they will put a ladder up there and clamber up. 
All the gods looking down at Shiv. 
The rear wall, the roof has another bee hive. 
Another pilgrim offering up to Shiv. 
Couple of coconuts
Some rubbish swept up into the corner. 
How nice, somebody has invited Shiv to their wedding. This is quite common, a wedding invitation is usually sent to your favourite god so that they attend the wedding. Nice eh? 
A lamp case. One time they used to construct this stuff out of stone, now we cut open an oil can and call it progress. 
Looking back at the temple. I stood there quietly for quite a long time. It was very quiet, nobody was there and I had a chance to speak to Him alone. Its surprising how clearly you hear his words when you are open to listening. Had a nice chat with him and requested him to bless the kids with knowledge and keep them safe. This is now another place where I met Him personally. Other places where I have met him are at Vivekananda Rock, at a tiny church in Athens, at Saqqarra in Egypt, in the Himalayas, at Lake District, etc.
But now to go check out the surroundings of the temple.
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