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A temple was first guilt here in the 7th Centuary by the Chalukya King Karnadeva. It is dedicated to the Mother Goddess Shakti and has an idol within said to be a swayamba or naturally occurring monolith, encrusted with diamonds and other precious stones. As such it is known as a Shakti Peethas or Place of Strength. Shakti can take many forms and in this case it is as Malalaxshmi also sometimes knoen as Laxmi, Goddess of Wealth.
As
we entered the temple courtyard this was our first view of the building.
The festival of Divali had just finished and many worshippers had come to the
temple. There was a queue going around the whole building and it would
probably have taken a couple of ours to get in.
There
were many carvings around the temple, which was constructed without mortar.
Just
part of the long queue.
