Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

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High medieval · Hindu · India

Dharmaraya Swamy Temple

Bengaluru, Karnataka · 12.9654°, 77.5834°

Draupadi and the Pandavas (Dharmaraya)Chalukya eraDravidian
Sacred since
1100 CE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
over 800 years old; predates the city (1530)
Chalukya era

History & significance

Bengaluru's oldest temple, standing before the city was founded in 1530 and named in Chalukya-period inscriptions, dedicated to Draupadi and the five Pandavas by the Vahni Kula Kshatriya community. It is the seat of the Bengaluru Karaga, the spring festival in which a priest carries an ornate clay pot through the old town in Draupadi's honour.

Sthala katha — the legend

The temple's ritual cycle re-enacts episodes from the Mahabharata — Draupadi's disrobing, the Pandavas' exile and the death of her sons — from which she emerges as the ideal of womanly strength.

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Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Chalukya era