Banashankari Amma Temple

Banashankari Devi Temple or Banashankari temple is a Hindu shrine located at Cholachagudd near Badami, in Bagalkot district, Karnataka, India. The temple is popularly called Banashankari or Vanashankari since it is located in the Tilakaaranya forest. The temple deity is also called the Shakambhari, an incarnation of the goddess Parvati.The temple attracts devotees from Karnataka as well as the neighbouring state of Maharashtra. The original temple was built by the 7th century Kalyani Chalukya kings, who worshipped goddess Banashankari as their tutelary deity. The temple celebrates its annual festival called Banashankari jatre, in the months of January or February. The festival comprises cultural programmes, boat festival as well as a Rath yatra, when the temple goddess is paraded around the city in a chariot.Etymology and other namesBanshankari or Vanashankari is made up of two Sanskrit words: vana ("forest") and Shankari ("the consort of Shiva, Parvati"). The temple is popularly called Vanashankari since it is located in the Tilakaaranya forest. The transformation of vana- to bana- reflects a common loanword adaptation in Kannada from Sanskrit words. The other popular name given is Shakambhari, which means the "Vegetable Goddess". It is formed by joining of two words Shaka and Ambari. In Sanskrit, Shaka means vegetables or vegan food and Ambari means "one who wears or bears to the hungry". A further elaboration is that "Shakambhari" comes from Shakam joined with the root Bhri (Shaka = vegetables or food and root bhri = to nourish).