By Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust · Published March 2025 · Updated June 2026
Quick answer
Kailasagiri Cave Temple was founded by Sri Chowda Reddy, whose vision began in 1991 during a severe Karnataka drought. He established the Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust in 1994, consecrated the first deity the same year, and has spent three decades building the 20,000 sq ft cave temple near Chintamani.
Who is the founder of Kailasagiri Cave Temple?
The founder of Shri Kailasagiri Guhantara Devalaya is Sri Chowda Reddy. He is a devotee of Lord Shiva who, rather than commissioning a temple and stepping back, devoted his own life to its making. For more than thirty years he has lived alongside the project at Kavalaganahalli in the Ambajidurga Hill Range, in Chintamani Taluk of Chikkaballapura District, Karnataka. The result is the largest man-made cave temple built anywhere in the world in the last 1,000 years.
To understand the temple, you first have to understand the moment it was conceived. It did not begin with wealth, land, or a grand patron. It began with hardship.
What was the 1991 vision during the drought?
In 1991, one of the most severe droughts in living memory gripped this part of Karnataka. The hills around Ambajidurga were dry, the fields were failing, and the people of the surrounding villages were suffering. It was in this season of scarcity that Sri Chowda Reddy experienced what he describes as a divine calling — an inner conviction that he was meant to create a sacred refuge for Lord Shiva in these very hills.
Where others saw only barren rock and a punishing summer, he saw a future of cool, lamp-lit caves echoing with sacred chants. The drought, which brought so much loss, became the unlikely beginning of something enduring. That conviction would carry him through decades of work with no fixed blueprint other than the one he carried in his heart.
How did the Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust begin?
A vision needs a vessel. In 1994, Sri Chowda Reddy formally established the Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust, giving lasting institutional form to the mission so that it could outlive any one person. The same year, the first deity — Vallabha Ganapathi, the remover of obstacles — was installed and consecrated, a fitting first step for so daunting an undertaking.
To translate devotion into divinely proportioned stone, the Trust appointed the master sculptor Late Sri S.M. Ganapathi Stapathi, a custodian of the Chola-Pallava sculptural tradition. Under his guidance the work grew from a humble shelter into a planned system of interconnected caves. You can read more about his craftsmanship in our companion article on Ganapathi Stapathi and the Chola-Pallava tradition.
In 1996, the two principal deities — Chaturmukha Lingeshwara Swamy, the four-faced Shiva Linga, and Goddess Jagadambe, the Mother of the Universe — were consecrated in a grand Maha Pratishtha. From that day, Kailasagiri stood as a fully living Shiva temple. The full sequence of milestones is set out in the temple history timeline.
Three decades of building a temple from rock
What sets Sri Chowda Reddy's work apart is its patience. Great cave temples are not poured in a year; they are carved, chamber by chamber, deity by deity. Over three decades the complex has grown to more than 20,000 square feet, with nine consecrated deities, a main hall that seats around 400 devotees, a dedicated Yaga Shalla for fire rituals, shrine caves, and a meditation hall — all dedicated to Lord Shiva.
The founder's vision was never only about stone. In 2001 the Trust began its Anna Danam free-meal service, which today feeds more than 400 devotees every single day and has continued unbroken ever since. Service and worship were treated as one and the same. Learn how it runs in our article on the Anna Danam program.
The hand-carved shrines, pillars, and panels of the complex reflect the same care; the architectural story is told in detail on our temple architecture page. To learn about the Trust that carries the work forward, visit about the temple.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Kailasagiri Cave Temple?
Kailasagiri Cave Temple was founded by Sri Chowda Reddy. His vision began in 1991 during a severe drought in Karnataka, and he established the Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust, under which the first deity was consecrated in 1994.
When was the Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust established?
The Sri Gangadhareshwara Seva Trust was established in 1994. It gave institutional structure to Sri Chowda Reddy's vision and oversaw the construction of the cave temple, the consecration of its nine deities, and the daily Anna Danam free-meal program.
How long did it take to build Kailasagiri Cave Temple?
The temple has been built over more than three decades. Work began around 1993 to 1994, the first deity was consecrated in 1994, the main deities in 1996, and construction and expansion across the 20,000 sq ft complex continues today.