Highlights
- The excavated drum of the great stupa.
- The carved limestone panels, including the Ashoka portrait.
- The ancient Buddhist setting on the Bhima.
The Kanaganahalli Maha Stupa near Sannati is a roughly 2,000-year-old Buddhist "Adholoka Maha Chaitya", excavated from the 1990s.
Its ring of carved limestone panels includes a unique portrait relief of Emperor Ashoka, making it one of the most important early Buddhist finds in the Deccan.
Road km to Kalaburagi; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
October to February; morning light on the carvings.
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Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
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Heritage ruins.
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Find food, accommodation and activities across Sannati. Browse the guides for places to eat, stay and explore along your route.
Walking routes start at Kanaganahalli Buddhist Stupa. Check the route and access before setting out, especially where a road, gate or waterway separates the stops.
One more place around Sannati worth a day of its own.
4.0 km · 6 min drive
The Chandralamba (Chandrala Parameshwari) temple on the Bhima at Sannati — a Shakta pilgrimage site whose 1986 collapse of a slab revealed rare Ashokan edicts, linking the living temple to one of India’s oldest Buddhist landscapes.
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~3 km from Sannati, ~55 km from Kalaburagi; by road
If you are travelling by bus or ferry, check the return service with the operator before setting out. Leave time to reach the stop or jetty after your visit.
Ask at the bus stand for the time of the last service back, not the next one. If you miss it, an auto or app cab is the fallback — agree the fare before you get in.
If you need step-free access, contact the site before travelling. Ask about a level entrance, steps along the route, the nearest drop-off point, seating and accessible toilets.
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
The Chandralamba (Chandrala Parameshwari) temple on the Bhima at Sannati — a Shakta pilgrimage site whose 1986 collapse of a slab revealed rare Ashokan edicts, linking the living temple to one of India’s oldest Buddhist landscapes.
4.0 km · 6 min driveThe ruined pleasure-capital founded on the Bhima around 1400 by Sultan Firoz Shah Bahmani — a walled city with a mosque, palace and gateways, now a quiet field of Bahmani ruins south-west of Kalaburagi.
30.2 km · ~50 min by cab · straight lineThe village of Malkhed on the Kagina river — ancient Manyakheta, imperial capital of the Rashtrakutas from the 9th to 10th centuries — with a ruined fort of bastioned walls and a celebrated Jain math whose lineage goes back over a thousand years.
46.8 km · ~78 min by cab · straight lineA large modern Buddhist vihara opened in 2009 on the Sedam road, its 70-foot central dome and gateways drawing on the Sanchi, Sarnath, Ajanta and Nagpur traditions — a serene, contemporary counterpoint to the city’s medieval monuments.
52.6 km · ~88 min by cab · straight line
The principal shrine of the 18th-century philosopher-saint Sharana Basaveshwara in the heart of Kalaburagi, set beside a large sacred tank; a major Lingayat pilgrimage centre with a great annual jatre and chariot festival.
56.8 km · ~95 min by cab · straight lineA walled group of seven great Bahmani royal tombs on the eastern edge of the city — "haft gumbaz", the seven domes — the largest being the twin-domed mausoleum of Sultan Firoz Shah Bahmani.
57.1 km · ~95 min by cab · straight lineThe Bahmani citadel rebuilt by Ala-ud-din Bahman Shah in the 14th century when Gulbarga became the sultanate’s first capital — a moated fort with double walls, fifteen towers and old cannon, enclosing the great Jama Masjid and ruined palaces.
57.2 km · ~95 min by cab · straight lineThe dargah of the 14th- to 15th-century Sufi saint Khwaja Bande Nawaz Gesu Daraz, one of the most revered Sufi shrines in South India — an Indo-Saracenic complex with painted interiors, a historic library and a vast annual urs.
57.2 km · ~95 min by cab · straight line
The grand mosque built inside Gulbarga Fort around 1367, its entire courtyard famously roofed by scores of domes and arched bays — a design often said to echo the Great Mosque of Córdoba, and one of the earliest such mosques in the Deccan.
57.2 km · ~95 min by cab · straight lineThe Dattatreya pilgrimage town of Deval Ganagapur in Afzalpur taluk, sacred to Sri Narasimha Saraswati and the Dattatreya tradition; set near the Bhima–Amarja confluence, it draws pilgrims from across Maharashtra and Karnataka.
57.2 km · ~95 min by cab · straight lineA tall, isolated 14th-century Bahmani tomb on a rise near the city, known for the strong echo under its great dome; its massive proportions are said to have anticipated Bijapur’s Gol Gumbaz.
58.5 km · ~97 min by cab · straight line
A 14th-century Bahmani mosque with a broad arcaded prayer hall and an adjoining square domed tomb, a lesser-visited monument of the old capital.
59.8 km · ~100 min by cab · straight lineWalking and driving times are real routed distances, except the few marked “straight line”, which are direct-line estimates and will read short.Routing: © openrouteservice.org by HeiGIT | Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
October to February; morning light on the carvings.
Entry: Free or nominal. Timings: Daylight hours.
About 3 km from Sannati, ~55 km from Kalaburagi; reached by road with a vehicle. A remote ASI site — carry water and confirm access locally.
45 minutes to an hour.
Nearby you can pair Sannati (Chandralamba Temple) (4.0 km), Firozabad Ruins (30.2 km), Malkhed (Manyakheta) (46.8 km), Buddha Vihar (52.6 km).
We have not published a story about Kanaganahalli Buddhist Stupa itself yet. These cover Sannati and the wider district, with separate journeys between stops.
Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Karnataka.

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Photographs: Ashokha, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Wikimedia Commons.