Badami - Temple

BANASHANKARI TEMPLE

We started the day at 6:45, check out of the hotel and went to Banashankari (Shakambhari) temple. The temple is around 6 kms from Badami. The temple pooja was on the way when we went at 7 AM and had a good dharshan of the Goddess as the abhisekhams happened. It took around 15-20 minutes to complete the dharshan and come out. Old mantapas are all around the lake of the temple and a good opportunity for shutterbugs.

Nagarhole - Mysore - Srirangapatna

Trip members: Karthik and family
Trip date:  10 and 11 Mar 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Mysore - Nagarhole - Mysore - Srirangapatna - Mysore - Chennai

A weekend trip to around Mysore and around with family.

Day-1

Chamundi hills and temple. The temple opens for dharshan by 07:30 AM. The temple is one of the 18 Sakthi Peetams. One has to go through the hills for 8 kms to reach the Chamundeswari temple. There are lot of parking slots near the temple. The day was Rama Navami and some appreciable crowd was expected. There are paid and free dharshans - paid are for Rs.30 and Rs.100. Free dharshan was obviously very crowded and estimated to take more than 1 hour time for dharshan. We opted for Rs.30 dharshan and were able to have a very good dharshan.

Srirangapatna is a river island on river Cauvery, around 20 kms from Mysore - a drive of around 30 minutes. There are several places to see in Srirangapatna worth more than half a day to spend.

• Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple
• Dariya Daulat Palace
• Gumbaz Burial Chamber
• Ruins of Lal Mahal palace
• Tipu's Death Place
• Jama Masjid
• Captain Bailey's Dungeon
• Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - is one of the popular tourist spots similar to Srirangam in Tamilnadu across the river of Cauvery. Being Sunday, the temple was crowded with tourists and locals. The temple is quite big hosting Lord Venkatramana. The temple hosts beautiful Hoysala architecture based pillars in the main prakaram of the temple. It took almost an hour for us to complete the dharshan and go around the temple. It was a quite hot day and tender coconuts helped us.

Karnataka Temples

Trip members: Karthik and mom
Trip date:  23, 24 and 25 Dec 2017
Trip Plan : Chennai - Bangalore - Hornadu - Sringeri - Kollur - Bangalore

Day 1

Started by Shatabdi by 23rd Dec morning to Bangalore and took a cab (booked by Savaari.com) from Bangalore for 3 days. The plan was to visit Hornadu temple on same day and stay overnight at Hornadu. En-route, we had lunch at Hotel Kamat Upahaar at Kunigal. The lunch was available by 1 PM but, almost took 20 minutes to get us the lunch, the service was definitely bad.

The route we took was Bangalore -Nelamangala - Hassan - Belur - Chikmagalur - Kalasa - Hornadu. By 5 PM, we were crossing Chikmagalur enroute Hornadu. We reached Kalasa by 6:45 PM. It was dark by then. The road stretch was all very good.

Kalasa hosts Kalaseshwara temple. Kalasa is 9 kms before Hornadu on the banks of the river Bhadra.  Sage Agasthya halted at Kalasa, and saw Lord Shiva's wedding from here. A Shiva Linga appeared out of his Kalasha. Sage Agasthya built a temple here and installed the Linga in it. This is the temple  called Kalaseshwara.

We spent around 15 minutes here for the dharshan and back to car to reach Hornadu. We reached Hornadu by 8 PM and looked for rooms in the Devasthanam cottage. The whole place was so crowded and people were running around to get rooms. No rooms were available. We then managed to get a room at Matha Annapoorna lodge for a premium price, with no options! The room was ok - clean to come extent but hot water only in fixed timings in mornings. There is a restaurant at the ground level run by the same people who manage the lodge - serving idlies, dosas and chappathis at Rs.30 per plate - ok ok food.

We walk to the temple - 5 minutes walk from the stay. One needs to climb close to 30 steps to reach the temple. The annadhana premises comes first - serving food all the time. The dharshan queue was quite lengthy, but very fast moving. One can have dharshan of Goddess Annapoorneswari from outside itself. The golden idol is quite tall and big that devotees can have dharshan from outside itself. We went close by and had a very satisfactory dharshan - the temple priests do no force you to move fast, but, the queue was moving fairly fast and allowed to have dharshan as much as time you want to. We then had dinner at the local restaurant in the hotel and done for the day.

Day-2

Started the day with hot piping idlies and golden sizzling glazzy hot vadas at 6:45; in very foggy and cold morning at Hornadu. We set directions towards Sringeri - around 65 kms. The roads are curvy, narrow and in good condition. The route was back to Kalasa - Belehole - Kulur and Sringeri.

We reached Sringeri around 9:15 AM. Though the temple was crowded, the temple being bigger, it looked very comfortable to go around and have a pleasant dharshan. The Sringeri Saradambhal temple is one of the Sakthi Peetams. This Peetam was established by Adi Sankara. His idol is also in the main temple for performing pujas and prayers. The temple is situated by the banks of river Tunga. The dharshan timings are : morning – 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM and evening – 5:00 PM to 9.00 PM. The shrine hosts an ancient sanctum of Lord Shiva in the form of Vidyasankara.

The Vidyasankara premises hosts beautiful sculptures around its premises - depicting the various avatars of Lord Vishnu. One can also see the stone rings - a marvel!

We also visited the Sringeri Sankara Mutt on the other bank of river Tunga. The mutt hosts the acharyas. One can visit here to get their blessings and prasadams from the mutt office. Restrooms are available in this mutt.

By 10:45 we cam out of the temple, after several dharshans. We had some snack at Hotel Sri Guruprasad - looks like always crowded - for tiffen items. We the started towards Sringeri - by route - Sringeri - Agumbe - Someshwara - Halady - Vandse - Kollur. The distance is around 110 kms. We stopped at the Agumbe Sunset view point - which is located the hair pin bends climbing down from Agumbe to Someshwara.

The Agumbe Sunset view point is very popular had gives a great view of the whole valley beneath. The view point is around 30 kms from Sringeri. Parking is little difficult as the hair pin bends are all around. We spent few minutes here to enjoy the nature around.

We reached Kollur through nice roads by 1:10 PM. It was told the temple shall be open till 1:30. There were thousands of people waiting outside the temple in queue to enter the premises. The Xmas holidays effect was very much there in Kollur! We somehow squeezed inside the temple by 1:20 and managed to get direct dharshan. We also witnessed the goddess being carried in the Chariot. There are free dharshan, Rs.100 dharshan and Rs.500 dharshan (for 2). On specific day we visited, there were thousands of people in the queues. We had a very good dharshan and came out by 2 PM.

We had lunch at a local hotel - food was average. Driver suggested we get back as much as distance possible towards Bangalore. The suggested route was Kollur - Kundapura - Udupi - Mangalore - Sakleshpur - Hassan - Bangalore. Though I suggested to stay overnight in Mangalore, driver suggested to drive all the way to Hassan - he was confident of making it by 10 PM. The driver (Umesh) was excellent on the wheels all through the trip and made it to Hassan by 9:15 PM. After struggling to get a rooms across 3-4 hotels, we managed to get a room in Hotel Raama. The deluxe room is very spacious and room is clean. The restrooms were very stinky and needed some maintenance.

Day-3

The morning buffet - allowed through coupons in newspapers, is very appreciable - wide spread south Indian food - excellent masala dosas and vadais. The coffee was also very good. We checked out by 11 AM after a lazy morning and reached Bangalore post noon. We had lunch at A2B and took flight back to Chennai after a satisfactory trip.

Distances

• Bengaluru – Kalasa – 307 kms
• Bengaluru – Hornadu – 314 kms
• Kalasa – Hornadu – 7 kms
• Hornadu – Sringeri – 65 kms
• Sringeri – Kollur – 111 kms (via Agumbe)
• Kollur – Bengaluru – 497 kms (via Mangalore - Sakleshpur)

Melkote - Talakad - Shivanasamudra

Trip members: Karthik, Prem, Gopu and Sai Praveen
Trip date: 25 and 26 August 2017
Road Trip Plan : Chennai - Hosur - Mandya - Srirangapatna - Melkote - Talakad - Shivanasamudra - Hosur - Chennai

Day-1

We started by car around 06:45. The plan was to stay in Srirangapatna one night and cover Melkote - Talakad - Shivanasamudra. We stopped at Hotel Sakthi Ganapathi. This is near Kanchipuram junction road. They serve South India food - very simple and delicious Idli, dosas, pongal, vada, pooris. We had breakfast here around 8 AM. It took longer time than expected as it was drizzling and quite badly maintained roads in the junction of Sriperumpudur and also on NH around Kanchipuram.

The whole route - stretch of NH 48 from Ranipet to Hosur is so smooth and cruising is possible. We crossed Krishnagiri and stopped for a tea break. We crossed Hosur around 11:45 AM and got into Mysore road via NICE road. The stretch of Mysore road is curvy, yet good to drive. There would be quite a number of speed brakers as we go through many towns and villages. We stopped at Hotel Haripriya at Mandya for lunch. The lunch was for Rs.72/- quite simple and typical Karnatak lunch. The masala vadai was piping hot and yummy with lots of onions and garlic.

We had booked Hotel Mayura Riverview in Srirangapatna. We reached the hotel by 2:30 and checked in. Hotel Mayura Riverview is one of the best locations a resort can be in. Our rooms were hardly 20m from the rich and beautiful Cauvery river. The view from the room was very serene and scenic. Anyone travelling around Mysore - please do visit this place - overnight stay is excellent. Atleast drop by the restaurant for a tea and you will cherish to moments. They also have Theppam ride - Rs.100 per person for 10-15 minutes ride in Cauvery.

We started to Melkote by 15:30. Its 50 kms from Srirangapatna to Melkote. Melkote is a historical town hosting few temples on a small hill. It is also one of the famous film shooting spots. The road leading to this remote location is curvy single road and mostly good roads. There are quite a number of speed brakers without any signs or paints on it. Take care while driving. We reached around 16:30.

The most famous spot is Raya Gopura. This is on top of the hillock. The Raya Gopura has 4 artistic pillars. One has to climb few steps - around 40-50 and see this place. The place offers great views of the surrounding location. Famous films shot in this location are Padayappa, Linga, Guru and many more. We spent around 45 minutes here.

On the way from Raja Gopura to Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple, there is a twin Pushkarani - It is called Akka-Thangiyara kola - sisters. One has sweet water - edible and believed to be blessed while the other is quite slushy. The tanks have well laid beautiful steps - awesome place for photography.

We then visited Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple. The temple is dedicated to Cheluva-Narayana Swamy - Lord Vishnu. The temple has very artistic pillars. One pillar has all Gods inscribed on it, just behind the Garbhakriha and if performed pradakshinams, it is believed we go around the world. The other main sanctums are Goddess Nachiyar, Anjenaya and Ramanujar. We spent around 45 mins in the temple.

We reached back the resort by 7 PM and spent the evening by the banks of Cauvery. The dinner at KSTDC restaurant was good, nominal and tasty. We had our legs dipped in chill water on the banks of Cauvery before we retired for the day.

Day-2

As any trip, the day started around 6:30. After check-out, we were hungry and had breakfast at Hotel Ariyaas. The idlies, masala dosas, vada were good. The service was also quite good. This is just opposite to the road leading to KSTDC Mayura Riverview.

We set directions to Talakad. Talakad is a desert-like town on banks of Cauvery. A historic site, Talakad once had over 30 temples that today are buried in sand. Now it is a scenic and spiritual pilgrimage centre. Here the eastward flowing Cauvery river changes course and seems magnificently vast as here the sand on its banks spreads over a wide area. Talakad is known for five temples of the "Panchalinga Darshana".

The opportunity to visit all five Shiva temples in one auspicious day comes around once every twelve years. The five temples are thought to represent the five different faces or avatars of Lord Shiva. The temples are Sri Vaidyanatheshwara, Sri Maruleshwara, Sri Muduhuthore Mallikarjuneshwara, Sri Arakeshwara and Sri Pathaleshwara temples. The old city Talkad is completely buried beneath the hills of sand. More than thirty temples, it is stated, are beneath the sand, but the Kírti Narayana temlpe has been successfully excavated. The most imposing temple left uncovered by the sand is that of Vidyanatheshwara temple.

Sri Muduhuthore Mallikarjuneshwara is quite outside Talakad and we missed directions for it and so as unable to visit the temple.

The parking area is closer to Sri Vaidyanatheshwara temple. After visiting this temple, one needs to walk around for 2 other Linga temples - Sri Pathaleshwara and Sri Maruleshwara. We need to climb up paths in sand dunes - path is covered with shelters and walking on the sand would be difficult for elders and differently-abled. Other temples in this route are the stunning temple of Kirthi Narayana and Chowdeeswari amman temple.

Sri Vaidyanatheshwara temple is the largest of the four Linga temples we visited. The place is very serene and quite. We can see that the Nandhi is mounted on a height atop of a mandapa facing the gopuram of the temple. The temple has some good sculptures - prominently the stone rings hanging in one corner of the temple.

Enroute to climb the sand dunes to other temples, is located Veerabhadra Swamy temple. The temple is considered to be a locally significant.

Sri Pathaleshwara temple and Maruleshwara temple are excavated from sand dunes - they are around 25-30 feet deep in the sand dunes. It takes 10-12 minutes to reach this temple. From here, the Maruleshwara temple is around 400m on the sand dunes. The Maruleshwara temple hosts a smoking wood, upon which pilgrims pray and put a powder made out of 5 trees, sandal and sambrani.

Sri Pathaleshwara temple

On the way to Maruleshwara temple from Pathaleshwara temple, one can get down the sand dunes to visit Kirthinarayan temple or from the front side near the parking area. Kirthinarayan temple is fully excavated and restored by ASI. The artistic prakarams and pillars follow Hoysala architecture. Looks like the temple collapsed and has been restored by ASI.

The last in the route is Goddess Chowdeeswari Amman. The Goddess is well decorated and serene. The temple is located closer a Pushkarani, which is quite big and well maintained. However, all gates were closed.

We also visited Cauvery river point - a broad section of Cauvery river, where there is well organized parking slots (Rs.30/ parking fee), lots of small eateries. Lots of people take bat here and lot of small local boats - charging Rs.30 and Rs.50 per person for small and big trips.

We then started towards Shivanasamudra. On the way we located Arakeshwara temple. This temple is quite isolated from Talakad - The temple is quite small but serene and nice. We spent around 10 minutes as the priest performed Aarthi.

Onwards to Shivanasamudra, the route was very scenic and blissful. Curvy roads, bends, green on either side and hills all around, filled lakes, narrow bridges, Cauvery river criss-crossing here and there. We spotted a place with beautiful view where Shivanasamudra starts - it splits into 2 parts. An old bridge and multiple spots to enjoy grand views of Cauvery make the spot great for photography. We spent around 20 minutes here.

We then started towards Bharachukki view point. They collect Rs.20 as entrance and parking fee. The parking is well laid and has rest rooms built and small shops all around .However, beware of monkeys. The view point gives grand view the water falls. The water was quite enough to have a good pleasant view of the falls. We spent around 30 minutes here enjoying the view. As you move across the view point, you can get nice views.

We then went through the Dargah nearby entrance of Barachukki falls towards the hydroelectric powerplant. This place also offers nice views. One can see the bigger part of Bharachukki falls quite closeby from this location. Though fenced, do take care as the edges are very steep.

Back as per plan to visit Gaganachukki. we stopped to visit Madhya Ranga temple. Lord Ranganthar is the primary God here and we waited for 10 minutes to have dharshan as pooja was underway. We had an excellent dharshan in this ancient temple. The Lord is in reclining position. We also had Annadhana food at the temple - rice, sambhar, kesari and panchamirtham. It was 13:45 by the time we completed lunch.

We then stopped just behind the temple where river Cauvery was so vast looked like a sea. The spot was great for photographs and some were also taking bath. After spending 20-30 minutes here, we decided to drive back to Chennai.

We took the route of Kanakapura - NICE road, Hosur and to Chennai. We stopped by inbetween for sort breaks and for dinner near Vellore at Gayathri Aryaas. We reached back Chennai around 11 PM amidst rain in Chennai.

Tripmeter in 2 days - 1076 kms !