PAYANIGA

Photos from Mandharagiri

Apr 4, 2011 Karnataka, One day outing, Photo Essay, Temples, Tumkur

Last time I was at Mandharagiri (popularly known as Basadi betta or Basti Betta), it was an overcast day. It looked as if the sky was ready to open up any time. But this time it was a clear blue sky with scattered clouds here and there. Sun was still mild, waking up from the previous day’s sleep. Reaching the place early in the morning was an added advantage for us. Sitting in the open space on top of the hillock, with winter breeze, staring at the countless number of small hills beyond the Maidala lake was refreshing. Read about the place and how to get there here.

Temple gopuras peeking above the walls

View from the top is a variety – small scattered hillocks everywhere, Maidala lake on the rear, busy NH4, railway lane running parallel to highway, fields, cattle..

A short climb of 20-30 mins takes us to the top of the hillock

Another small hillock hides behind a group of clouds

Small Wonders: Channakeshava Temple of Tandaga

Mar 29, 2011 Karnataka, One day outing, Temples, Tumkur

There are so many things in life we see on a day to day basis and completely ignore it or goes unnoticed. You pass by them as if it doesn’t exist and notice only when someone points that out. That happened to me recently when my four year old niece popped up a question to me. “Why is this pillar here in the middle of the road?” was her question. Tandaga, I have been to this place many times. Almost all of them during the summer vacations when I was in school, visting my aunt. Few months ago, I was there again after a long time. Thats’s when my niece pointed out the pillar (Garudagambha, the stone pillar in front of the temple). The Garudagambha lead my eyes to an old temple – Channakeshava temple.

Tandaga is not new to me, but the Channakeshava temple I was staring at looked completely unfamiliar to me. I was staring at a old small temple which was in complete shambles. It was almost dark, hence decided to leave the camera at home and went to have a look around the temple & its premises. Childhood memories slowly darted into my mind as I walked around – it was the same temple where I had spent quite a lot of time playing marbles, hide & seek and other games with my cousins.

Next day I went again with camera in hand. The temple, though dialy rituals are being carried out, it is completely neglected. Shrubs and bushes have taken over the temple completely – right from the board to the temple gopura. Most of the statues on the outer walls are damaged. Temple premises is used to dry clothes and to tie cattle. I came to know from the temple priest that the villagers cleaned off the plants and shrubs few years ago. Cleaning it again would be quite dangerous and temple might get damaged too. With my very limited knowledge on architecture, I deduced that it might be a temple built by Hoysalas. Reasons beaing – it is a Vishnu temple, proximity to Belur and Halebidu, and sculptures on the outer walls of the temple. But the priest claimed it was built by Chalukyas. Be its a Hoysala temple or Chalukya’s, what the temple needs is immediate attention from the concerned authorities.

While I was there, I missed out getting to know about a legend. Read it here.

Blackbucks of Maidanahalli

Dec 26, 2010 Karnataka, One day outing, Road Trip, Tumkur, Wildlife

From my long list of places-to-visit list, I managed to tick one more place. The blackbucks reserve in Maidanahalli in Tumkur district (official name: Jayamangali Blackbucks Reserve) was in my list for a long time. With close to 800 acres of grasslands, Maidanahalli in Madhugiri taluk is the second largest Blackbucks (Indian Antelopes / Antelope cervicapra / Krishna Mriga) reserve in terms of population (after Ranebennur Blackbucks reserve).

I was following the directions which I had noted down from the internet. But even after the confirmation on the directions to the reserve from the local people, I was bit skeptical. There was no signs of any grasslands. Just couple of kilometers from the reserve the open fields appeared out of no-where. It’s just plain fields out there – till as far as you can see. The reserve is open to everyone with no clear-cut boundaries or fence to protect the Antelopes. That means along with the reserve its also grazing area for the cattle. Absolutely no protection to this provincial animal of India.

How to reach:
Bangalore – Tumkur – Koratagere – Madhugiri – take Hindupur road – Puruavara (10Kms from Madhugiri) – turn left on ID Halli road – turn right (after 8 KMs) where the board says ‘Jayamangali Blackbucks Reserve’.

Alternatively, turn right at Dabaspet, take Koratagere road. This would bypass Tumkur, but be prepared for bad roads. As a consolation, you would get to enjoy the tatte idly though.

I Was Here: Siddaganga

Jun 27, 2009 I Was Here, Karnataka, Tumkur

The first family (God & his family) – Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva, Goddess Parvathi & Lord Subrahmanya – captured at Siddaganga Mutt, Tumkur. During my day trip to Mandharagiri and Kaidala, I paid a brief visit to Siddaganga in July 2008.

PS: It’s been a quiet month, void of any travel for me. Except that I’m back in London. I’ll try my level best to write all pending travelogs.