PAYANIGA

We stopped at Kasaragodu for lunch. From there we went to Manjeshwara, the birth place of Govinda Pai, one of the well known poets of Kannada literature. It was around 3.30PM & Sri Ananthapadmanabha swamy temple was closed. We had to be content looking at the sculptures outside the temple. There were lots of sculptures of snake god (Nagarakallu, in Kannada) – of different sizes & shapes. We were told that the place is well known for ‘Nagamandala’, worshipping the serpent god which is an all-night ritual.

Our next destination was Someshwara. Sun was drifting down, while we sat on the beach looking at the endless waves & munching some snacks. The beach was not much crowded as it was a weekday. While few roamed around, some more sat like us getting mesmerized by the play of the Sun & the Sea.

After Someshwara before reaching Surathkal, we visited couple of more temples – Kudupu, again a temple of Ananthapadmanabha Swamy & Polali, temple of Goddess Rajarajeshwari. Kudupu is approximately 10 KMs from Mangalore on Mangalore-Moodabidri route. Polali is around 20 KMs from Mangalore and can be reached by taking a left turn at Kaikamba (when coming from Mangalore).

Day four, we were back on our saddles for our return journey. We started from Surthkal at 6.30 in the morning and decided to reach Mangalore & then take NH48 all the way till Bangalore. First of of the journey was wonderful, riding through the twisty roads – the wonderful mountains Western ghats – Shiradi ghat. Once we crossed Sakaleshpur the road became straighter & straighter, boring & more boring. Somewhere near Sakaleshpur, Srik got a call from his office asking him to reach office as early as possible. We dropped plans of visiting couple of places on the way & rode down straight to Bangalore.

That’s the end of our 4 day ride to West Coast.

PS: And this is my 100th post :)

It was noon when we reached Bekal fort. Wrong time & season – noon & summer – to visit Bekal. The place was almost deserted, with few people here and there. After roaming around the fort – peeping into the (now closed) tunnel, observation tower – we went down to the beach. Sea in this part is a bit rough & not safe for getting into water as lot of rocks are there in the beach.

The fort – the biggest in Kerala, is close to 450 years old & spear over forty acres. Bekal fort was built by Keladi Nayakas post Battle of Taalikote. And main intention of building the fort was for fulfilling defense requirements. And in our era Bekal shot into fame again after a song sequence from the movie Bombay was shot here, so much that when one hears the word Bekal, next word which comes to mind will be Bombay.

Heat & the humidity was brutal. To add to the misery, I forgot to carry my hat that day. Just as we climbed our way back to the fort from beach, those two ladies selling cool drinks & soda appeared to us as angels. Gulped down couple of masala sodas & then headed towards our vehicle.

Continuation of my West Coast ride story.

On day three we gave rest to our steeds & hired a car as Srik’s aunt & cousin accompanied us for the trip. And third day turned out be more of a pilgrimage with visits to plenty of temples – most of them in Kasaragod district. Our first stop was Ananthapura. Few weeks before our ride plan, there was a news article about the place & it’s uniqueness.

Ananthapura, the place is well known for the temple of Lord Anantha Padmanabha. There are two specialties of this place – one, the idols of Lord Anantha Padmanabha, Goddesses Sridevi & Bhudevi are not made of stone/wood/metal, but are made of a mixture of more than 60 extracts from herbs/plants & other natural materials. The temple is built in the middle of a small pond & there is no external source of water to the pond except rain.

Second unique/strange thing of the place is, a crocodile lives in this pond where temple is constructed. It’s said that the crocodile is living there for years. During lunch time when called by priest, the crocodile comes out of the water & receives the ‘prasada’ from the priest. The legend says that – In 1942, the crocodile was shot dead by a British soldier. And the very next day appeared another crocodile which is present now. It’s said that the same crocodile is living in the temple pond since then. It was truly a ‘Believe it or not’ moment for us.

How to reach Ananthapura:

From Mangalore travel south towards Kasaragod to reach Kumbala (39KMs). Turn left & after 4 KMs you will be at Naikap. Turn right to reach the temple.

Our next stop was Madhur – temple of Srimadanantheshwara & Ganapati (siddi Vinayaka). Though the main deity here is Lord Shiva, his son Ganapati gets more importance/devotees. Our visit was brief compared to Ananthapura. From Madhur we started towards Bekal fort.

The Story so far:

Bangalore – Kunigal – Hassan – Belur – Yagachi – Chikkamagalur – Balehonnur – Jayapura – Sringeri – Agumbe – Hebri – Udupi – Malpe – Bengre – Udupi – Udyavara – Kunjarugiri – Pajaka – Kaup – Surthkal – Mangalore – Ananthapura – Madhur