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.
Ask anyone in Tumkur for directions to Mandharagiri, it’s most unlikely that you will get proper details. But wait, now ask for directions to Basadi Betta (or Basti betta), almost everyone knows how to go there. Basadi Betta is a small hillock off Bangalore - Tumkur road. The name Basadi betta is due to the jain temple (basadi) on top of the hillock.
While travelling towards Tumkur from Bangalore, some 10 KMs before Tumkur you can see this small hill with word ‘Mandharagiri’ written (in Kannada) on face of the hill. It’s not adjucent to the highway but have to travel (turn right while comin from Bangalore) couple of kilometers to reach the foot of the hill. A hundred or two steps of climbing takes you to the basadi door. While the southern gives the urban landscape, on the other side lies lake Maidala (once source of drinking water to Tumkur city) with the backdrop countless number of hills. Out of them, Devarayana Durga & Ramadrvara Gudda are the prominent ones (or the names which I know :D).
With respect to architecture, the basadi doesn’t attract many people. But the place brims with devotees during festival season & a calm place for many away from the buzzing life. An year ago, a monolith of Chandraprabha Theerthankara was installed at the foot the hill. The statue which stands at a height of 21 feet is claimed to be the tallest statue of Chandraprabha Theerthankara. In case if you are driving by Tumkur and need a break, then you know where to go.
It’s been a busy days for the past few weeks. That means less time to write. For the time being here are some random photos from my trips in year 2008. Above one was taken near 
Rail tracks near Mandya, en route 
Yoga Narasimhaswamy temple at 
A kid I met at 