Kintamani - God's poem!!

Ah! If God decides to write a poem, how would it look like? How is he going to publish it?

According to me - it would be -
in the form of a - dancing peacock!
Or a - monsoon evening!
Or the - rushing water!
Or a - peaceful valley!
Or a - vibrant resonance!
Or a - tasty delicacy!
Or an - intertwined story which was heard never before!
Or an - overwhelming notion!
A - bustling crowd!
Or a - euphoric celebration!
Or a - magnificent picture!

Or ...............................

a Kintamani!!

Kintamani - is a beautiful (yet not so famous) destination in Indonesia, is a Balinese village.
It is a hill station that provides generous sights of beauty, pleasant environment, beautiful weather, idyllic lifestyle, cultural traditional and spiritual images, and many more to mention.

As soon as you enter, you are stopped by a police man, with his mouth wide open - in a smiling position and he gives you the direction - if temple, go here; if volcanic mountain go here; stand here and take a picture etc.

The weather hits you the moment you are here. Bali is known for its tropical weather marked by humidity and hot temperatures; but Kintamani is very different.

It is home to one of the volcanic mountains - Mount Batur.  Batur had last erupted in 1999.

Batur is worshiped by the Balinese, they have built a major temple by its base - Pura Batur (Or Pura Ulun Danu Batur) and the deity here is the mountain itself. The imposing structure of this temple is very beautiful to look at, neatly maintained. A strict guideline is marked for every visitor there - dress code, do's & don't's.

People of Kintamani are simple, contently, fun loving. It is very easy to like them! They establish your trust within no time, and start a conversation instantly as if you are one of them!

Kintamani has a lake at the base of Mount Batur, which is the largest crater lake in Bali.

The stay/eat options here are very minimal, but it is opening to the outer world now... Some resorts, tour operations coming up here!

The road to Kintamani itself is so eventful that you would be mesmerized; for the Orange farms, the terrace rice farms, nicely laid empty stretches of road, pleasing weather....

If I must, I will compare it to Madikeri (More popularly, the Coorg) of Karnataka, except for the thin forest cover around Kintamani.

For pictures run the slide show:

The festive furore!!

A walk on the main markets of Bangalore takes you back in time!

A sea of stalls selling flowers of all colours, adjoining stalls selling fruits of multiple variety. Prices shooting up, but the spirit ecstatic!

Some ad-hoc shops, make shift ones as well, selling bangles of different colours and sizes eat up the walk way on those streets, people seldom have complaints about them!

People walk on all the available lanes, bargaining high for a rupee or two to make the shopping contented.

Villagers stocking up banana leaves, banana plant-trunks, mango leaves, garike straws and variety leaves which are specifically used in the festival coming a day-next.

Traffic on those roads - a choc-o-bloc and no body cares, of course!!

And the main attraction of the market would definitely be the illuminated make-shift stalls with lines of colourful Ganesha and Gowri idols. Truly a sight not to be missed, and a feel not to be unfelt!

Thats a traditional Indian festival-eve, for you!

Yes, you are experiencing the great Indian festive furore! The middle class of this country comes alive in all those traditional market lanes on such days. Great sights and great preperations.

Wishes for a great Gowri-Ganesha festive season.

The Valley of Flowers - Facts

Some tidbits -
Place - "The Valley of Flowers"
Located in - The Byundar valley of Uttarakhand state of India
Good time to visit - Right from mid-August to October - as variety of flowers bud post monsoon.
Commuting there - One has to trek to undertake this expedition, no other means is there at all!
Food - No food or accomodation available in this land of God, as this is a part of the protected Nanda Devi National Park.

FAQs:
Where exactly is this place?
Inside the Nanda Devi Natioanl Park, nestled high in the West Himalayan range. This is geographically located in the Uttarakhand state of India;
At exactly 276 KMs from the pilgrimage haunt Rishikesh, and is located in the Chamoli district of Gharval region of the state.

So, How do we get to feel the air of here?
1. Reach Haridwar/Rishikesh by train Or Dehradun by flight

2. Take a bus to Joshimath, a 10 hour drive from Haridwar.

3. Stay overnight there. It is a good town and comfortable accomodation and food options are available here.

4. Start early morning to Govindghat - enroute Badrinath Dham. It takes about an hour to reach Govindghat from Joshimath. Govindghat is the closest to the Valley one can reach by road.
5. Start trekking to Govind Dham/Ghangriya, which is at a 13Kms distance from Govindghat.
- A very strenuous trek, which is uphill mostly, would take anywhere between 6 hrs to 9 hrs - depending on the individual strength and capabilities.
- No night trek possible since the forest region this, is a leopard ground!
- Food/refreshments - are available throught the trek route.
- Human traffic can be expected - mostly the Sikh pilgrims doing the Hemkunt Sahib visit.
- Alternatively, ponies or dolkis are available for those who can not walk.

6. Stay at Govind Dham/Ghangriya - hotels are available that provide comfortable accomodation, sometimes food too.
- A Gurudwara gives good food and accomodation to all the pilgrims, free of cost.
- Everything is costly in this part of the world, because of the accessibility issues.
- Electricity is available for only 2 hours a day, for an hour early in the morning and another hour soon after the night fall.
- Telephone networks are a strict no-no, and a few satellite phones available operate on the ration basis, and at a hefty charge. No other option at all!

7. Next morning, leisurely start walking towards "The Valley of Flowers" -
- A leisure trek of 3 KMs amidst a wonderful landscape along the bank of river Pushpavati would land you at the gates of the Valley of Flowers
- The Valley of Flowers is spread over a huge area of 87.5kms.
- Altitude of this valley is roughly 4000 meters above the sea level.
- A well-maintained natural park is this. A decent road way made of stones is laid along the walking path.
- There are huge boulders at regular intervals for one to take a break from walking.
- To experience the paradise - one has to walk at least 4.5KMs inside the valley.
- There are quiet a few water bodies that crosses ones' path, for people to fill their water bottles.
- The whole environment is mostly clean, and there are dust bins provided at some places for the litter dump.
- Unlike the Ghangriya, the Valley is less crowded.
- There is no way a porter or a pony is allowed to carry you inside the park, it is just for the trekkers alone.
- Some venomous shrubs are also existing in the valley, so, the visitors are adviced not to go near the plants nor to pluck the flowers from here.
- Flowers here - There are about 80 different varieties of flowers that enrich the visitors' experience.
- Note: For people from Bangalore/ South India, these flowers might not appall as extravagant, as it might sound at the thought of the Valley of Flowers.
(I mean we get much more colorful and pleasing variety of flowers here. But when you see those wild flowers, spread as carpet - thats something special, and a unique feature of this National Park).
- Pack your lunch form Govinddham/Ghangriya itself, and have it leisurely inside the valley.
- Do not forget to carry back the plastic and other unorganic waste.

8. Walk back to the hotels at Ghangriya well before the sunset. Yes, Sun sets pretty fast here - by 5 PM. So, be home quick.
- Take a good rest - there would be no disturbance here except that of the hooters and the pony rackets.
- No mobile phones can be a blessing in such places!

9. It is best adviced that you continue to trek next day to the Hemkunt Saheb Gurudwara.
- At Hemkunt, which can be reached after a tougher trek of 6kms from Ghangriya, there is a modern building having the Gurudwara shrine where Sikhs worship the Guru Grantha Sahib.
- It is also believed that Lord Lakshman, Lord Sri Ram's younger brother, meditated at this spot when he was Vasuki, in his prior life. There is a temple dedicated to Lakshman besides the Gurudwara.
- Main attraction of this place is the lake named Hemkunt popularly or Lakshman Ganga historically.
- Nonetheless, it is revered by both Hindus and Sikhs.
- A dip in the chilling waters of this lake is said to cure all the illnesses, and wash away the sins of 100 lives of a person.
- Temperature here would mostly be around 09 degrees at 10AM on a given summer day. And it would go down to sub zero any point in time. So, no one is allowed to stay here after 2PM.
- Yummy Kichdis - both sweet and spicy variants are provided as prasad to all the pilgrims on behalf of the Gurdwara. A hot tea follows up the kichdi treat as well. One will feel stunningly fresh after this refreshment.
- The seven hills surrounding the lake gives a mystic appearance to the environment. The priest at Lakshman temple puts them as saptha rishis (Seven original eternal monks)
- This whole area closes every winter, after Deepavali. Opens only after April in the next year.
- This is due to the heavy snow fall in the region during winters.

10. If you start from Ghangriya uphill to Hemkunt at 4:30 AM, you would complete the 6kms trek by 8:30AM. If you start back by 10:15 AM, after the prayers and brunch, another three hours would take you back to your hotel in Ghanghriya.

11. From Ghangriya, back to Govindghat is again a strenuous trek of 13 kms down hill. Would take 4-5 hours, by when night would have come!
So, It is advisible to stay back for another night at Ghanghriya. Since this is a boring place for you to spend so much time, you can actually try the pony option which would take around 3-3.5hrs to reach down hill. That would give you enough time to reach Badrinath Dham or Joshimath by road.

12. From Govindghat, Badrinath dham takes an hour by road. You can also go back to Joshimath which is again at an hour's distance from here.

In all, it is a total three day hardship, at the least, which gives you an unlimited joy of experiencing the Valley of Flowers.

Wait for the pictures of this wonderful valley.

A piece of a Heaven - I thought

Just Imagine...

I am walking to the edge of a valley.
On the Left side I see a huge mountain
Which I can't even try thinking of exploring
Because of its magnitude in size
And green carpet like appearance.

High raised cliffs peaking out of
Beds of the clouds made a panormic disguise!

Down at my instant right is a steep valley
Of brittle sand and a shrubby little vegetation.

Down there flows a crystal clear canal of water
That runs in my direction, from heavens up there!
It- making me jealous of its heavenly living.

Beyond the river starts another mountain,
Green on the surface, Red in its strength!
Blue at its top, white in the middle!

From the mountain top on my left, I see a
Milk-thread that grew in size as I turn my eyes down!
As I reach this thread, I hear a hurled voice
Of a growing anxiety from there,
A waterfall of such an authentic style!

Now I move my eyes around the horizon -

I see multiples of such waterfalls from
Every nook and corner of the mountain!
And I see such mountains in huge numbers to my left!!

Similar sights to my right, beyond the river down there...
Hundreds of mountain peaks, arranged in an interesting manenr,
Each peak hosting a few waterfalls in them!!

All these waterfalls culminated in
The river down at the centre.

Both sides of me - all the mountains are
Clad in pure green, with no space left on the plains!

These were plants bearing flowers!
Flowers of all colours - red, white, blue!
Orange, cream, pink - et al.

There was not a single tree down there,
But some only up the mountain.
So, the sight was complete with water,
green bed on plains with added colourful grandeur!

The starlit green bed dally dangled
And a fresh aroma hit my nose!
I close my eyes to feel the air in
My nerves - even the last one,

Breathe - Sigh!

I go down the valley at a suitable joint -
I get to touch the waters, feel the chillness!
I cross a small bead of it at some place and go
Acros to the bed of flowers!

A gay feel crosses and ignites my mind.
I joyfully run my eyes on all the sides
Expecting to gulp in the offer of nature -
As much as I can, in that

One single moment!

I stand there destitute - before these structures of God!
I stand surrendered before the almighty
Who was evident in every piece of that vision!

Now -
Right across my eyes, I see the clouds vanishing!
The sky is clearing up!
The veil of clouds opening up -
A huge mountain, With snow covered peak!
Reminiscent of a recent landslide, huge trees fallen,

Ice formed on the canal of water, and a glacier beneath!

Spectacle of my life time,
I bow my head to the Mother Nature!
She suddenly caresses me with another gush of wind!

A piece of a Heaven - I thought.

Am I not dreaming? Am I feeling it - really?
Am I the lonely explorer of this space?
Am I the Only One?
Am I the Chosen One? Or
Am I the Only Blessed One?
Yes, I am - all of these -
And More!!

Don't believe it to be true - ain't you?
Now look at this picture -

Believe it or not - such a place exists on the face of this earth. And I bet that there are hundreds of such extravagant sites for us to cherish.

Alas! The place I have quoted here is unique in its own style, for its floral bed is not manmade, its totally the Almighty's garden - "The Valley of Flowers".

In the heart of the Himalayan might, Under the Nanda Devi Peak, inside the Nanda Devi National Park, as a UNESCO World Heritage site, on the banks of the river Pushpavati, this scene exists!

With its multitude varety of fauna, the valley stands personified to the benevolence of the creator!

This space finds its place in Indian Mythology too -

As the home of Sanjeevini Parvat (Life giving mountain) containing the Sanjeevini herbs that Hanuman carried to Lanka to rescue Lakshman from a debacle in the great war of Ramayan!
Boy! You can readily believe in the theory of Sanjeevini Parvat here!

A must visit for all those who enjoy the raw beauty of nature.

NOTE: Await the details of reaching there.

Navaratri Namaskara

Hi all, Sorry for being away for so long.... and let me not delay any more....


Here are the wishes for a wonderful Vijayadashami to each and everyone.
Let the divine Mother bless everyone of her sons and daughters with Prosperity and Happiness.


Lets celebrate the Vijaya Dashami here, at this Backbencher's corner with a visit to a stunning temple dedicated to the Holy Mother Saraswati.


To be straight, it is not common to worship Mother Saraswati in her original form. She is being worshipped across the nation in many forms like Sharada, Brahmi, Vagdevi and Maha Mayi. But as Saraswati.... there is no one temple that is dedicated to the Saraswati element of Mother.


In every home, every village Saraswati pooja is celebrated during the Navaratris. It was common for us to conduct Saraswati pooja just before our final exams during our school days. Yet, there is no one 'ancient' temple that is purely a dedicated to her! I had just known about one destroyed Saraswati temple at Hampi.


Wait... that was what I knew until I stumbled upon the name Koothanur while planning a trip to the Navagraha temples. Koothanur has an ancient, wonderful, huge temple dedicated to Mother Saraswati. Goddess here attracts thousands of devotees since this is the only known ancient temple of Saraswati. This temple is none less than a discovery for me!


The Idol has an effervescent smiling face asif the kindness has embodied before us. Amrita Kalasha, Chakra in the upper hands, with lower left hand holding a book and the right showing the Abhaya Chinmudra. The right upper hand holds an Akshamala as well, as a mark of alphabets(from A to KSHA). She has compassion filled eyes, with a Jnana Chakshu situated at Ajnachakra. She sits majestically on a lotus in Padmasana adorned with a white silk saree.

Koothanur or Poonthottam is a small, serene, beautiful village on the banks of Arasalar river. The Goddess here is magnetic in nature and is attributed to many a miracles like dumb people gaining their speech, illustriously ordinary person gaining higher levels of knowledge to become a great poet in Tamil, etc... all by the grace of this divine Mother.


Saraswati idol also holds a veena between her lower hands. This denotes the supremacy she behodls over all the arts. Veena is a divine instrument that represents a human body. One who masters the Veena gets nearer to divinity. Saraswati's veena vadana is supposed to be of the highest order, and the resonance to which causes one to attain divine powers. Many musicians have emerged from this village is an illustration that the whole area is filled with Saraswati's magical powers.


Since Saraswati is the Mother of all knowledge, all arts, in this temple people offer the Mother with sevas in different arts. Every evening there would be musical concerts, every day there would be Vedic chants filling the air with a spiritual vibration. The Dramas, bharata natyam etc are performed occasionally too. Navaratri is the time of annual fest here, Vijayadashami being a grand celebration.


The shops outside the temple sells pes, slates, books etc which can be bought to offer at the feet of Mother Saraswati and take back for personal use after the worship here. It is said that on Vijayadashami day alone 100s of children get initiated with their Aksharabhyasa here. Students offer pens, and books here, and worship the Goddess. Later they carry back the pens to be used in their examinations. It enhances their chances in the exams, it is said.


So, friends, let me make it more clear... This is the only known Saraswati temple that has about more than 1000 years of history. Koothanur is a sleepy village that lies on the banks of Arasalar river on the highway connecting Mayilaudurai and Thiruvarur. It lies in Thiruvarur district of Tamilnadu, at about 20 Kms distance from the district headquarters, Thiruvarur. It is at about 25 KMs distance from the famous Shani Sthala, Thirunallar in Pondicherry.


Though not known to many, this temple stands out with its particular set of visitors and devotees. Hats off to the teple management who have preserved the sanctity of this place to this day so that devotees feel the Love of divine Mother and feel blessed.


Come Lets visit such a divine world, and be blessed by Mother Saraswati.

Rameshwaram - a letter digitised

Yes. I write letters, not e-mails but letters. In one of the letters written to a friend, I had explained my journey to Rameshwaram and the feel of being there. I digitized the same to present here. Read it as follows.

Trip was fantastic :-).

We visited the very tip of India from where Srilanka was at just about 13miles distance. Here, at Dhanushkoti, the actual Ramasetu starts, and also it is here that the Indian Ocean grabs Bay of Bengal in its strife! Another beach we visited, which doesn’t have waves at all. Obviously, this must be the safest beach in India which looked like a river with salty water. The Bay of Bengal is silent only at this place, which is gigantic elsewhere. The sand here is of unique black colour, that you won’t find anywhere else across the globe. This strange phenomenon is attributed to Rama’s anger against the King of Sea who did not help Rama initially, but later he succumbed when Rama threatened to dry him off. Thus the sea became silent and the sand got its colour as a representation of anger of Rama. Quiet mysterious and belief has no bounds. Rameshwaram is a small island connected to Dhanushkoti by land. Initially they had a railway connection between these two villages and a shipyard situated at Dhanushkoti from where local ships used to ply between India and Srilanka! And in 1965, a great cyclone swept the whole village of Dhanushkoti. The rail bearings stand as a testimony to the ‘gata vaibhava’ of this place. At that juncture, people from Dhanushkoti moved to Rameshwaram, I mean whoever survived. Today, a gory town of Dhanushkoti with fallen churches, dharmashalas, railway stations and houses, stands affirm. Half the town is buried in the sand that swept it then. A few fishermen still make a living here, and they are not bothered about the visitors who come there. It is said that the Srilankan refugees and drug peddlers, smugglers from the island nation land in India here, stealthily and without anyone stopping them. Crime starts after it is dark. A jeep ride on the sands is a fantastic thing to experience here! After 1965, people realized they can not rely on the ships to reach Rameshwaram and then they built a railway bridge across the Sea, to Rameshwaram. Eventually, a drivable road was constructed as well. So, the experience of driving on a bridge with water surrounding you is again a uniqueness of Rameshwaram, at least in the Indian context. The railway bridge is named Pamban Bridge, named after a neighbouring village. Specialty of this bridge is, it used to act like a gateway for the ships to cross this part of sea in that era. I mean, the bridge has a gate that used to be opened so as the ships passed thru and closed when the trains would pass! Anyways, now, no ship passes here, so, the bridge is an antique piece that is used only as a train bridge. One can experience this bridge today by taking this fantastic drive from Madurai. The religious Importance of Rameshwaram is visible in every turn and corner of the place. This has a huge temple with the longest corridor in the world. That corridor makes an amazing 1.3KMs walk in total. The temple complex has 22 sacred wells; those get the water generated as much you remove it from. Each pilgrim goes around the temple and bathes in each of these 22 wells. An extraordinary phenomenon that is unique only to Rameshwaram. The water in each of these wells tastes different and most of the times sweet, though these are situated barely 100 meters away from the sea! The main deity, Ramanatha Linga, is made of sand, but that has become rock solid. Each and every day hundreds of pilgrims get Ganges water from Kashi and does the abhisheka to this linga. Tough it is sand made it sustains the abhisheka and stays intact, even after ages of existence! Srik.

Hampi...... sad tale of a world heritage site

Hampi brings back a bunch of memories, memories of great pride, and some, of sadness. Happy memories of a thought that such a huge celebration of life ever existed; sad memories of inhibited imperial brains destroying such a wonder, both run in our minds when we think back about Hampi.

Today, Hampi is a graveyard of an infinite energy that hides more than what it displays. The huge perpetuation of the stony marvels here are a testimony to our greatly famed heritage.

The monuments that are available to us are a treasure for researchers, history enthusiasts from across the globe. They provide an open museum to the enthusiasts and teach about an interesting and one of the most important phases in Indian history. These monuments are no more 'Hindu' monuments, but are more of National in nature.

Such precious and priceless monuments are today orphaned and are being vandalised. Last weekend there was a disturbing report of a few idols being fractured by some idiotic degage rascals. There were reports of young visitors roaming around the streets of Hampi drenched in the shall of drugs, alcohol and open sex.

Hampi’s sanctity is at a high risk today. The world heritage sites at Hampi are under a threat of losing out again to the carnal pleasures of its fancied visitors. Any attack on Hampi is an attack on the integrity of the country; it’s a direct attack on the virtues of Hinduism.

Today, young men from Kashmir are said to be involved in drug peddling, secretive terrorist activities, cases of infidelity among others. There were arrests also of a few of them in the regard.

Today, some of the Hindu temple monuments have been occupied and turned into dargahs off late. The popular ‘Purandhara mantapa’, from where Sri Purandhara Dasa contributed immensely to Karnataka classical music, is today used for cooking the beef!

The history will never forgive us if we lose out these ancient, priceless monuments for the heck of a small money, pleasure or pride. We need a mechanism to safeguard them and feel proud of at least having them in our history.

A visit to Hampi is like reading a huge history book; is like traveling to the past in a time machine. I sure hope we, as a community come to our senses fast and educate ourselves of the pristine value each of these monuments, idols hold. And I also wish and hope that we do preserve them to gift our next generations this enormous beauty of heritage value.

I stronly urge the respective departments to take corrective and preventive measures to ensure these monuments are practically protected.

JAI HIND

Also Read :

1. My Hampi experience.

೨. ಹಂಪಿಯ ಕುರಿತ ನನ್ನ ಕನ್ನಡದ ಲೇಖನಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ಕಿಸಿ.

Historical, Mythological, Magical Kolar

Taking a cue from Rahul Gandhi’s discover India, I did a Discover Kolar trip last Saturday. It was a homecoming for me, as well as discovering my neighborhood with a different outlook. I was there in search of the real Kolar, the historical and mythological Kolar!

Places I visited on my last week’s ride to my homeland:
1. Antharagange beTTa - An ancient Shiva temple is built around Antharagange (water that flows from the mountain under heavy rocks, it is visible in only two places on the hill). The hill range is known as shataShrunga parvatha shrENi since there are 100 peaks of this hill range. To reach Antharagange temple and water body, we need to hike up about 150 steps, and If we trek up the hill, further from the temple, we will get to 7 villages, ancient and beautiful.

We hiked to find about three villages, one of which was tEru haLLi, where an ancient temple, of Gangadhareshwara, was an amazing sight; I was not expecting all these, since I never had a chance before to go up the hill, after Antharagange. The temple, in ruins today, was a surprise and prize find for me, for the reason that I didn't know there existed a history for this hilly area. Another surprise that was in store for me, was a summer camp for small children in drama and light art, like painting, singing, folk dances, etc. The camp was named 'chukki mELa', to find such an activity, that too in kOlAr...an unexplainable joyful experience!

We trekked down the hill, on a road that has been constructed over the hill to enable easier transportation of good and villagers, about 4 years ago, and reached Antharagange foothills, where the bike was parked. 

I completed my LIC work, which was the sole purpose of my planning this trip, in just about a 30 mins time. The sun was as sharp as always in a rocky mountain area, but the humidity was at its low best.

We had lunch and had some time left to plan our next part of the itinerary.

2. We moved to the foot of another mysterious hill called AvaNi beTTa. A very little known, yet, highly spiritual mountain stands hiding a million stories from the past. Unfortunately, no historian has documented the place, nor the archeological department has done any research on here... But a very nice place to research is this.

It is said that the great daNDakAraNya, from where sage vAlmiki wrote rAmAyaNa in trEtAyuga, that avanthikaa puri is this. Avanthika also finds a mention in the seven moksha daayaka places, in Hindu Puranas.
To quote the shloka,
'AyOdhyaa mathuraa maaya kaashi kaanchi avanthika
purii dwaaravathi cha eva sapthaite mOkshadaayakah'!
Such an important place mythologically, and it really sounds as mysterious as it has been projected by locals. The hill contains all the places that are explained in uttara raamayana. where Lakshmana drops off seethe, a pregnant woman, there is dhanushkOti, a small pond on rocks, that resembles an arrow in the structure; and it is said that Lakshmana created this pond, by pushing an arrow on the rock when seethe asked for water.

There is a small cave, where it is said that seethe gave birth to lava and kusha, after finding out that it was an ashram, inhabited by none other than the Brahmarshi, Vaalmiki. The cave, which has a very small entrance, is as mysterious and real as the story is. Newly married ladies get a handful of mud from this cave, which is considered sacred, and drink with milk every morning for a week, and get healthy babies, as the locals describe!

There is another place, which is called kudure kallu, where it is said that lava-kusha trapped the horse of Sree Rama, stopping the unprecedented march of the royal horse for the great ashwamedha Yaga of Sree Rama. This act of the children calls for a war between the brothers and the royal army of Ayodhya. In this great war of Uttara Ramayana, the royal army is defeated and that calls for the emperor Sree Rama himself to get into the war with children, when Hauman finds out who the children were, by spotting Seethe on the hills, he gets her to the war zone, where she sees her husband in war with her children, she cries with joy over the heroics of her children, with milk in one eye, and cries with blood, since the children were fighting her husband, with blood in another eye, all the spectacles are there for one to see!!

The hilltop temple of Seetha Parvathi is said to be the place where Seetha went back to Mother Earth by proving her purity once again after the great earthquake at the end of the Uttar Ramayana.

Though Ramayana finds the major connection with this hill, the highlight of the hill is not just mythological, but also a huge rock called horaLu baMDe, (Rock to whirl down), a huge rock that sits on another boulder on the hill,leaving a small cleavage that seems pretty small where one can whirl down to the other end of the rock! it's kiddish but derives great joy when one does that. People here attribute the successful passage to the good things one has done in the past!! Whatsoever, a great refreshment, to end the hike with!

The village also has an age-old temple which is built next to a Kalyani, a huge temple dedicated to Sree RamaLingeshwara Swamy. There are many Lingas in the temple complex, and around that. Villagers say that each member of the royal army of Sree Rama established and worshipped a shiv linga each to rid the sin committed by fighting the war. Ramalingeshwara is a linga that incorporates Rama (Vishnu) and Shiva in one, Seetha Parvathi on the hill is a deity that incorporates Seetha and Parvathi in one.

That Avanthika puri became Aahavaniya, a place where aahavaniya Yaga was performed by a sage in a later era, and aahavaniya became Aavani, as that is today are some enthralling stories!

Though there is no documented history of this place, the people have managed to maintain these mythological stories as historical ones, and one cannot deny their faith. That is the real India for you!

3. Kurudumale temple, an extraordinary Ganesha temple, about which I have talked time and again, also was put on the itinerary at the last moment that made our journey back to Bangalore inevitably a night ride.

We reached Bengalooru at 9:00 PM, leaving Kolar at 7:30 PM. It was an endearing journey, but an exhausting one as well. I made some startling and exciting discoveries of my homeland, Kolar, in this great journey. Exhausting because of the ride and hike of two hills, in search of our ancient pride!

Backbencher is Back

It had been an un planned, and un announced hiatus for me. For now, I am back.

There are two reasons for my unnoticed break,
1. Hectic schedules at office.
2. Jinx that couldnt be undone.

I appologise for going away without infromation.

Now, I am back with my complete traits, to get back in touch with you all, and to read all of your posts, give updates on whats happening etc.

To start with, let me share about a solo ride that I ventured on last Sunday. Here I go.

One Day….. Visiting Five Protected Ancient Monuments

I was on my bike….and fully prepared to ride long…I didn’t know how long. Started from home at about 8-20 in the morning, after a light break-fast. I was thinking of a ride on the ring road of Bengalooru, starting from home and back to home with a full 360 degree ride…

But as I started venturing on the ring road towards Marath Halli, had a wee feeling of a longer ride, on one of the National Highways… Suddenly remembered reading a coupla days ago about a Markandeshwara betta situated near Kolar. Being ashamed of the fact that having grown in Kolar, and not knowing about this hill… I felt a chill to conquer it right away. Instantly called Mother to inform about it, and amidst her strong protests, succeeded in getting a green signal to venture further.

And my bike turned to right from K R Puram…

The young rays of Sun had magical touch on my body, as I rode past KR Puram to reach Hoskote. As the Sunday morning crowd was lazily waking into existance, I was on my way to Arabhikottanur from where I had to take a right to reach Vakkaleri, where exists the Markandeshwara hill.
As I was riding I started making my itinerary… Included Kolaramma temple and Kurudumale to the destination list for the day. And I started calculating…this temple would be open till this time, so, I must make it fast there and such things..

Finally, when I looked at my watch it was showing 9:30AM when I reached Arabhikottanur. So, my pulsar turned right towards Vakkaleri. A ride that was mesmerising…amidst huge rocks, on a small neatly laid road…Wonderful ride. Fact that I was alone in the visinity added the thrilling masala to my feel. In no time I reached Vakkaleri village, stopeed to enquire, and to my luck found that the temple would be open, since there was a marriage that was scheduled for the day there. And I headed to the hill rightaway. Otherwise, since it was a Sunday, I had to take along the priest on my bike to worship in the temple. Mondays the temple would be open till the dusk, it seems. The Markandeshwara beTTa is just 2Kms from Vakkaleri, and a road is laid till atop the hill, steps are also there for the people who preferred walking.
Markandeshwara temple atop the Markandeshwara hill is a 15th Century Ganga monument, that stands on a beautiful hill top. It is said that the great sage Markandeya meditated to escape the strong clutches of Yama(death) with great devotion to Lord Shiva, here. A temple stands as a testimony to it.

And strangely enough, here is a well that has a black striped mark inside, which is said to be a mark of Yama paasha(God of death) that is extended till the Shiva linga inside the Garbhagriha. The temple also has intricate carvings on all the pillars with stories from Hindu mythology. Durga, Ganesha and Kartikeya temples are around the main temple of Shiva. Linga inside the Garbhagriha is made of Saligram stone, and is worshipped every Monday, with abhishekha.

It was crowded, thanks to a marriage that was going on in the temple. The temple also has a dining hall adjoining, and a couple of guest rooms.

I didn’t spend much time since the marriage was underway, and the crowd would otherwise be disturbed by my presence ;), so soon after the pooje I started heading down. People there, friendly them, asked me to have the marriage feast before leaving, I promptly refused and wished them all the best.

In no moment, I was zooming on the Malur-Koalr highway, towards Kolar. Oh! My Kolar, it looks the same, ‘Let the zamana change, I don’t change’ is its mantra. You leave a dust particle next time you go, and go back after a year, you can find it exactly where you placed it! Thats my Kolar for you.

Yeah there is a change only in the state of roads, they were good earlier.
I ran straight to Kolaramma temple, Goddess in the form of a scorpion is worshipped here, from ages unknown. A temple is constructed around the diety, that dates back to 12th Century Ganga rulers’ times. The temple was originally built by Cholas, and later enhanced by the Gangas, as the historians put it.
This is a mysterious, an interesting and a beautiful temple. As seen in the picture, outer walls has stone inscriptions that dates to 11th century of Chola times. Inside the temple, we can find some idols that are real huge in size, made by mud, some carved out of stone, all locked up in a room where a utsava murthi of the Mother is placed for darshan. There is one small cleavage in the floor of that passage where another idol of Kolaramma is placed, and they say one can hear the passing of a scorpion thru that opening. Very very mysterious in deed. Here, Along with Kolaramma, there are Sapta matrikes being worshipped.

Someshwara temple, another masterly built monument, located just about 200 mts from Kolaramma temple. This is a Vijayanagara styled monument with ranga mantapa, huge outer space, intricate stone carvings, big raja dwara(main entrance). It is a structure that dates back to 16th Centrury as identified. This is again of a strange existance since there is no other clue of Vijayanagara styled architecture, that is found in Hampi, around this place. Someshwara linga is a swayambhu made of saligrma stone.

I stopped nowhere else on my way to Kurudumale.
Visited two temples, viz., Someshwara and Varasiddhi Vinayaka(popularly Kurudumale Ganesha) temples. Strangely enough, these temples were crowded, first signs of the place getting commercialised, for Good? For bad? Time will answer.

Brief of these two temples : Someshwara temple in Kurudumale. This is a 17th Century Hoysala styled temple, destroyed, re built, and re-rebuilt to the final existance as of today. As written by me in one of the articles earlier, this temple has two kinds of carvings on its outer walls, one half is said to have been worked by Jakkanachari, and the other half by his son Dakkana.. No evidence to prove it though. off late this temple is getting very famous and I could find some visitors coming here on the Sunday.

Ganesha temple in Kurudumale, situated on the same road as that of Someshwara temple, but here a huge Ganesha idol is being worshipped from ages unknown. It is said that the Ganesha statue was being worshipped in a open field, until Krishnadevaraya built a temple around it. Its too huge to imagine(14ft in all), bigger than the Dodda Ganesha of Basavanagudi.
You can read more about Kurudumale here.

And after all the adventures, I came back to Kolar, had my lunch, and spent some time in my ancestral house where no one stays as of today, and was back in Bengalooru by 5:45 PM.

An approx. 250KMs ride that started without an intension of one. A Sunday that was well spent.

NOTE: One can include Antharagange betta(2KMs from Kolar) and Avani betta(Kolar-Mulabagal highway) to the itinerary, if they have time. If you have another day's time, you can also include Kotilingeshwara temple(near KGF), Bangaru Thirupathi temple(KGF-Mulabagal highway) and Chikka Thirupathi(near Malur) and Yeldur.

Route and estimates :
Bengalooru(South) -> BTM Layout -> Marath halli -> KR Puram -> Hoskote -> Narasapura lake -> Arabhikottanur(55 KMs - NH4)

Deviation 1 : Take a right
Arabhikottanur -> Vakkaleri(10 KMs)

Deviation 2 : Take a left inside the pointing arch right in the middle of the village.
Vakkaleri -> Markandeshwara betta(2 KMs)
Markandeshwara betta -> Vakkaleri

Deviation 3 : Take a right on the Malur-Kolar highway
Vakkaleri -> Kolar(14 Kms)
Kolar -> Mulabagal (23 KMs, NH4)

Deviation 4 : Take a left to Srinivasapura highway, just before Mulabagal town starts
Mulabagal -> Kurudumale gate (12 KMs)

Deviation 5 : Take a right inside the arch pointing the Ganesha temple.
Kurudumale gate -> Kurudumale (3 KMs)