Devarayanadurga

This post is about Devarayanadurga which is one of the nine durgas near Bangalore. It is about 60 kms from Bangalore. We had been here in June 2010 with two of our friends (Pratap and Akshay).

Journey

We started from home at around 7.30 AM on a sunday morning. I had read in a blog about a shack near Dobbaspet police station where you could get wonderful tatte Idli served with vada and potato curry. We had decided to find this place and have breakfast there. On reaching Dobbaspet we tried to find this place but there was no sign of such a place.  But then the blog had been written 2 years back and the probability of the place having changed/closed was high. The only place nearby where people were eating was a Davanagere Benne Masala Dosa eatery. We decided to hog some yummy masala dosas there and it turned out to be a good choice. With full stomachs and contented hearts we set out towards Devarayanadurga :)

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Sights of Devarayanadurga

This town is famous for its temples dedicated to Lord Narasimha. There is a Bhoga Narasimha Swamy temple at the base of the hill while the Yoga Narasimha temple is perched on the top of the hill. We first stopped at the Bhoga Narasimha temple and offered our prayers to God. After clicking some photographs of the temple we proceeded towards the hill.

Some boys were hanging around and Nagesh got a lovely capture of one of the boys. Nice eyes he has. Doesn’t he?

We decided to skip a visit to Namada Chilume (a natural water spring) and go to the temple instead. On the way we encountered a board indicating the source of River Jayamangali. But the river was not in sight! It must have been there long back. The sights of open countryside with greenery all around was so refreshing. The winding road up the hill was in a very good condition too. We parked the car and started the climb peacefully. As we went higher, the views we got to see were dramatic. The lush hills on all sides looked beautiful.

As we approached the temple we could see some boulders next to the steps. On one of the boulders, idols of Lord Hanuman had been carved and painted with red which looked good. Another strange sight was a tree whose roots were between huge boulders. It looked as though the tree had grown out of a rock :)

The temple was very crowded and we had to wait some time for the darshan. By the time we were outside it had become very sunny. There were lots of monkeys around this place indulging in antics as usual :)

We decided not to climb the hill further to stand in the ancient watch tower an go to some ancient ruins as it was nearing lunch time and we had begun to feel the hunger. We just walked around the temple and clicked a few pics before returning. On the way back we stopped for lunch at Kamat Upahar and were back home by 4 in the evening.  We need to return to this place again just to watch the birds here which completely eluded us on this occasion except for a momentary glimpse of a Black Shouldered Kite.

Kaivara

Kaivara is a small town of historical and mythological importance in Chikkaballapur district and is about 60-65 kms from Bangalore. I first heard about this place when my cousin who is studying medicine had to go there for a medical camp for a few days. She sounded very enthusiastic about the place and the ashram where she had stayed. Then I read about this place on wiki and we decided to go there one afternoon on a weekend.

We started from Bangalore around 1.30 PM and reached Kaivara around 3. Since we had not yet had lunch we decided to head to the next bigger town Chintamani. One of the shopkeepers in Chintamani directed us to Hotel Shanti Sagar (a small place) where we had one of the best Masala Dosas :p Free with the masala dosa was a discourse by the owner of the hotel on how to get the batter just right for a masala dosa with a special variety of rice :)

With our stomachs full we headed back to Kaivara. This town is known primarily because of the saint popularly called Kaivara Thatayya! He was a poet and a great devotee of Lord Amara Narayanaswamy (an incarnation of Lord Vishnu). The main attractions of Kaivara are the Amaranarayana Temple and the Narayanappa Mutt dedicated to Thatayya which are located next to each other. Another nice place in Kaivara is  the Yoganarasimha Swamy temple on the small hillock called ‘Vaikunta’

This is a picture of the “vimana” of the Amaranarayana temple.

The Narayanappa Mutt is itself exquisite white in color!

There is a hillock opposite the temple where Bhima is supposed to have killed Bakasura. An arch has been constructed with the idols of the Pandavas at the entrance of the road leading to the hill.

We headed to the next destination which was the Yoganarasimha Swamy temple. This houses the cave where Thatayya meditated as well.

There is a beautiful yoga and meditation hall which has been constructed newly here.

On our way out of the temple, we saw a few aggressive monkeys baring their teeth at each other!

Ah! Another thing…. I nearly forgot. You get lovely views of the surroundings from the Yoganarasimha Swamy temple courtyard.

There are so many more other attractions in and around Kaivara that we could not take in during this trip. The Ambaji Durga cave temple which is around 7km from Kaivara, the Aranyarama temple, the Bheemeswara temple. And unfortunately, we missed having the local delicacy – the Masala Chakli – which as I have heard from my cousin, who has had the fortune of staying a few days in Kaivara, is a delight in itself to be experienced!! All these clearly demand of us that we go back again. When we do that, you will hear again from me on this place :)

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Rangasthala and Muddenahalli

Date: 28th September 2009. A Monday. Auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami.

This being the first post in this blog, I suppose I need to give you some background on us before proceeding to the actual post. We live in Bangalore, India. Traveling around Bangalore on weekends is something I dearly love to do. There are many a gems located hidden and unknown to the typical ‘tourist’ or for that matter even localites don’t necessarily know them! Many of these places have their own charm, not to mention importance! It gives me great thrill to visit such places! This blog is an attempt to make the larger populace aware of these gems and provide my 2 pence of information on these lovely gems. The words you see here are (mostly) mine and the pictures you will see are (mostly) by my husband Nagesh.

On this particular date, we embarked on a small little trip to Rangasthala and Muddenahalli. 2 relatively unknown places in the district of Chikkaballapur which neighbors Bangalore on the north.

We found some excellent information on Alemaari’s blog on a trip he had undertaken to these very places. Armed with this, we set out for Rangasthala. Not too early in the morning mind you… given my lazy husband we managed to leave only around 11:30 in the morning :)

The road to Rangasthala is via Chikkaballapur. From Bangalore take the NH 7, aka Bellary Road, past the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) to Chikkaballapur. Within Chikkaballapur take the left next to the bus stand. This is the State highway leading to Gauribidanur. The immediate next village on this road is 5km away and at the end of this village you will find an arch on the right side for Ranaganatha Swamy temple. Follow this road to this lovely temple, built in the Vijayanagar style. However, so called ‘renovation’ has taken its toll on this lovely monument. Given his disappointment at the renovation on the main entrance, my husband was not even willing to post the snap of the front. The snap here is from the side. You can take a look at what ‘used to be’ on Alemaari’s blog.

A lovely snap of Lord Ranganatha with Sreedevi and Bhoodevi.

The area around Rangasthala is littered with lush green fields as far as the eye can see and many a floral field among them!

Post Rangasthala, we had lunch in Chikkaballapur. Important information for anyone heading out to in and around Chikkaballapur. There are nearly no restaurants which are worthwhile. We ate at Shanti Sagar, which is on the left hand side just while you enter Chikkaballapur when coming from Bangalore. Pretty decent. On an earlier trip we had eaten at a ramshackle ‘Sai Palace Hotel’ and had found the experience eminently forgettable!

Given that it was around 2 in the afternoon, we decided to head further to neighboring Muddenahalli. Muddenahalli’s claim to fame is that this is the quaint little village where Bharatratna Sir M Visweswaraiah (fondly called Sir MV) was born! Possibly the greatest Engineer ever from India! His birthday which falls on September 15th is celebrated as Engineers Day in India. For the two of us, being engineers, Muddenahalli was a must see given that there is a museum dedicated to Sir MV there. The museum is situated right next to his ancestral home.

There is a memorial dedicated to Sir MV a little further away. Set amidst pristine surroundings, the memorial is within a lovely little park which has been well maintained.

We decided to head back home after spending some time there. On the way back, as we approached Devanahalli (known more for BIAL), our attention was caught by a seemingly well maintained fort. To our amazement we found that this was the Devanahalli Fort. This is the birth place of Tipu Sultan, popularly known as the ‘Tiger of Mysore’. Given the already overcast skies and our general lack of knowledge about the fort, we decided to just have a peek at what lay within…. to return some other day for a more detailed visit :)

After this we started back home and reached by 4.30 in time for a cup of coffee :)

Map of Rangasthala and Muddenahalli on Google Maps

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