DAYS TRIP TO TALKAD & SOMANATHAPURA..

DESTINATION 1:- TNARSIPURA

  Agastheshwara Temple

 Gunjanarashimha Temple

March 19th 2011, It was not only a full moon day but super moon day.Mom insisted that it would be auspicious to take bath in Triveni Sangama (where three rivers meet) and visit a Shiva temple. Luckily it was Sat, both me and my hubby, dint have to put leave. So what next, we searched for Triveni Sangama,near by blore & found this place T Narsipura, also known as Dakshina Kashi.

TNarsipura, is a town in mysore district of  karnataka.  River Cauvery, Kabini and Spatika Sarova, forms a sacred sangama here,place is referred by Tirumakudlu.Its around 135Kms from blore We knew Talkad and Somnathapura is near by to that place.So decided to visit all 3 places.

As planned earlier, we were able to start @ 6:00 a.m. We stopped @ Maddur for breakfast. (Dont forget to eat Maddur Vada there, its famous for it). One can visit Somanthapura first, if your travelling from Blore,  but we decided to hit T Narsipura first, as we wanted to take bath in Triveni Sangama before visiting temples..We reached T Narsipura town around 8:30a.m. From there you need to travel almost 45 mins to reach Tirumakudlu.

AGASTHESHWARA TEMPLE

We reached tirumakudlu @ 9:30, one has to use boat(20Rs per head) to reach triveni sangama from the bank of the river as the 3 rivers meet in the middle. We took  bath and visited near by Agasthyeshwara temple, which is on banks of river.  In the temple,  I noticed a part on the front side of the Shiva Linga missing, and saw the priest getting us holy water from Linga as theerta, i asked him about that, and learned the Legend associated with this temple.

  Rishi Agasthya, had once visited this place, and was enamoured by the confluence of the three rivers - Kaveri, Kapila and Spatika Sarovara. He wanted to install a Shiva Linga there & asked Hanuman to get him a linga from Kashi. Hanuman failed to get Linga within auspicious time, so sage created a sand linga himself & consecrated it. Seeing this, insulted Hanuman, cut off the top portion of the sand linga consecrated by Agasthya, From then, the top portion of Linga , the Spatika Sarovar (Spring )started flowing. It flows out even today and is offered as thirtha (holy water) to the pilgrims. Was surprised witnessing this. Purohit also told us, holy water doesn over flow, and neither gets over.

GUNJANARASIMHA TEMPLE

Next, we went to Lord Gunjanarasimha Swamy, (5 mins from Agasthyeshwara temple) which is located on the right bank of the Kabini river.The legend associated with Gunja Narasimhaswamy Temple is that Lord Narasimhaswamy appeared in the dream of a washerman telling him that, his idol is lying  beneath the stone, on which he washed clothes everyday. The Lord told him to build a temple, and asked him to look for gold coins beneath the stone, which could be used for the construction of the temple. When the washerman expressed his wish to visit (Kashi) Varanasi on a pilgrimage, the Lord told him that, the construction of a temple has earned him (washerman) an additional punya (blessing) of about a gulaganji (seed of a twig tree) than that which accrues by visiting Kashi. Thus, the name tag Gunja came into usage with name of the God Narasimhaswamy..




DESTINATION 2:- TALKAD


Pataleshwara & Keerthinarayana Temple
Marleshwara & Vydyanatheswara Temple
Mallikarjuna Temple

PATALESHWARA & KEERTHI NARAYANA TEMPLE

From there we left to Talkadu, Talakadu is known for its temples burried under the sand dunes.   Vaidyeshwara, Arkeshwara, Pataleshwara, Maraleshwara & Mallikarjuna forms  Panchalingams.
We have to walk in hot sand to see these temples, we took a guide, as it would be helpful to understand more about the place, he first took us to Pataleshwara temple..We then saw Keerthi narayana temple,which was recently found. (Was buried in sands), and  Chowdeshwari temple.

While walking  on sand to visit next temple, Guide told us this story, associated with this place. Tirmula-raja or sriranga raya the representative of the Vijayanagar family at srirangapatna, being afflicted with an incurable disease, came to Talkād for the purpose of offering sacrifices in the temple of Vaidyeshwara. His wife Rangamma was left in charge of the Government of Sringapatna. After  hearing that her husband was on the point of death, she left to Talkād handing over Sringapatna to Rāja Wodeyar of  mysore. Rāja Wodeyar had been desirous of possessing a costly nose-jewel which was the property of the Rāni. He sent an army to seize  all her jewels. Learning this  Rāni Rangamma  drowned herself in Mālangi, with all her jewels.At that moment she cursed “Talakadu managali, Malangi madwagali, Mysooru arasarige makkalu aagadirali” which translates to “May Malangi become a whirlpool,  talkad turn into a desert and the Rajas of Wadiyar not beget male heir”.  Its so surprising that till today whatever she has said stands true.

               

MARLESHWARA & VYDYANATHESWARA TEMPLE.

We then went to Marleshwara temple and vidyanatheswara temple
 

MALLIKARJUNA TEMPLE

Lastly we went to Mallkarjuna temple , which is  on a hill, we have to climb few steps to reach temple. View from hills is awesome, and once you climb up top of hill, you find Lord Mallikarjuna and few other gods...

DESTINATION 3:- SOMANATHAPURA 
 
Finally  we reached  Somanathapura around 3:30 p.m. Somnathapura is a small village situated 30 Km from  mysore on the left   bank of the Cauvery River. The most stunningly carved , stone temple dedicated to Lord Keshava / Vishnu is built here. The Keshava temple built in  Hoysala architecture is the only attraction in this village. But its worth visiting..

 Keshava temple is built in three celled (Trikutachala) structure, which  consists of 3 Garbha Grihas, & has  statues of Venugopala, Kesava and Janardhana. The walls, ceilings, the pillars, the doors and the idols are amazing. Hatts off, to the creativity and patience of the artists, each and every carving is of unique design and  very meaningful. But unfortunately no pooja is performed in the temple as it is  desecrated by the Moghuls.

 

 

Could not stop myself,  going around temple many times. Spent lot of time seeing each and every wall n pillar, which depicits story of  Ramayana,Mahabharata, and kings.. It was 5:30 p.m by then so we had to start. (Closes @ 5:30 p.m). We were the last people to come out of temple that day. Our one day trip ended with mind blowing  place...On the way back , we all were appreciating about,  Creativity, patience and dedications of  Shilpi's (Sculptor). ..