MELKOTE - NAGAMANGALA - BASARALU - KMDODDI

My parents had once visited Melkote  but could not have darshan as they reached there @  closing time(1:00pm).. Since then my mom wanted to visit  Melkote.

We decided to accompany them.I  checked  places around Melkote and  got  address and route map of couple of places near Melkote..

Sunday as planned, we reached  our parents house by 6:45am. And  my parents Us, and my elder brother Mahesh started our journey @ 7:00am.. We hit  Maddur around 9:30am, stopped by  a restaurant for breakfast and  later  continued travelling in  Pandavapura taluk of  Mandya District...

We reached temple around 10:00am.And decided to first visit  Yoga Narasimha temple which is on hills and then CheluvaNarayana temple which is in Village..

DESTINATION 1- Melkote :

Melkote is around 133kms from Bangalore which is famous for  Yoga Narasimha temple and  CheluvaNarayana temple.. The standard timings for the Melkote temples are Morning 8.00am to 1.00pm and evening 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

Pond/Kalyani of the temple

Yoga Narasimha temple , seen from near the pond..

Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple
Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple is located on top of the hill, steps are Steep and quite a climb,but You can finish it under 30-40 minutes. It is believed that the image of Yoga Narasimha temple at melkote was installed by Prahlada himself. Krishnaraja Wodeyar III presented a gold crown to Lord Yoga Narasimha.(Narasimha is an Avatar of Lord Vishnu). 

Steps to Yoga Narasimha temple

Entrance of main temple - Yoga Narasimha temple

Once you enter the temple,in place of Garbhagudi you will find huge Bronze Image of Lord Narsimhar, and opposite wall of  the  Bronze Image, you will find Actual Idol of Lord Narsimhar and  you can find a  dark cave right below the deity where Prahalada  is said to have meditated in this cave.


                                   



We  had darshan of Lord  Narsimhar and climbed down the hills. View from the hill is spectacular, we can also find a pond used by the temple. We bought Jack fruits and bowl of Puliyogre which was really tasty ..We climbed down in next 15mins and headed to  Cheluva Narayana temple, which is 5mins away..

Lord Narasimha in Yoga mudre....

Cheluva-Narayana Temple
Cheluva-Narayana means Beautiful. Narayana here in Melkote is  very beautiful.It is believed that this utsavamurthi belonged to and was worshipped by Lord Rama and the kings of the surya vamsa Dynasty for generations. Later the same idol was given to a king of Chandra vamsam (the dynasty of Lord Krishna) and was worshipped by Lord Krishna and many generations. So CheluvaNarayana is so unique that he was worshipped by both Rama and Krishna.

Lord Cheluvanarayana

According to a legend, this metallic image was lost and was recovered by Sri Ramanujacharya after which he renovated the temple.Legend is the processional idol of this temple had been lost for some time. Realizing that the idol was in the possession of the Muslim emperor in Delhi, Muhammed Shah, Sri Ramanuja decided to go there and get it back.Muhammed Shah was greatly impressed by the saint and granted him permission to take it back. So, the idol came back to Melkote. The daughter of Muhammed Shah, a young girl, was so attached to the idol that when Sri Ramanuja took it back, she followed him, unable to bear separation from her beloved doll. When she reached the temple at Yadugiri and saw the idol installed there, she collapsed in front of it and breathed her last. Sri Ramanuja moved by her unconscious Bhakthi in being so involved with the idol of Nayarana had an idol of her installed at the temple.Even today she is worshipped along with the main deities as Bibi Nachiyar. Her figure can be seen at the foot of the main idol and also beside her beloved Sampath Kumara, the processional idol. Some people confuse this and say  Lord Venkateshwara married a muslim(You can search this in google, many claim "Bibi Nanchari" was muslim wife of Lord).But Bibi Nachiyar (Became Bibi Nanchari over time) was just a great devotte like  Meera..

Krishnaraja Wodeyar III was a great devotee of this Lord and presented Lord  a crown known as Raja-mudi or Vajra-mudi.Along with this one more precious Crown is Vaira-mudi, which is  believed to be presented  by Lord Krishna.

Vairamudi, the diamond crown, was stolen from Sriman Narayana, when he was asleep at his abode in the Ksheera Sagara (Milky Ocean), by Virochana. Virochana was the king of demons and the son of Bhakta Prahlada. Garuda fought with Virochana and got custody of Crown and while flying back its blue gem on the crest  is believed to have fallen near Nachiar Koil, a temple town in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu. The gem turned into a stream, called the Manimuttaru, which to this day flows in Thanjavur. On his way, he saw Bala Krishna playing with his friends in the mid day sun at Brindavana. Garuda protected the Bala Krishna from the sun by placing his wings as the shade & placed the crown on his head. The local legends of Melkote claim that Krishna presented Cheluva Narayana with this crown.

Vairamudi - Diamond Crown of Lord..(From net)

Vairamudi Brahmostava is an annual festival which gathers more than 3-4 lakh devotees of Lord Cheluva Narayana. Thirunarayana Puram another name for Melkote adorns a festive grandeur on this day when the Lord adorns the legendary diamond studded crown, the Vaira Mudi. The Lord is taken in procession on the golden Garuda with His divine consorts Sridevi & Bhudevi, around the main streets of the city.

Vairamudi Bhramavotsavam (From net)

 There was special pooja going on and we had to wait for mahamangalarti. We took Darshan of Lord Cheluva-Narayana and Mahalakshmi and went around temple to find some beautiful carvings on pillars near Lakshmi/Padmavati temple. By the time we came out it was around 12:30pm.


DESTINATION 2 - NAGAMANGALA:

Sowmya Keshava temple

 We asked couple of people about Hosaholalu,(Lakshminarayanaswamy temple) but was surprised that localites dint know this address. When asked about big temple in this village they spoke of Nagmangala(Which was next place on my list). It was already 12:30 n since most of temples close by 1:00pm,we gaveup Hosalholalu and headed towards Nagamangala which is around 30kms , Melkote

Soumyakeshava is believed to be around 1000yrs old.The temple was built by Hoysalas around 12th century. Main sanctum has Lord Soumyakeshava, and left  sanctum has Rukmini-Krishna and right sanctum has Lakshmi-Narasimha.

3 Main idols of  Sowmya keshava temple...

                                              
 One more attraction of this temple is central hall roof top, is carved with Mandala where  Adhi Shesha is sitting on a big Shanku which appears as if it is placed on heap of 108 Shanku from 1 side. And from other side you can See Rahu & Ketu on other side..

Observe Hood of  Adisesha, from1 end we can see Rahu and Ketu from other end..

Preist told this temple is famous for solving  the Rahu-Ketu dosha and removes any blockade that is currently affecting someone.Keshava Klesha Nashana.(Keshava will destory Klesha means problems)..\


                                               

Purohit suggested we can do Naga pooja and they will lite lamp for 48days (1 mandala) behalf of us.. We did sankalpa and paid 300rs for this pooja. They took address to post the prasadam after 48days..(Have heard many people doing this pooja to remove Nagadosha if any..) It was already 1:00pm by then. We told Purohit we wanted to visit  Basaralu, mallikarjuna temple and but it will be closed by now.. He suggested we can ask  Basaralu temples purohit to open the temple saying we have come from bangalore.


DESTINATION 3 - BASRALU:

I was happy, as we had already missed Hosaholalu temple..We went to Basaralu which is 15kms from Nagamangala. Temple was closed as expected.. We went to purohit's house, which was next to temple, and explained we are from blore, and we have to visit temple then head to blore by nite.. He said he will come in 10 mins, by then a boy came and opened the temple. From outside the temple looks, just a empty structure without pillars and Gopuram. Once we go inside, we can find beautiful Hoysala Structure..

Main Entrance of the temple..

It was built in the 13th Century by Harihara Dannayaka, who was in charge of the armies under the Hoysala King Narasimha II. The temple is currently maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India

                                        

Hoysala structure , built in star shape...

                                                   
 The Presiding deity is Lord Mallikarjuna in form of Linga. In the left sanctum we can can find Naga-Nagini (male and female serpent God)carved in single stone, and in right sanctum we can find Lord Surya.

                                                                  

Other notable carvings in  Garbhagriha is  Mahishasura mardini, lord Ganesha, Saraswati.. Outside the Garbhagriha we can find Nandi. Like  many Hoysala structures, this is a star shaped structure and can find  carvings from Ramayana/mahabharata epics and different gods on pillars and stone walls around the temple.. We took some snaps, took Arati of Lord Mallikarjuna and headed to our last destination of the day..      

                        

Rows of  Mythological animal & stories from Ramayana & Mahabharatha

DESTINATION 4 - K.M DODDI:

 This place is renowned for the  holy bull of the Bhairaveshwara Temple.I had even seen in T.V about importance of this place.. Devotees of this bull believe that it cures illness, settles disputes, identifies thieves from among suspects, etc. Money and other offerings given to this Basavana by devotees is  adorned on the Basavanna, and once in week/month, it is removed and used to construct temple,school and kalynam mantapam.

Lord Basappa, as called by beloved Devotees.

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Aalamanes' or Jaggery-making unitS.

On the way we saw  Jaggery making units and stopped by to see how they make Jaggery..  Also mom wanted to buy some Jaggery.. When i asked  what is process of Jaggery making he explained below  process..The process of manufacturing jaggery involves crushing sugarcane using a crusher and extracting juice out of it. The sugar cane juice is then poured in a large shallow but thick iron vessels / pan (called Kadhai) and made to boil over earthen ovens. It is continuously stirred using large ladles to avoid sticking at the bottom of the vessel. This boiling and stirring goes on for hours until most of the water from the juice is vapourised and the juice starts to thicken, as the concentration of sugar increases in it.

Can u c huge kadhai @ back boiling sugar cane, then it is let flow in this filter...

 Slowly it becomes super saturated and assumes a golden to golden brown thick paste form. Now, this needs a lot of experience to decide the right moment when the jaggery is done, because any under doing or over doing may ruin the taste. Now, the thick paste obtained is poured in various molds, pertaining to different quantities. On further condensation, the jaggery solidifies and is taken out of the molds, wrapped in paper and packed in jute or plastic bags.  We tasted  Fresh Jaggery, Wow it was yummy....  Mandya district has  3000 such    "‘Aalamanes' or Jaggery-making units.....

Jaggery Moulds..

Yummy Fresh Jaggery is ready...

On the way stopped by McDonalds which is on Bangalore-Mysore Highway. Grabbed a burger and reached blore in next 2hrs..

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