DAY 1 : MYSORE

Mysore is just 2hrs drive from bangalore..We started at 6;00am from Bangalore.
Destination1: DODDAMALLUR KRISHNA TEMPLE
Destination2:  SRIRANGAPATNA
Destination3: NIMISHAMBA TEMPLE 
Destination4: MYSORE PALACE 
Destination5: MYSORE ZOO
Destination6:CHAMUNDI HILLS 
 
Destination1: DODDAMALLUR KRISHNA

Our first stop was Krishna's temple, which is called as Sri Navaneeta Krishna OR  Sri Ramapreya Swamy OR Ambegal krishna, Doddamallur Krishna.Idol of Ambegalu Navaneetha Krishna  (crawling Krishna with butter in hand), is believed to be the only statue of Lord Sri Krishna in this pose. This temple is famous for couple who wants to beget child.. Ambegal krishna is really cute.. We had darshan and had breakfast in darshini of temple campus..



                          
 

                         

Destination2:  SRIRANGAPATNA

Ranganathaswamy temple is one among Pancharanga Kshetram, and is Adi Ranga.. Ranganathaswamy is a avatar of Vishnu who reclines on the coils of the snake Adisesha, under a canopy formed by the snake's seven hoods, with his consort Lakshmi at his feet. It is a very big temple. We had darshan of Lord Ranganatha and headed to next destination.

                   

Destination3: NIMISHAMBA TEMPLE 
 
Nimishamba is incarnation of Goddess Parvathi. Nimisha(Minute) Amba(mother) is said to remove all the problems and troubles of her devotees within a minute. This is a beautiful temple located on the banks of river cauvery. This temple was installed at the time of Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar about 300 to 400 years ago. We spent some time in river cauveri, and headed to our next destination.

                                       

Destination4: MYSORE PALACE 

                     

Palace of Mysore,Also known as Amba Vilas Palace. The official residence of the Wodeyars. The current palace was commissioned by Queen Maharani Vani Vilas Sannidhna, and her son Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV who appointed the British architect-Lord Henry Irwin-to build a new palace in the place of the old one after it turned into ashes owing to a fire accident. 


Palace inhouses Ambavilasa - private audience, Gombe Thotti - traditional dolls from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Kalyana Mantapa - Royal marriages. Temples Someshvara Temple, Lakshmiramana Temple, Shwetha Varahaswamy Temple. Palace illumination of 1Lakh bulbs on every Sunday,public holidays from 7pm to 7.45pm

                       
 

We had a great tour of Palace.It is a vast palace and needs 2-3hours to cover entire palace.. It depicts the richness of the wodeyars who ruled Mysore till Independence. It has lot of paintings,  furniture's, swords used by royals..

Destination5: MYSORE ZOO

               

Mysore Zoo(Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens) is a 245-acre zoo located near the palace. It has a wonderful collections of Birds, Reptiles, Tiger, Giraffe, Elephant..

Destination6:CHAMUNDI HILLS  
                  

From Internet

Chamundi hills inhouses Chamundeshwari, incarnation of Devi Parvati, who is family deity of the royal family. This temple is located in on elevation of 1,000 metres.. And has 1008 steps.. One can climb the step or take vehicle to top of the hill...Chamundi hill inhouses Nandi of 4.9 metres(high) and Mahishasura Statue. 

click here to ready story of Mahishasura Mardini (Chamundeshwari) 


                                 

   

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

DAY 2: - CHITRADURGA

 MARI KANIVE (VANI VILAS SAGAR)

We Vacated hotel room and started our 2nd days journey to a place called Vani Vilas Sagar also called Mari Kanive (This is in Hiriyur,35 kms from Chitradurga).

 We took a local bus from chitradurga to Hiriyur.From Hiriyur Mari Kanive is around 20mins journey, we took a private bus to reach there. Mari Kanive is one of oldest dams,built around 1907 by the Maharaja of Mysore across the river Vedavathi.The length of the dam is about 400 metres and its height is 49 metres. 

We need to trek about 2kms to reach water. It was around 11:30 a.m, it was tiring to walk 2 kms in hot sun. But once we reached near water, we felt it was worth it...We spent an awesome hour soaking our legs in coool water of dam enjoying the beauty of nature, took some snaps, and started back to chikmagalur. Had lunch and started back to blore..

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

DAY 2 - KARAIKUDI

DAY 2 : KARAIKUDI

Today we decided to take help of Hotel receptionist to help us book a Taxi, who is good and shows places peacefully... An elderly driver came in 15mins..We started our journey...


DESTINATION1 : Kanadukathan :- Chettinad Palace

We first went to Kanadukathan.. Kanadukathan is famous for Chettinad mansions/chettinad palace.. Chettinad is the homeland of the Nattukottai Chettiars (Nagarathar), a prosperous banking and business community. Many of this community's members migrated to South and Southeast Asia, particularly Ceylon and Burma, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The people of Chettinad speak Tamil. Today there is a  diaspora of Chettinad people who live in places such as the USA, Singapore and Malaysia.
  
                               

Main attractions of this Kanadukathan mansions is, it is spread across a entire street.The broad roads are flanked by huge mansions of Chettiars. Every house is big here. And you dont get to see one modern house..The whole village seems to have been lost in time and you will be transported to 19th century..

Our driver stopped at one such important palace owned by Raja Annamalai Chettiar..This home was constructed in 1902.Many would have seen this house in movie Kandukoden kandukoden.. Tourists were allowed to take tour of this  house . But after 2010, it is stopped, as it is a private property and some localites used to spoil things by touching again and again and making place dirty..Seeing its richness from outside, we felt we should have visited the place before 2010:).I started taking pics from outside, and we returned back to driver saying, wish they would have allowed, then driver called up one of maid servant of that palace (Luckily that maid servant was his friend) and requested to allow to see palace..

After some time maid let us in, it was an amazing experience walking in 100+years old royal house..Unique thing about palace is,it is not built in square shape(having living room in centre, surrouding by rooms/kitchen) but it is in huge rectangular rooms, one followed by another.

 

We first entered to reach a portico with rich furnitures, then a living room, which was fully surrounded by black n white photos of their families. We then moved to a drawing room kinda thing where we saw some books and stuff, then we entered a Dining room, then a open place without roof where chettiars used to wash legs and take bath on some rituals.. 

Passing this open place you find kitchen with some old model vessels and utensils...Maid told us this palace inhouse 100rooms, and even now used by some guests of chettinad owners  once in a while. I was surprised to see attached bathrooms and modern furnitures and tiles in rooms, i was wondering if guest room is so good, how luxury would be owner's master bed rooms. (Maid wont have keys to owner's rooms).

He also told us this palace is Chidambaram 's mother's maternal home (Finance minister).. And he comes here once in while for any occassions...we enjoyed watching heritage house and took some snaps. Paid some money to maid and headed to our next destination..



Destination 2 : Thirumayam :- Thirumayam fort

Our next destination was Thirumayam Fort. It is a 40-acre wide fort. It was constructed by Vijaya Raghunatha sethupathi, Raja of Ramnad in 1687. Later the fort was handed over to his brother in law Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman. In the 1800s, it was the stronghold of Kattabomman one of the first Indian chiefs to fight the British ... There is nothing much to see in the fort, we can find a model of old weapon used to throw bombs...It was very hot, we took some snaps and left soon..

Satyamurti or Satyagirinatha Perumal Temple(vishnu temple) & Satyagirisvara Temple(shiva temple)

There are two famous rock cut temples in the Fort Complex, a Siva Temple and a Vishnu temple. Satyagirisvara Temple is dedicate to Lord shiva and Satyamurti Perumal Temple is dedicated to Lord vishnu.. These temples are adjacent to each other. Its very big temples, with lot of carvings in pillars and walls....

Destination 3: Tirupathur :- Thiruthalinathar Swamy Temple.

We next went to Lord vairavar temple, which is located on main road on way to Tirupathur.. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vairavar, another incarnation of Lord Shiva.There are separate shrines for Siva known here as Varalori Nathar and and his consort known as Vadivudai Amman. Again this temple is very big, with big praharam with manysubdieties, there are three lizard sculptures behind Mother Ambica shrine. Those affected by some doshas can pray here.

Destination 4: Thirukoshtiyur:- Sri Sowmya Narayana perumal temple

We next went to Thirukoshtiyur.In this temple the lord appears in five postures. On the ground floor He appears as the Dancing Krishnan.On the first floor in the sleeping posture. On the second floor, in standing posture as Ubendira Narayanaperumal, and on the third floor, in the sitting posture as Paramapathanathar and finally on the 4th floor he appears in the walking posture. The uniqueness of this temple is that Perumal appears holding his hands to receive Dhanam. Once emperor pururavachakravarthi decided to give dhanam to 1008 Brahmins. This yagam was conducted in a grand manner. At the time of dhanam the King found out that there were only 1007 Brahmins. It was a great shock to the King.Immediately He Prayed to Perumal to fulfill his wish. The Perumal himself appeared as Brahmin and received the dhanam. So Perumal in this temple appears holding his hand as dhana hastham

Destination 5: Kandrakudi :- Arul Thiru Shanmuganathan temple

It was already 6pm by time we reached Kandrakudi murgan temple.. This is a hill lock temple, situated at a height of 200 feet from ground level. Arulthiru Shanmuganathan Holy Temple is 1000yrs old..Lord Shanmuganathan is the presiding deity . Marudhu Pandiyars Kings of Sivaganga renovated the Temple during there period..

Demon Sura and his men, intending to take revenge on Devas, told peacock that Garuda of Lord Vishnu and the Airavat,were boasting that they could fly faster than the peacock. Believing this true, the peacock grew angry and swallowed them.Lord Vishnu and Indira cursed the peacock to become a hill. Realizing its mistake, the peacock came to this hill Kundrakudi-Arasavanam and performed penance for relief. Lord Muruga pardoned the peacock and redeemed the curse. The hill is in the shape of a peacock.As Muruga’s peacock vahan was relieved of its curse here, the hill is called Mayil Malai (peacock hill)


Destination 6 : Pillayar patti

Our last destination of the day was Pillayar patti. This is very famous temple..This is an ancient rock cut temple.As Vinayagar satisfies the wishes of his devotees like Karpagam tree, he is also known "Karpaga Vinayagar".Here Lord Vinayaga appears with 2 hands unlike in other places where he is seen with 4 hands. Also he is seen seated without Angusapasam, with his legs folded and stomach not touching the Asanam in the form of "Artha Padma" Asanam.Devotees worshipping Valamburi Vinayagar seated facing towards north, will be blessed with all wealth.

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

TEAM OUTINGS FROM BANGALORE

1.PRAKRUTI CLUB (ACCENTURE)

2.CLUB CABANA

3.PONDICHERRY (MINDTREE)

4. GOA (MINDTREE)


If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

DAY 1 - CHITRADURGA

DAY  1:

Chitradurga Fort:

We  started our day with  visit to the famous "Chitradurga Fort" at 8:30AM. The enormous fort is built over a rocky hill. Its advisable to start early to escape from the scorching heat. To go around the whole of fort you would need at least 3-4 hours.We hired a guide at the entrance for 250Rs, its better you hire one, as  you will not understand the significance of the structures in the fort.The guide started with an explanation of the 7 circles (Elu suttina kote) and said that 2 of the circles were lost to the city expansion."Chitradurga"  is named by two kannada words, ‘chitra’ means “picture” and ‘durga’ means “fort”.

As soon as we enter Kote(fort), we can see huge pillars, which are used to tie swings for Utsavas. (Pooja). You can also see a pit, where they used to collect , coloured waters during Holi.

 As you walk along, you find  ‘Yenne Kola’ – a small tank where they used to store oil required to illuminate the fort and a  'Maddu Bisuva Kallu', which means "Gun Powder Grinding stone".

Guide showed us some of the rocks, which forms shapes of animals/things like that of elephant, frog, ship etc. If you are lil innovative, you can find lot of such shapes.

We saw a person called Jyothi-raj a.k.a Kothi raj, who climbs the walls and boulders in fort without a rope.Guide said Kothi-raj has an international reputation in climbing and has 9 gold medals to his credit. & he is third in ranking in the world at present, but now he believes he can beat them without any effort. Jyothi raj  says, "if others can climb the rock in an obverse way, I can do it the reversely," i.e., upside down which is something very arduous and unimaginable, but we witnessed him climbing, 25 feet, 90 degree wall in about 15 seconds. Watch this Video.

jyoti raj climbing  

We then visited Ekanteshwari temple and then Hidembeshwari temple in fort, It is said that Hidimba and his sister hidambi,a giantess, used to live in this temple. Hidimbi, who fell in love with Bhima (the second of the Pandava brothers of Mahabharata) married him and had a child by him named Gatodgaja.

Lastly we visited, Onnake obbavana kindi.  " Onnake Obavva" is a brave women who saved the fort, & the"kindi"(Hole) where Hyder Ali's soldiers tried to enter the fort is called as Obavvana Kindi. Thou i knew this story, was nice to hear again from Local guide. "

This was about 300 yrs back when  Madakari Nayaka ruled fort. Hyder Ali soldiers attacked the fort, by getting information from the women who used enter fort (to sell butter milk) through a crack hole in the rocks.  Hyder Ali led his plan to send his soldiers through this crack hole.

The defence guard, on duty of the port near that crack hole had  gone home for lunch. While serving lunch to her husband(Guard), Obbavva (Guard's wife) realized there was no water @ home, and went out to get water. She noticed the soldiers emerging out of this crack, she ran home and saw her husband still having lunch, she decided not to disturb eating person, and walked out of house slowly with Onnake (a wooden long club meant for pounding paddy grains). She started killing hyder ali's soldiers as and when they entered one by one through that kindi, & quietly moved the dead, so that hundreds of them entered and fell, without raising any suspicion. The guard, Obavva's husband, upon his return from his lunch was shocked to see Obavva standing with a blood stained Onake and hundreds of dead bodies of the enemy fleet around her. Even today anyone speaks of Chitradurga fort first thing comes to mind is  Obavvas bravery..

Chandavalli Kere

Our Second Destination was Chandavalli Lake, this place is around 3Kms from Fort.This place has a Lake,Cave and a hill to trek. As soon u enter Chandavalli , you find a lake. We spent some 30 mins sitting on banks of Lake enjoying the cool breeze, took some snaps and then walked towards cave. Local boys there said, caves are pitch dark at any time of the day & one need to take guides to go inside cave ,or you can easily get lost inside the caves. I doono if its because of week-end or new year, all 3 guides of place where busy inside caves, with other tourists, and we were told to wait till one return. It was  2:00 p.m by then, we were too hungry and was very tired after walking 3 hours in hot sun in the fort. So we decided to skip this place, and Aadumaleshwara temple.Had lunch in near by restaurant and   returned to hotel room..

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!

DAY 1 - MADIKERI

We had  bus @ 7:00 a.m, from Bangalore satellite bus stand, my dad dropped us there, right on time. But bus arrived only @ 7:30. It was so  chill in morning, i could manage to get some sleep in bus.. And got up only, when he stopped for breakfast @ some restaurant.

. Breakfast was tasty...But after breakfast sleep was tooo far...Coz of traffic all over..bus was stopping every 2 mins....From blore, bus goes  via mysore to reach Madikeri  and coz of Dasara, roads were blocked, and was full of traffic, we were supposed to reach by 12:30.But finally reached @ 2:00..

We took an auto, to Home Stay which we had booked. (Only Phone Confirmation). And realized that, all  home stays were occupied coz of Dasara holidays...So we asked the auto driver to drop us to some Hotel, or  home stay if he knows any. Auto driver, Fareed took us to nice home stay. (1500 rs per day). Luckily  1 room was  vacant... It was 2:30 p.m, when we finally booked our home stay.

Home stay was owned by a couple, whose children were studying engineering in Blore. Fareed (Auto Driver) and home stay aunt recommended that we start immediately, so we could cover some place before it gets dark. We asked fareed to take us to all nearby places..(He charged 400 rs for 3 hrs)...So what next, we just dumped our bags, freshened up, and was all set,  to start visiting places. Home stay Aunt gave us some dosas(As it was 3:00 p.m and was too late to find  Lunch @ any Restaurants)


Below are Attractions in  Madikeri  (We could cover all these from 3:00p.m to 6:30p.m)

Abbey Falls:
 We first went to Abbey Falls, it was just  10 kms from our home stay...Auto stopped near gate, and we had to walk, 1 km to reach the falls...It was awesome,was kind of drizzling, but never saw anyone walking back. With water flowing and sprinkling all over, made it more cold..We had some photo sessions there, and spent some 30 mins.

Coorg Fort:
From there  we left to Madikeri Fort which is now turned to several Govt offices.It also houses a small museum with kodagu Soldiers & King's potraits, their weapons and few more things...

Omkareshwara Temple:

Fareed then took us to Omkareshwara temple,Omkareshwara Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva was built in 1820 by Lingarajendra Wodeyar II to ward off evil caused by Brahma Rakshasha. Localites there say,  that Lingarajendra killed an honest and pious Brahmin to fulfill his political ambitions. The Brahmin came back as 'Brahmarakshasa' to haunt the king. To ward off the evil spirit, a temple was constructed by Wodeyar.

Gaddige/Raja's Tomb: We then left to gaddige,It was 3 tomb's of  Kodagu raja's, in an open ground, there was no much information about that, even localites hardly  knew about that. It was unattended by tourism dept, with no paintings.

Raja's seat:Lastly we we left to Raja Seat, It  was  5:30 p.m, wind was blowing so fast, making it more chill..We were so hungry as we had missed lunch and had ate  just 2 dosas.  I was looking @ ramesh to see if he buys me chats there( Usually he never eats nor lets me eat chats/food on road side, say's its not clean and  it will upset stomach). Guess he too, was hungry, he bought us some hot  Masala puri  and gobi Manchurian(Not tasty thou, but yes was filling & clean to certain extent). Once stomach was  filled, we walked around, place was excellent with cool breeze, we took few snaps, Raja's seat has a view of the whole of Coorg hills. It is said that,  Mysore kings used to visit this place in summer and enjoy coorg's beauty... Every evening, musical fountain is played to the tunes of popular kannada and hindi numbers. We could see some kids enjoying this dancing musical fountain....

It was  6:30 by then, Fareed called us, and asked if we can return(as he had other pick up). On the way back fareed suggested us to book a cab for tommorrow, as we have to travel 30Kms from madkeri to Kushalnagar. We got one of his contacts & booked a cab.(1000rs per day). We returned to home stay, by then aunt had prepared some rice,rasam and some bhajiyas.

If you found this post useful, I would really love it, if you can Like the Page, or share it with your Facebook/Google+/Twitter Friends... It will keep me motivated. Thank you!