Family’s Day out on Diwali

Diwali 2010 has been good with all days enjoyable with family and friends. The last day came along and the itch to get the wheels moving, so we decided to drive out to Shivanasamudram as monsoon had been good and there was bound to be copious water flowing. After a few you will join, no I won’t, it was Ranga, Toshu and I who set off at 7am timing it to reach our fav restaurant on Mysore Road – Kadambam for breakfast! After tucking into some hot thatte idli and sharing a plate of Pongal, in true Diwali spirit..off we went.
The weather was simply awesome – cool, slight breeze and absolutely invigorating. So we drove on…laughing, talking and listening to Kenny G on the car’s system…ooh…what a lovely morning. Road up to Maddur is excellent, and then we take a left soon after the popular Maddur ‘Tiffanys’ towards Malavalli which is 24 kms of very ordinary road. 9kms before we get the fork to turn to Gaganachukki is the way to reach Georgia Sunshine Resort the only decent place to stay if you are planning an overnighter! We were not. While driving towards Malavalli, we spotted a milestone proclaiming – “New York’ -– Ranga nearly drove off the road – what? - painted on it along with the name of the village known as Hunninadoddi, which lies 7 Km from Maddur and 17 Km from Malavalli. On asking some youth sitting on a bench nearby, they said that as the assigned person was re-painting the milestone on September 11th 2001, he heard about the twin towers being attacked in New York and the loss of innumerable people. He instinctively painted New York on the milestone as homage to people who lost their lives in New York. Humanity, obviously, has no borders! These are the kind of information nuggets I thoroughly enjoy.
Ocean of Shiva (Shivanasamudram)
The route of River Cauvery’s journey from her birthplace Talacauvery to Bay of Bengal is dotted with picturesque waterfalls, pilgrimage centers, islands and confluence of rivers. In Shivanasamudra, the river bifurcates into two forming an island and both the branches plummet into rocky gorges to form awesome waterfalls. The branches of the river meet again and continue their onward journey. The two waterfalls are Gaganachukki and Bharachukki and together are also known as bluff. Why? No idea…
Shivanasamudram is a small island town situated 65 Km from Mysore and 129 Km from Bangalore. The Mysore Maharajahs established Asia’s first hydroelectric project – Shimsha – a staple visit for all engineering students studying in Bangalore and Mysore in their 2nd year - here in 1902.
There is a beautiful ancient Dravidian temple on the island dedicated to Lord Ranganatha known as Madhya Ranga, which is a pilgrimage center. Lord Ranganatha swamy/Vishnu’s idol is in a reclining posture on Adishesha/the seven-headed serpent. There are two more Ranganatha temples on banks of river Cauvery, which are Adi Ranga at Srirangapatna, which we saw a couple of months back and Anthya Ranga at Srirangam, Tamil Nadu, which we shall see in a couple of weeks!

Bharachukki falls is 13 Kms away from Gaganachukki falls. The segmented falls are listed in the 100 most beautiful waterfalls in the world. Bharachukki falls from a height of 90 meters but the width of the falls is almost 800 meters.
Gaganachukki falls from a height of 100 meters or more and cascades with force and elegance on the rocks resulting in huge sprays of water dashing on the rocks on either side. The gorge formed by this waterfall at the bottom is in the shape of a horseshoe. There is a watchtower on the eastern side of the falls and on the western side is the tomb of Muslim saint Peer Ghaib. But personally, if you ask me, if you’ve seen Gaganchukki you could give Bharachukki a miss, for one the road is bad and secondly the waterfall is more scenic at the Gaganchukki area. Though, thanks to people having made it a picnic spot, the place is a litter zone with plastic and paper, sadly!
The greenery surrounding the falls, the blue skies and milky white water foaming and frothing consistently are sights not to be forgotten easily. The mist rising off the water seemed to meet the low overhanging clouds and the roar of the water made for a surreal sight. Absolutely a treat for the eyes and ears!
We were through with being shutter-happy by 11am and so we decided to take the diversion to Talakadu and Somnathapura, which we saw on the way to Bharachukki.
Talakadu – Spirituality under Sand-Wraps!
Again roads are a mixed bag, more bad than good. Thanks to this, even a short distance of 23kms seems like a lifetime. Talakadu, a tourist place unexplored by many people, is a beautiful place surrounded by the temples of Lord Shiva. It is on the banks of the Kapila Cauvery River. This place has historical importance dating back to 247 A.D. and ruled by Harshavardhana, Purusha, Rashtra Kootas, Vishnuvardhana and the Vijayanagar Kings.
Once you reach Talakadu you will see the Vydyanatheeshwara temple first. The locals here say that the Shivalinga here changes color according to the time of day! True?…no clue - since we were there for a short time. Talakadu is famous for the Panchalingas and the last famous Mahotsava held here was in 2009 and the next one will be in 2021. The Panchalingas are the Vydyanatheeswara, Maruleswara, Pathaaleswara, Arakeshwara and Mallikarjuna. Other than the Vydyanatheeswara, we can access the others only through the huge sand dunes some as high as even 15 meters.
Legends of Talakadu
There are several legends attached to Talakadu but the most popular one is the The Curse of Alamelamma - A curse it is said, is the cause of this sand blown town, an erstwhile fertile capital of several dynasties that ruled over Karnataka. A tale filled with greed and lust for power. It was the time when Talakadu and Srirangapatna were under the Vijayanagar empire. The death of the last Viceroy, Srirangaraya provoked the Wodeyars of Mysore to declare war. As Srirangapatna fell, the Wodeyar ruler sent his soldiers to covet the jewels of the late Viceroy’s widow, Alamelamma. As she fled from her pursuers, she is supposed to have jumped into the Cauvery, uttering the curses. "May Malangi turn into an whirlpool, May Talakadu turn into a barren expanse of sand, May the Rajas of Mysore not have children for all time to eternity“ The locals fear the curse, as they say that, it has come true and endures to this day from 1610. The NIAS has extensive studies conducted on the subject. Talakadu is mysteriously engulfed with a sea of sand and Malangi has huge whirlpools which make it treacherous, and the family tree of Mysore rulers show a large number of adopted heirs. Mano ya Na Mano!
One more story, this time, it fuses a bit of religion as well. A sage, Somadutta and his disciples were killed by wild elephants when they were doing their penance. They were said to be reborn as a tree and elephants in the same forest. Two hunters, Tala and Kada watched the ritual of the elephants offering prayers to a silk cotton tree, and out of curiosity, axed the tree down, only to find it bleeding. A voice then instructed them to heal the wound with the leaves and the blood miraculously turned into milk which immortalized the hunters and the elephants as well. A temple later was built here around the tree, and the place became known as Talakadu.
This was a quick tour of Talakadu but you can spend an entire day there if you want to. It certainly gets your brain into overdrive!
By now the skies had started darkening and we decided to leave as we wanted Toshu to see the beautiful Somnathapura temple, a mere 13kms away. Roads are more or less good, with a few patchy stretches.
Somanathpur – the resplendent Keshava temple

Another Visual Treat and belonging to the same genre of Hoysala Architecture as the Belur and Halebid Temples. Built in the 11th and 12th century, these temples are in perfect symmetry and are embedded with exquisite stone carvings. Standing in the middle of a walled compound having 64 cells, the temples are stellar shaped and have carved pinnacles and stand on a raised platform. One of the most striking features among these temples is that there are a number of star shaped folds on the outer walls and have beautiful carvings of gods and goddesses on the walls above the plinths. The temples have 16 distinct ceilings, each depicting different stages of a blooming plantain. This is the most popular among the Hoysala temples that was incepted in 1268 AD. There are three holy sanctums in the vicinity of the temple complex and housed beautifully carved idols of Kesava, Janardhana and Venugopala. Though the idols of Janardhana and Venugopala are intact, the Kasava stone idol is missing. The excellent architecture on this temple is symbolic of the master craftsmanship of the times. The temple site is well maintained by ASI and is a pleasant surprise to find the clean well maintained grounds and we happily paid the nominal Rs.5 entry fee. If only all our monuments can be maintained thus!
By now it was 1.40pm and we were weary, hungry and the elements seemed to be getting angrier and rougher, so though we chanced upon a shop selling exquisite metal tribal art, we decided not to tempt fate and leave before the skies opened. We had to crawl over practically non existent roads for over 2 hours to reach Maddur via Malavalli by which time rains were beating down in right earnest. Dashed in to Hotel Tiffanys, but since it was way past lunch time, we just had a dosa and the hot cuppa hit the right spot.
Thankfully the cyclone-driven clouds had held off till we finished all the sight seeing but now there was no such respite, so the drive to Bangalore was made in blinding rain at a sedate 60kms speed and traffic snarls heralded our reaching Bangalore. Dropped by at amma’s place to meet and greet my uncle and family, worked out all the wedding details of my cousin in Chennai, had a welcome cup of hot coffee and reached home by 7pm.
We had covered over 350kmsin partly bad and partly excellent roads, traversed through a few 1000 years, listened to some eerie stories which have endured the passing of time…were we tired? – Of Course, Will we do it again? – You Betcha! There is something about the rains – it’s magical…and India after all is Many Worlds in One – how can we ever have enough?!