Karnataka Diaries

The Namdroling Monastery, Bylakuppa, Karnataka

Murdeshwar, Karnataka

It was a long year for me at work and perhaps I needed a break more than ever before. It was a vacation that was long due for Bindu as well. We joined Dad, Mom, Sitaram Babai garu, Valli pinni and Bunty on a well planned trip to coastal Karnataka and Ooty.

We started off to ‘Madgon’ (Goa) from Hyderabad on 13^th March, 2009. It was a train late in the evening and we managed to make it to the ‘Kachiguda’ station just on time. The journey was great till noon the next day. It just got better from then on, in the last leg of the journey. The train passed through tens of tunnels, giving amazing views of the western ghats. We could even get a glimpse of the famous ‘Doodhsagar’ water falls. We finally reached ‘Madgaon’ at around 3 p.m. the next day. The train was late by a couple of hours, but the last leg of the journey more then made up for it.

Thanks to the facilities available at the station, we found it a little difficult to hire a cab from there to our first destination, Gokarna in Karnataka. The charge was something like 2500 Rupees for the 150 K.M. drive (to and fro charged). We spent some time at ‘Palolem’ (Goa) and ‘Karwar’ (Karnataka) beaches on our way. My previous trip to Goa did help things a bit. ‘Karwar’, a calm town in coastal Karnataka is bound to impress anyone. For information, ‘Karwar’, along with Lakshadweep, Andaman, Goa are the only four places in India where Scuba diving is done. We could just find some time at the beach before quickly proceeding towards ‘Gokarna’. After travelling for close to 24 hours from Hyderabad, we reached ‘Gokarna’ at around 8 p.m. After a terrible dinner, we settled down at ‘Pitru chaya’ accommodation at around 10 p.m. Timing wise, It would have been better, had we got down at ‘Hubli’ (instead of ‘Madgaon’), but we would’ve missed out on all the things we had seen from noon that day.

15^th March, 2009

‘Gokarna’ is famous for its Shiva Temple. Legend has it that ‘Lord Shiva’ transformed himself into ‘Shiva linga’ (‘atma linga’), to grant Ravana’s wish. The other gods took the help of ‘Lord Ganesha’ to get ‘Lord Shiva’ back. On losing ‘Lord Shiva’, ‘Ravana’ threw the ‘Shiva Linga’ on to the ground at ‘Gokarna’, which is where the main temple is believed to have been built. The Temple complex has ‘Shiva’ and ‘Tamra Parvathi’ temples. There is also a ‘Ganesha’ temple just outside the complex. We had a very pleasant Darshan at all the temples. There were a lot of foreigners around even though they were not allowed to enter the temples. Beaches, Learning Yoga and Sanskrit were perhaps their reasons to visit the place.

After the Darshan, the 7 of us started towards the ‘Kudle’ beach. It was close to a 30 minute trek and only Bindu and Me could eventually make it. The rest of the group returned to the hotel mid-way, giving it to the extreme heat. Bindu and me returned to the hotel after the trek. After a brief nap, we hired a couple of autos to go to the ‘OM’ beach. We spent a couple of hours in the fading light and ‘Bunty’ particularly took a liking to the sea and the sands. We returned to the hotel, had dinner and slept early. We could find some time during the day to hire a cab for the next leg of the trip.

16^th March, 2009

After a quick (second) Darshan in the morning, we stated off at ‘Gokarna’ at around 8 a.m. We first went to the ‘Ganesha’ temple at ‘Idugunji’, around 45 K.M from ‘Gokarna’. We then went to the famous ‘Murdeshwar’ temple (PIC 2 above), around 25 K.M. from ‘Idugunji’. It is believed that one of the pieces of the ‘Shiva linga’ thrown by ‘Ravana’ at ‘Gokarna’ fell at ‘Murdeshwar’. The temple has a really tall ‘Gopuram’ and a huge ‘Shiva’ statue. The temple, with the backdrop of the Arabian sea offers a great view for miles. It was close to Lunch after the Darshan, and we enjoyed a great meal in the ‘Naveen sea-view’ restaurant right outside the temple. After the Lunch, we went towards the ‘Shiva’ statue on a small hillock. At around 2.30 P.M., we started off towards our next destination, the ‘Mookambika’ temple in ‘Kollur’. It was around 80 K.M. from ‘Murdeshwar’ and we reached the temple at around 4 p.m. The main deity inside the temple had been installed by ‘Shankaracharya’, the founder of the ‘Advaitha’ philosophy. After a couple of hours, we started towards ‘Udupi’, which was around 100 K.M. from there. We reached ‘Udupi’ by 8 P.M. After settling down at the ‘Pejwar mutt’, we decided to have a quick darshan at the ‘Udupi Sri Krishna’ temple. Surprisingly, we were not really tired by then. Entering the premises of the temple was like entering into Lord Krishna’s world (call it Krishna’s ‘Maya’). The temple, like most of the other temples we got to see on the tour had a similar architecture. Legend has it that the Lord actually tried to follow a pious devotee out of the temple. In the process, the main Idol of the temple turned its direction and broke down a few of the boundary walls. The devotees then stopped him and built a closure around the main Idol to prevent the lord from going out again. Even today, the devotees get to see the main Idol through the windows of the closure. It was getting really difficult for all of us to get away from the main Idol, just when a temple employee came forward to help us navigate through the temple. He showed us few other temples inside the premises and helped us get a sumptuous dinner in the temple itself. We retuned to the mutt and had a great sleep, almost feeling Euphoric.

17^th March, 2009

We woke up little late and had a second darshan of the Lord Krishna at ‘Udupi’. The first darshan had already left an indelible impression on all of us and the second just improved up on it. After the darshan, we started towards the ‘Annapoorneshwari’ temple at ‘Hornad’, around 95 K.M. from ‘Udupi’. We had lunch on the way at Manipal (known for its educational institutions) which was like 10 K.M. from ‘Udupi’. It was a really pleasant journey, as it was a temple on the hills. It was a welcome respite for all of us from the hot and sultry weather. We drove through ‘Kudremukh’, a hill station, to reach ‘Hornad’ We had to meander through a hail storm in the process. We had a darshan of the golden statuette at the temple. Our initial plan was to proceed and take a night halt at ‘Sringeri’, but the cool weather got the better of us. We halted at ‘Hornad’ that night, to savor the hill-station like atmosphere. At a meager 80 bucks, we could get accommodation provided by the temple authorities. There were no restaurants there, as they would’ve felt that the devotees would come there and not miss the food at the temple of ‘goddess of food’.

18^th March, 2009

It had become a practice for us to start the day with a darshan, and we started the day with a second darshan of the ‘Annapoorneshwari’ temple. After darshan and breakfast, we started towards ‘Sringeri’. It was a very pleasant 80 K.M. journey through the hills. The road not keeping up with the beautiful landscapes for the most part of the journey. We reached ‘Sringeri’ by around 10. 30 A.M. We had a darshan at the ‘Sarada’ temple, again installed by ‘Shankaracharya’. After the darshan, we went to the neighboring ‘Vidyashankara’ temple, a Shiva temple. There are 12 pillars in the main hall of the temple, corresponding to the 12 sun-signs and in the morning. It is said that sun rays fall on the pillar corresponding to the sun-sign of the day. It was an amazing fact that showcases the knowledge of astronomy that existed in medieval India, but sadly, there was hardly anyone to explain us the details. After the darshan, we went to the ashram, where young disciples get to practice ‘Veda’. It was time, and after lunch, we started towards our next destination, ‘Dharmasthala’. It was a 75 K.M journey and we could reach the destination by around 4.00 P.M. ‘Dharmasthala’ is perhaps the most crowded temple in Karnataka. Surprisingly, the temple is closed at 2 P.M. in the afternoon, and re-opened at 7 P.M. We then decided to take the night halt at the ‘Saketha’ accommodation in ‘Dharmasthala’. After settling down, we went for a darshan of ‘Lord Shiva’ at the temple, late in the evening. It got really difficult for us that night to get good dinner. We had to abandon a terribly made ‘Dosa’, return to the accommodation, cook some rice which had to be eaten with pickles.

19^th March, 2009

As it was a crowded temple, we didn’t really go for a second darshan at ‘Dharmasthala’. After breakfast, we started off towards ‘Kukke subrahmanya’, around 70 K.M from there. We reached ‘Kukke’ by 10.30 A.M. and had the darshan of ‘Lord subramanya’. It was a day of parting ways. Bindu and me had to proceed towards Mysore to go towards Ooty, Coonoor and Mudumalai. The rest of the group had to proceed towards Mangalore. We had enough time to go towards Madikeri, a hill station. Infact, ‘Madikeri, brings us (Bindu and me) around 2.5 hours closer to Mysore than ‘Subramanya’. We reached ‘Madikeri at around 2 P.M, covering the 100 K.M. distance in around 2.5 hours. We had lunch and spent a good hour at the Raja’s seat, a famous view point at Madikeri and other places. We wrapped up at around 4 P.M. and Bindu and me started towards ‘Mysore’. The rest of the group started off towards Mangalore (to see Mangalore and Guruvayur in Kerala). For some time, Bindu and me were feeling a bit lonely, as we were missing the rest of the group. After an hour journey, we stopped at ‘Kushal nagar’, to go to ‘Bylakuppa’, a Buddhist monastery (PIC 1). The place is also called as the ‘Golden temple’. We were pleasantly surprised by the architecture of the temple, and the Buddhist monks. We spent a good hour there before returning to ‘Kushal nagar’ to get a bus to ‘Mysore’. We reached ‘Mysore’ by around 8 P.M., settled down at a hotel and had a sumptuous dinner. We booked a cab to start towards the last leg of the trip – the trip to Ooty, Coonoor and Mudumalai.

The last leg of the journey will be published in the next blog entry.