Haddinakallu betta
(Eagle hill when translated directly to English)
From Markonahalli
dam, we moved ahead to visit this place just located after Yediyur town that we
avoided taking the bypass.
Route: 4kms after
Yediyur, you will reach a village Tirumalapura. Immediately after this village,
take the turn to the right (boards indicative of this place is put up on the main
road), you will reach Byrasandra village and from there you can’t miss the
track to the foothills of the cliff.
The temple at the
village was not any big structure, temples dedicated to Lord Rama and Hanuman
and lots of pilgrims from nearby villages visit here regularly (it seems by the
development activity around). We just took a look and proceeded in the
direction of the cliff. Except Dhiraj’s blog (http://teamgsquare.blogspot.in/2010/07/places-to-visit-around-bangalore-part-5.html),
there was no other source of information about this place. Two things struck us
as we approached closer to the base of the cliff – there were lots of raptors
seen around (raptors are birds of prey) and we could see lot of sacrificed hen
feathers strewn all around.
Yes, we realized
that it was a place for animal sacrifice (mostly hens being butchered and taken
away right in front of us) and that explained the presence of many birds of
prey near that cliff. They got protective shelter in the cliffs and meals in
the form of leftovers by the people who came there. But, what surprised me was
animal/bird sacrifices to Lord Hanuman… never have I seen anything as such
before? Just as we looked around, an Shikra perched close to us and up in the
sky we saw the Egyptian vultures hovering near the edge of the cliff and also
another of the raptor perched on a tree branch on top of the cliff. It was out
of reach of my binoculars and camera and the only option we had was to climb up
and go and see for ourselves what the bird that perched was?
Crazy it may sound,
but fueled not to miss the opportunity I started climbing briskly loaded with
two of my cameras on my shoulders and Nag and Guru following closely behind
with the binoculars and some water to quench our thirst. The sun was blowing
hot and climbing a bare hillock on an uneven inclined path was not easy. We had
to reach the top with the hope that the bird would not fly away and also before
any other group of people ascended the cliff and lest the bird fly away!
Panting and gasping for breath, we reached the top only to find the bird not on
the branch that we had seen; in fact we could not identify which branch it had
perched on! A few steps ahead and there I found it perched in the shade and I
was quick enough to sign others to view the beauty. It was the beautiful
Peregrine Falcon, an avid hunter and has the tag of the being the fastest flyer
in the animal kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_Falcon)
.
My first sighting of the elusive raptor
and we sure will remember this for long. It just gave us a few seconds before
it took off and we could not trace it there after. Happy for the sighting and
disappointed of not getting a good shot of it, we moved ahead towards the edge
of the cliff where a sort of temple is there. In fact we could not find any
shrine inside the temple complex but a lone pillar stands with carving of Lord
Hanuman on it and true to its name as soon as few other visitors ringed the
bells tied over there, a horde of monkeys descended near the pillar from nowhere
to feast on the coconuts and bananas offered.
The view from the
top was good but the heat was getting to us. With the lone water bottle frisked
away by the monkeys, we were all left high and dry under the hot sun. A lone
Egyptian vulture soared next to the cliff which we were intently waiting for
and it kept soaring and soaring and showed no signs of perching anywhere near
the cliff. All of our tiredness was forgotten till the vulture was around and
after a good fifteen minutes of soaring; he vanished from where he came! Alas,
again we could not find out where he went. We wandered around the cliffs
sneaking in all corners and all pathways available to try and see if we could
find any of the vultures around but to no luck. After wandering around like
lost souls, we came back down the cliff and towards our next destination
Melukote.
Melukote (or
Melkote)
Route: From Yediyur town,
you need to travel up to Nelligere and then take a left towards Nagamangala and
again a right towards Melkote temple (the best option would be to enquire the
directions before proceeding).
Melukote had been
on my wish list since long and I was more than happy to visit the place. For
the first time visitors, reaching the place without having sufficient knowledge
would be a little confusing as we found out. There are 2 temples here (the main
temple at the base and another atop a hill).
“Melukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya
district, Karnataka, in southern India, is one of the sacred places in
Karnataka. The place is also known as Thirunarayanapuram. It is built on rocky
hills, known as Yadugiri, Yaadavagiri and Yadushailadweepa, overlooking the
Cauvery valley. Melukote is about 51 km (32 miles) from Mysore
and 133 km (83 mi) from Bangalore.
Melukote is the location of the Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple, with a collection
of crowns and jewels which are brought to the temple for the annual
celebration. On the top of the hill is the temple of Yoganarasimha.
Melukote is home to the Academy
of Sanskrit Research,
which has collected thousands of manuscripts.”
We first drove
straight to the temple atop the hill only to find it closed, we had reached at
a wrong time and the temple would open only by 5pm! Then we came down to visit
the main temple shrine after visiting the sacred temple pond and passing
through the small by-lanes of the village and looking at the ancient old
buildings, I felt as being in a village centuries old. The old style buildings
have some good feel about them that you stop and exclaim Wow! We took a quick
darshan of the lord Cheluvanarayana Swamy and then halted for some rest, time
to explore the Galaxy S2 phone of Guru, eh!
Time was running
out and we had to reach Ramanagara to get a glimpse of the vultures around and
had about 80kms to cover in an hour and add to that the busy Mysore-Bangalore
highway would be choked with traffic returning home to Bangalore. Odds stacked upon us, we quickly
moved from Melukote to reach the highway bypassing Pandavapura on the way. As
expected, the traffic rush wash high and I had to slow down many a times owing
to the slow moving vehicles and to give way to the super speeders! Unluckily it
was almost dark as we reached Ramanagara and still I took them to the place as
they had never been seen it before. Alas! We were late by about thirty minutes
as the sun had already set and the few rays were diminishing very rapidly. From
there on, it was a slow and steady drive back home negotiating the mad traffic
and driving at leisure reaching home by 8pm.
What a day and what
a drive! 335kms drive in a day and got to see a lot of good places never seen
before :)
Thanks to Dhiraj
(http://teamgsquare.blogspot.com) and my buddies Guru and Nag;
Raja-we missed your
colorful company.
Route outlay:
Bangalore-Nelamangala-Kunigal-Markonahalli dam-Yediyur-Haddinakal
betta-Nelligere-Nagamangala-Melkote-Mandya-Ramanagara-Bangalore.
Food: No food or
water available near Markonhalli dam or Haddinakal betta. Melukote is self
sufficient being a touristy place.
Other Info: Markonahalli dam suited for a family getaway, Haddinakallu betta for those interested in climbing and Melukote for all the pious people :)
