Mantralayam - A Piligrimage

Pujyaya raghavendraya satyadharmarataya cha bhajatam kalpavrikshaya namatam kamadhenave

ಪುಜ್ಯಾಯ ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರಾಯ ಸತ್ಯ ಧರ್ಮ ರತಾಯಚ ಭಜತಾಂ ಕಲ್ಪವ್ರಿಕ್ಷಾಯ ನಮತಾಂ ಕಾಮಧೇನವೇ

Well, a path breaking topic on this blog. Driving the 800+ kms in the Figo was an adventure in itself, my liking of the Figo has increased ten fold since. Parents, Chiks and Srinidhi accompanied me on this travel.


Being a staunch brahmin, Mantralayam is an important piligrimage centre for the Madhwa community (followers of saint Madhwacharya and Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy).


We did the Bangalore - Chippagiri - Mantralayam - Panchamukhi - Bichali - Chippagiri - Bangalore over 3 days. The ride on the NH 7 to say the least is just absolute fantasy drive till Guntakal, where the deviation needs to be taken. Being an orthodox family, parents do not consume outside food and are strict in their menu and I too avoid outside stuff on a piligrimage, so no much information on eateries on the way (and that's another reason for Chippagiri getting added to the itinerary both ways).

Route: Bangalore-Ananthpur-Guthi(278)-Guntakal(307)-Chippagiri(320)-Aalur(344)-Mantralayam(423).
Mantralayam-Madhavaram(432)-Gilisugur camp(437)-Panchamukhi(443).
Panchamukhi-Gilisugur camp(449)-Bichali cross(455.5)-Bichali(457)-Gilisugur camp(465)-Madhavaram(470)-Adoni(512)-Aalur(536)-Chippagiri(564)-Bangalore(866).


The route till Guthi is excellent and a real pleasure; from Guthi, its a sort of a bad and bruised, broken single lane highway and takes time to cover up till Aalur, from aalur till mantralayam, the roads are better.
Just heard a direct Volvo Airavat service is started from Bangalore to Mantralayam by KSRTC which is good news.


From Bangalore, our first stop was at Chippagiri, where Vijayadasara katte is located. This is not a brindavana of Vijaya dasaru, but this is the place where he performed pooja of lord Sri Gopala Krishna.

About Vijaya dasaru - Vijaya Dasa (Kannada: ವಿಜಯದಾಸ)(1682-1755) is one of the most renowed scholars and philosophers in Dwaita philosophy as well Dasa Sahitya. He is revered as the spiritual heir of Sri Purandara Dasa. Vijaya means win and he is regarded as the one who knows how to win the heart of Hari and Hari Bhaktas, through his compositions. He was born in Cheekalparvi, a small village in Manvi taluk in Raichur District, Karnataka.


Sri Gopala Dasaru, his chief disciple, constructed a temple for Anjaneya (Sri Mukhya Prana Devaru) in front of the 'Katte'. There is a pond close by called 'Vijaya Thirtha'. It is believed that during his third visit to Kashi, Sri Vijaya Dasaru brought Ganges and installed it in that pond, for the benefit of his disciples.

More links about Vijaya dasaru here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Dasa
http://www.dvaita.org/haridasa/dasas/vijaya.html


You can contact Sri Jaganatha Dasa at 9701894189 at Chippagiri.


Mantralaya - Mantralayam is the abode of Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy (1595-1671), a 16th century hindu saint who advocated Vaishnavism and Sri Madhwacharya's Dwaita philosophy. He ascended Brindavanam at Mantralayam in present Andhra Pradesh in 1671.

I'm not getting into the details of the Guru Sarvabowma, as there is a whole lot of info on the net which links I have given below.
http://www.gururaghavendra.org/
http://www.dvaita.org/scholars/raghavendra/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghavendra_Swami

Being a staunch believer in him, this visit of mine was long pending and I was more than happy being there :) It's a special feeling and peace of mind engulfs you that you just cant describe. The evenings are literally colorful with the 'Rathotsavam' or the procession of the Utsava moorthy taken out on the 3 chariots of the mutt - the wooden, silver and the golden chariots. 

Every thursday the procession is carried on the temple elephant around the brindavanam. Its a splurge of people anytime of the year you visit here and participating in these rituals is itself something special.
After this, its the time of Pravachana (disclosures) and "Uyyalle seva" (credil/swing), where the Utsava moorthy is placed on an silver credil/swing and pushed to and froth with hymns and devotional songs being sung. Its a way of putting the lord to sleep by chanting hymns and devotional songs.

For 2 days, we had a dip in the Tunga river that was quiet (remembering the 2009 floods sends a shiver down the spine and few parts of the temple still bear testimony to that) and calm, multiple darshans of the Guru Sarvabowma and spending as much time in the temple premises offering our seva and prayers.


Also an visit to the "Sri Sushameendra Teertha" brindavanam is a must that is close to the main brindavanam. For people who are unaware, Sri Sushameendraru was the Peetadipathi (head Swamiji) of the mutt for more than 20 years and entered brindavanam just a couple of years back. The charm and prosperity in his face can't be forgotten for those who have been blessed by him. Also interesting fact is that Sri Sushameendraru took over Sanyasa from his predecessor at Bichali.

From here, our next stop was at Panchamukhi temple. Here Panchamukhi Pranadevaru (Pancha=5, Mukhi=faces, Pranadevaru=Lord Hanuman), as the name suggests is in the form that has 5 heads. The five heads are amalgamations of Lord Varaha, Garuda, Anjaneya, Narasimha and Hayagreeva. It is said the Guru Sri Raghavendra swamy did penace here for 12 years in a cave and lord Hanuman gave him darshan in the form of 5 avatars. Also interesting are the natural rock formations around the temple in the form of an aerial vehicle and an bed and a pillow. A must visit place for those visiting Mantralayam.

From here, we proceeded to Bichali (or Bikshalaya or Bichale) village on the banks of Tunga river, which is the place of Sri Appannachari (the staunch devotee of Guru Sarvabowma) and also where is a brindavanam of Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy. Its a place where Rayaru stayed at his disciple Sri Appannachari's house and gave his disciple a chance to serve him. Interesting history of Sri Appannachari can be read here.

The house of Sri Appannachari is still preserved even today and many of the things that were used during that time are still visible as its been preserved by the family of the Sri Appannachari who look after the place even today. This place is on the banks of Tunga river, where Tunga is in full flow and was completely submerged in floods a couple of years back. Reaching this place is difficult as you need to have your own transport or depend on the autorickshaw's that ply and the ride is very bumpy! Still worth a place of historical importance not to miss when visiting Mantralayam.


Brief history and importance of Bichale as narrated by the priest himself-
Bichale village has the house of Sri Appannachari, one among the immense devotee of Rayaru (composer of Raghavendra stotra). Inside the house there are idols of Krishna, Mukyaprana and Shesha devaru of that time. It is also a place where Rayaru lived with Sri Appannachari and took his service. Near the house there is a temple which has in it an Arali tree, and Narasimha devaru installed by Sri Sripadarajaru (the tree was washed away in a flood however). It also has two idols of Mukyaprana installed by Sri Vyasarajaru and Rayaru respectively. The main attraction of the place is the Ekashila brindavanam of Rayaru. The story says that as soon as Sri Appanachari learnt that Rayaru was entering brindavanam, overcome by bhakthi to his guru, he started feeling desperate, isolated and was unable to imagine a life without his respectable and beloved guru. He started chanting out a shloka spontaneously in the praise of his guru. The shloka was so powerful that the full flowing Tunga river gave him way through which he ran to Mantralayam to see his guruvarya. By the time he reached, the brindavana pravesha was over and the shloka he was spelling out was about to see its end. He stopped the shloka seeing the brindavanam of his guru and his eyes filled up and he was aghast with grief. A voice came out from inside the brindavanam – “sakshi hayastotra he” (it means that the proof for everything said in the shloka is lord hayagreeva himself). It was the voice of Rayaru completing the sloka composed by Sri Appannachari. Rayaru blessed his loving devotee and asked him to wait for him in his own village. Sri Appanachari thought he was blessed and accordingly is the brindavanam of Rayaru at Bichale.

Either to reach Panchamukhi or Bichale from Mantralayam, one has to cross the temporary bridge that is constructed over the river Tunga, after Madhavaram village. This bridge gets washed away every time river Tunga floods and the route is cut off completely. Such is the apathy of constructing makeshift bridges, this particular bridge has been washed away numerous times :(. At last, when we were passing by, we could see a new bridge being constructed at a good elevation, hopefully it remains good and bears the fury of river Tunga with calmness and survives.

After this, we proceeded straight to Chippagiri via Madhavaram, Adoni and Aalur and from there to Bangalore by 9pm.


"Nambi kettavarillavo Gurugala, nambade keduvudunto"
"ನಂಬಿ ಕೆಟ್ಟವರಿಲ್ಲವೋ ಗುರುಗಳ, ನಂಬದೆ ಕೆಡುವುದುನ್ತೋ"
(those who have believed in Rayaru has never been let down, and those who do not may go wrong)

Dandeli - Kulgi / JLR Old Magazine camp

Dandeli - Kulgi Nature camp - HORNBILL MANIA!

With our ladakh trip getting shelved because of my ill health and the sensitive situation at ladakh after the devastating cloudburst, we were looking for an alternate place to spend a quite few days in tranquil. Dandeli and Ganeshgudi were shortlisted and luckily this time we got the tents booked at the department run Kulgi Nature camp for 2 nights and 2 nights at the Old Magazine JLR camp. With a change in job, Nag was out of this trip and it was me, guru and raja doing this trip this time.

We left by night 9 and took the NICE highway to join Tumkur road near Nelamangala and being a weekday traffic was not high and it was a smooth sailing. The ride in the Figo was really good and with the NH4 being in excellent condition, the ride was just blissful with the mandatory small breaks in between. I woke up only when Raja had stopped as he was feeling sleepy at the Bankapura toll gate after Haveri, it was around 4am by this time. I took over the driving now and we took the Mundgod-Kalghatgi-Haliyal-Dandeli route that would save around 40+kms of driving if we avoid the NH4 but instead we took 2 additional hours as there were absoultely no roads at all to drive till Haliyal. It was a slow and bumpy ride till Haliyal that joins the state highway from there to Dandeli.

The first job we did at Dandeli was to pacify our hungry stomachs and we then went to the forest department timber depot to collect our permission letters to stay at the Kulgi camp. As we had sufficient time we strolled around the place hoping to sight some hornbills but luck evaded us and then we drove towards the Kulgi camp to get the much needed rest. Rains were persistent all through and it was more of a companion from daybreak with breaks in between and it was a wonderful sight seeing everything lush green. We were very happy to find out that other than us there were no occupants at the Kulgi camp. The tents were clean and neat and we are impressed by the maintanence of the department. Wonderful weather, cozy tents, cook to cook your food, drizzles now and then and importantly no mobile network coverage, what else do you need!

Yes, there is no mobile network coverage at Kulgi camp and you have walk outside the camp to get a feeble signal on BSNL mobile, no coverage of other networks whatsoever. As we had got tents, the bathrooms were common ones outside at a distance, common for all tent users, was surprised to see them clean and neat! Had food, took rest for some time and then we walked to the watch tower opposite to the camp in the interiors which is supposed to be a good place for birding. In the rains, bird life is usually subdued and all that we got to see were some huge spiders on the walls and domesticated buffalloes around. With nothing else to do we were just lazing around whaling our time enjoying the good weather. Post sunset, playing carrom, sipping hot tea and waiting for dinner was all that we could do! Post dinner SLEEP! (after 7pm, there is no difference whether its 8, 9 or 10 and with nothing to do sleep is the only option!) :)

Next day morning we had arranged for a trek and the guide was informed to come at 6:30am. 8am and no signs of him, we got heckled and cancelled the trek and instead we drove towards the backwaters where elephants are frequently sighted during summers. Nothing much to do here too and we walked around for some time and then came back to Kulgi village circle, had tea and then back to the camp and again to the watch tower area.
Post lunch took some rest and rains were persistent now and around 5pm went back to the Kulgi village circle to have some chai. Here was our first sighting of the Malabar Pied hornbills and that made us active and follow them tree by tree. Being very overcast and the couple perched high atop a tree, it was difficult and mostly had to admire them and their beauty through the eyes.

Next day, we went on a safari ride in the park very well knowingly we wouldnt encounter anything, but still... Nothing to expected during rains as all routes except 1 are closed. Back to the camp, after the breakfast we spotted a Red vented bulbul having his breakfast. He had a grasshopper in his mouth, bang it again and again on to the ground till it was in pieces and finally gobbled it. Weird laws of nature! As we were about to leave, we got to see the Malabar giant squirrels 3 of them in one tree and 2 on the same branch.

From Kulgi camp as we had to go to Ganeshgudi JLR camp, we took the longer route via Dandeli as we planned to visit the timber depot again. At the timber depot, Malabar Pied hornbills were everywhere and in huge numbers and we were running around everywhere chasing them!

Jungle Mynah, Pompadour green pigeons, Vernal hanging parrots, Sunbirds all made their presence felt that too near 1 single tree that had lots of berries and flowers! It was a real treat and we never realized how time passed by... 

I would rather let the photos speak for themselves on what o great time we had birding at the timber depot yard in Dandeli.

JLR- The Old Magazine House - Ganeshgudi
From Dandeli we proceeded towards Ganeshgudi where the Jungle Lodges & Resorts " The Old Magazine House" camp is located. From Dandeli, the JLR camp is about 32kms on the state highway which is a pleasure to drive. We were greeted by rain and it was our constant companion for the next 2 days. We were again very happy to know that there were no guests other than us that brought a big smile on our faces. The staff were also more or less the same we had met last year with Parshuram leading the staff. Inspite of intermittent rains, evening time we visited the backwaters of the Supa reservoir that extends miles together. Few persistent birds were hovering around for food and the rains never had an intention to go. Back at the camp, carrom and hot snacks kept us occupied until dinner time. You get the best treatment when there are no other guests and we just love it ;). Cozy beds, chill weather outside and time to snore with a plan to wake up early and hope the sun is out alteast the next day.

Next morning we decided to go near the bridge and catch some hornbills in flight. Rains delayed our departure and slowly the sun started showing himself throwing out the morning light. Midway enroute at the Ganeshgudi bus stand circle, we stopped as we could see few hornbills around. It was here, there, front, back all around on all possible trees and this made it difficult for us to shoot. Handheld shooting with the 100-400 lens is still an issue for me as slight imbalance creeps in and the shot blurs off, Im trying hard to avoid this trying different angles and capturing multiple shots.

The Malabar Pied hornbill, Malabar Grey hornbill, Jungle Mynah, Imperial Green Pigeon, Vernal hanging parrot, Pompadour green pigeon, White cheeked barbet, Sunbirds all were in plenty and made their presence felt. We had no luck near the bridge area and could not even spot a single hornbill over there. Mixed luck you can say!

More walks yielded no luck as the conditions being very overcast but soon we were able to spot couple of Malabar Giant Squirrels feeding on the roadside trees. An evening drive yeilded some more of the birds out to dry themselves as the rains had taken a break.

We checked out the next day early morning as we had drive back home the 500 kms and rest for the night. Enroute at Dharwar, we picked up kilos of the famous Babusingh Thakurs Dharwad Peda to relish upon.

Bird checklist:

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Malabar Grey Hornbill

Imperial Green Pigeon

Pompadour Green Pigeon

Vernal Hanging Parrot

White cheeked Barbet

White rumped Shama

Ruby throated Bulbul

Yellow browed Bulbul

Purple rumped Sunbird

Lotens Sunbird

Green bee eater

Red Wattled Lapwing

Grey Wattled Lapwing

Small blue Kingfisher

White breasted Kingfisher

Stork billed Kingfisher

Jungle Mynah

White rumped Munia

Brahminy Kite

Black winged Kite

and many others...

Route to Dandeli from Bangalore:

Bangalore - NH4 - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Davanagere - Ranebennur - Haveri - Hubli bypass - Dharwad bypass - Haliyal - Dandeli / Ganeshgudi (as of today excellent road condition).

Alternate route: Bangalore - NH4 - Tumkur - Davanagere - Haveri - Bankapura toll - Mundgod - Kalghatgi - Haliyal - Dandeli / Ganeshgudi (from Bankapura toll to Haliyal, roads are in dire straits and not advised to take this route during the night).

Accomodation: Kulgi Nature camp - 08284 231585

JLR Old Magazine House - Ganeshgudi - http://www.junglelodges.com/

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Maidenahalli revisited

A quickfire visit to the Maidenahalli Blackbuck reserve near Madhugiri on a free Sunday. This was our second outing in the Figo and I had the privilege of stretching my legs in the backseat and to snore as only 3 of us were travelling.

We took the same route that we have taken before, but currently the road conditions are poor and in deteriorated state.

Route: There are quite a few routes but mentioned below is the route we took Nelamangala – Kyatasandra tollgate – Sira bypass road – Koratagere - Madhugiri – Puruvara village – Giregoudanahalli – Maidenahalli reserve. ½ a km after giregoudanahalli, an unmetalled track turns right which needs to be taken to reach the reserve gate. The best option would be take the Bangalore-Dabbaspet(below the flyover)-Madhugiri-Puruvara-Giregoudanahalli-Maidenahalli. The road is in excellent condition and a pleasure to drive.

Note: The road conditions mentioned are as of August 2010.
After a nice, heavy breakfast at Madhugiri town, we proceeded towards the reserve.We were greeted by a brown adult male Blackbuck relieving himself at the entrance of the gate.

This time around the entire reserve was looking green full of shrubs and bushes grown everywhere and it was quite a task locating the blackbucks in between. We drove around the tracks for sometime and could spot few here and there. Then we parked our vehicle near the rest house and started walking inside. As I was aware of few spots, we proceeded straight under the hot sun.

We were able to spot quite a few blackbucks but unluckily as these are very sensitive animals, they moved away as we approached closer. Even having my 100-400, I could not manage a single close up shot of any of the blackbucks, need to try my luck next time.

After roaming for couple of hours and as we were resting atop a cliff with plans to return back, far to our left we could sense white spots in the field. On closer observation, we found a huge herd of blackbucks grazing in the open field.

We presume there were anywhere between 80-100 of them (including grown males, females & sub-adults) in the group. We were surprised to see such a huge group in one place. Unfortunately they were too far away and below is only what I could manage to shoot.

While returning back, we managed to catch a glimpse of a fox that ran away even before we could realize. Back to the parking space, we left towards home this time taking the route via Dabbaspet and also visiting Devarayanadurga temples enroute.

Happy to have seen Blackbuck in such good numbers.

Sad to have seen cattle feeding on the green in the reserve.

Sad to see the feral dogs roaming the fields.

Hope this place survives the test of time and the numbers of prey-predator increase.

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!