Nanjangud is where our coffee and Noodles plants exist in state of Karnataka. I was here at Nanjangud on duty for two weeks.
Nanjangud is known for two things. One for Banana - "Rasabale". Another for SriNanjundeshwara or Srikantheshwara Temple.
Banana is really special and we do not get it in Gurgaon. I consumed it as much I like.
NANJANGUD :
One evening I visited the Temple. The temple is evidently quite an ancient one. It is believed to have been built by Ganga kings in 9th century and later developed by Chola, Hoysala and Vijayanagara kings subsequently.
Huge sculpted structure and beautiful Gopura.
I could take picture of Gopura only. No photographs are permitted inside the premise.
Presiding deity is Shiva. There are deities of goddess Parvati, Sri Subramanya and Sri Ganapati
Here i show the imposing image of the Gopura.
Nanjangud is just 25 km from Mysore and is well connected by bus transport from Mysore. I am not sure if it is good idea to stay at Nanjangud. Mysore would be better place to stay.
Temple is open from 0630 to 1200 and then from 1830 hrs to 2000 hrs.
I stayed at our company guest house at Nanjangud. Guesthouse kitchen is not operational on Sunday. Hence invariably we wander out of guest house on Sundays.
MELUKOTE :
On Sunday I planned to visit a nearby temple town - Melukote. It is a very popular pilgrimage for Hindus, specially for Vaishnavas. There are two very famous, sacred temples. Sri Ramanujacharya is believed to have stayed here for 12 years.
Mysore is 25 km from Nanjangud. Melukote is about 50 km from Mysore. There are lot of buses ply on the route. You may not find so frequent buses directly to Melukote. Find a bus that goes towards Tumkur via "Jakkanahhali cross". Get down at Jakkanahally cross and get into any shared autorikshaw to reach Melukote which is about 5km from Jakkanahalli cross. Shared autowala can also take you alone to Melukote if you shell out more money. There are buses too, but infrequent.
I left guest house by 0600 and reached Melukote temple by 0900 hrs.
Two sacred temples are Sri Cheluva Narayana Swamy Temple and Sri Yoganarasimha temple. Yoga Narasimha temple is just 1.5 km away on a hill from Sri Cheluva narayana Swamy temple. There is a beautiful "kalyanai" in between these two temples.
Fortunately I was just in time to witness a grand "Utsava" or ceremony of carrying Utsava Murty on a "Golden Pallakki" to "kalyanai for an annual ritual.
It was blissful divine feeling to get "Darshana" of the Swamy so close, when he with two consorts SriDevi and BhuDevi fully embellished with gold and diamond ornaments are carried on a "Pallakki" procession.
Here are the pictures of Swamy and the Kalyani.
Kalyani is huge and well maintained. People take holy dip and then take Darshana.
Sri Cheluva Narayana swamy temple sanctum Sanatorium is surrounded by covered stone platform supported by beautifully sculptured pillars. I could grab few pictures of the pillars and the entrance Gopura.
If I had more time I could have closely observed the sculptures on the pillars. There are many more such pillars.
Intricate sculpture of the pillar. Notice that the bottom of the pillar is not fully touching the floor.
Long corridor on outside perimeter of the temple. These pillars are of simple carving.
Beautiful Gopura at the entrance.
YOGANARASIMHA TEMPLE :
From here you need to walk further & climb up about 300 steps or go by vehicle through a road. I walked up. It is at height of about 1800 mtr from mean sea level.
An young boy with his mother climbing up the steps.
The view of Sri YogaNarasimha Temple from Kalyani. The entrance Gopura was being renovated which dampen my intent to photograph it. If not for renovation, I could have taken more pictures.
The view of Kalyani from the hill top.
Beware of Monkeys on hilltop. They grab your hand bag or so on your way up & down.
I took some candid pictures of some priests walking around in the town.
Here are some...
I had good lunch at Melukote. You will invariably get to taste "Puliogare". I came back to Guest house by 1630 hrs.
I have understood, learnt one thing on travel or visiting a place. One should be clear in his / her expectations out of the visit or travel.
Do pre search the place and see if it suits the expectation. In some religious or historical places, one may not get to see exotic and wondrous things but the place has some importance or significance that matters.
Some times you need to go back in time visualising the scene at the spot to feel the event, that had taken place several hundred or thousand years ago.
I feel that the visit to Melukote fulfilled my expectations quite well.
I took some candid pictures of some priests walking around in the town.
Here are some...
I had good lunch at Melukote. You will invariably get to taste "Puliogare". I came back to Guest house by 1630 hrs.
I have understood, learnt one thing on travel or visiting a place. One should be clear in his / her expectations out of the visit or travel.
Do pre search the place and see if it suits the expectation. In some religious or historical places, one may not get to see exotic and wondrous things but the place has some importance or significance that matters.
Some times you need to go back in time visualising the scene at the spot to feel the event, that had taken place several hundred or thousand years ago.
I feel that the visit to Melukote fulfilled my expectations quite well.
