***Summer Vacation....! yeppiiiiii (Besige Raje....! )

Hello Friends....!


As soon as you hear the term summer vacation.... Guess you would become nostalgic…


And wish we would go back to those school days, where we led our lives carefree with no tensions.. Waiting for summer holidays to escape from those strenuous academic exams and tests, to our Grand mamma’s house (Ajji Mane in Kannada) in a village (for those privileged kids whose grandmother’s houses were in rural area…) to play, have fun and eat all the goodies granny prepared for her sweet little naughty grand childern.....! :)


Like most of you all even I was lucky enough that my grandmother’s house was in a very beautiful village called “Melukote” I would love to share some Tidbit of information and some of my pleasant experiences about this mystic and mesmerizing place on earth….!


Melukote----One of the Mesmerizing and mystic beautiful places in Karnataka;


Melukote (Kannada: ಮೇಲುಕೋಟೆ) in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka, is one of the sacred places in Karnataka. The place is also known as Thirunarayanapuram. It is built on rocky hills known as Yadavagiri or Yadugiri overlooking the Cauvery valley. It is about 51 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore.

House of  lord Yoga NarasimahaSwamy (Krishnaraja Wodeyar III presented a gold crown to this temple.)

Lord Narashimha Swamy On the Hill...!

Lord Yoga NarashimhaSwamy temple is majestically located on top of the beautiful hill from top of which

you get a beautiful panoramic view of this beautiful village and shravanabelagolla.

A Bird's eye view of the village, from the top of the Hill...!

I remember as kids we used to have competition amongst us, as to, who would climb the hill and reach the temple first....! and we used to even spot our house from top of the hill enjoying the fresh cool breez and tranquality, which is in scares in urban cities.

As Kids we were always eager go to temple on the Hill because of the tasty "Puliyogre Prasadam" they distributed inthe temple (Melukote is famous for its Puliyogre (Tamarind Rice) )

As we climbed the hill we were always accompanied by our all time favorite cute little mischievous pals…. Can you guess who…….? Yes…. You are right many monkyes... and some times goats...!

Brave goats and sheeps (have amazing grip over there feet)

Our pal....! :)

Beautiful view of Pushkarani or Kalyani from top of the Hill....!

The temple infrastructure boasts of a large pond called as Kalyani.The beauty of the steps leading to water and the mantapas built all around are such that it has been captured in many Indian films....!

Entrance of the Kalyani..

View of  beautiful Bhuvaneshwari mantapa ( Shot in many Indian Movies )

During vairamudi (world renowned diamond crown festival ) Elegantly decorated Lord CheluvaNarayana Swamy is taken on a boat around Kalyani in the night...! (A real treatto Eyes).

A well near a Temple.

Melkote , a temple town whose past is vaguely woven together by an interesting mix of documented history and complex , yet intriguing , hindu mythology .

Early in twelfth century, the great Srivaishnava saint Sri Ramanujacharya took up his residence and lived here for about 14 years (said so). It thus became a prominent centre of the Sri vaishnava sect of Brahmins, who obtained from the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, who had become a follower of the Acharya, an assignment of the fertile tracts of land in the neighbourhood, especially of the Ashta Gramas, on either bank of the Cauvery.

Melukote Hosts a very Elegant and Vibrant world renowned "Diamond CrownFestival--Viramudi"...

During Viramudi..cheluva Narayana adorns this ancient crown presented by Lord Krishna Himself on this night and is taken in procession around the main streets around the temple until the wee hours of the morning . People position themselves at every vantage point to have the sacred darsan of the Lord adorning the Vaira Mudi , while seated on a golden Garudan with His divine consorts . Tradition has it that anyone , who has the good fortune of worshipping the Lord in person on this occasion will be freed from all their sins and will recieve the special blessings of cheluva Narayana...!

Elegant Idol of Lord Cheluva Narayana Swamy(Utsava Murthy)

Cheluva Narayan Swamy temple.

Authentic Carvings inside Cheluva Narayana Swamy Temple.

The private library of his holiness the Yatiraja swamigalu of Melkote contains a large number of Sanskrit and Tamil works bearing on the Vishishtadvaita school of philosophy, a few works bearing on logic, rheotic, mathematics, astronomy, astrology, ritual, architecture, Panchatantra, Dharmashastras, Grihya and Dharmasutra and a good number of Sanskrit works. There are also few Kannada and Telugu works. There is also a Sanskrit college here named Sri Veda Vedantha Bodhini Sanskrit Mahapathashala which was established as early as in 1854 and which is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the state. Melkote has contributed many literary figures like Pu Ti Narasimhachar, Tirumalaraya, Chikkupadhyaya and Alasingachar.

Melukote is not just a small villege of temples around....! it is even a fun treat for adventure crazy people and

Ornithologists....!

Melukote is protected for its temple wildlife scantury to protect Wolves, Peacock, Langur, JungleCat, Lepard, Mangoose, Pangolin, and numerous species of birds...! its a musical treat to people who take morning walk in the amidst of the forest...!

You can even go Trecking for long distance  to a mythologycal place called "Danushkoti" sorry there are not many photos of it to share...!

                                                  Story Time....!

It is said that Lord Ram, Sita and Lakshmana had visited Danushkoti to take rest when they had been on Vanavas, since Sita was thirsty ram shot an arrow on the Rock from where a beautiful spring of water sprang...! it is belived that water to this spring flows from the Kalyani or Pushkarni.

A view from Danushkiti...!

A small treck can also be done to climb this beautiful place called "Raya Gopura" which a prime shooting spot for many fanous Indian Directors ...!

View of Raya gopura during Sunset...!

 

Pillers of the Gopura.

Stone Carving on the piller by Jakkanachary.

Another carving..

Dalavayi Kere.. Beautiful Big pond, This where me and my brother learnt swimming.., my mother and my cousin being our swmming coach...! :)  I miss those days very badly... wish we had time machine to go back to those days stay for some time and get back to the present moment.. Time is the biggest culprit whom none of us can stop.. change nor go back  to :(  so.... people enjoy the present moment....! :)

An Artistic pond constructed during the times of Hoysalas..

Bande Ganapathi huge ganapathi sculpted on a single huge rock.. which was just few walks away from my granny's house..! we used to take evening walk to this calm and cute place..

:) this is the heart touching pic....! makes me feel getting back to mynative immidiatly...! As kids we were scared of these harmless pigs.. they used to frighten us telling if we didnt eat food would give it away to these pigs and those will chase us...! ( Miss u Ajji :(  )

Akka Tangi Kola ( Sisters' Pond) RayaGopura is visible from sisters pond.

                                            Story Time...!

Flok Tale says that :-- 2 sisters wanted to construct  ponds for the travellers to quench their thirst...

but while construction eldest sister calculated the amount that was spent for construction and brooded  over it and was not very keen and dedicated to help people, so the pond water turned out to be very turbid with Alge and Dirt..

Akkana Kola (Eldest sister's Pond ) dirty and turbid .

Where as youngest sister was dedicated and with a good will donated the pond to the travellers.. the water is very clear to date.. altough the pond is right next to the turbid pond...! do u belive it ????? kwel take a look at the photographs...

Tangi Kola (younger sister's pond )

water from tangi kola is very fresh, unpolluted and sweetest of all in the villege...! can you beat that? water from tangi kola is taken for the Absheka and thirta ( to give shower to god and for holy water)

so moral of the story...... ifyou are willing to give..give it whole heartedly...! its always worth it and fruit of it will definitly paid off...!

well... as we all know nature cant be captured in a nutshell... I can go on and on... talking about my native place... and apart from these places there are many beautiful ponds hills to be discovered.... in this small place.. there isa place called "Totillumoodu" will post soon :) this place is very close by to the village with a very beautiful water fall... and good for trecking....!

So friends... If you happen to step down to my blog if you like it... try visiting my beautiful native place...! :)

I wish you all avery happy journy to melukote and to each walk of your lives.