Badami, Aihole & Pattadakal and off the beaten track

Echoing snonymous. This report, along with this should be stickies.

I agree with the above. It will be very helpful for the future travelers.

Huh, How could I stay back at Badami...I needed to return somewhere, which means more travel, ha ha ha! Actually the original plan was never to visit Badami etc etc, but only Soundatti...somehow it became a 'Magnum Opus Trip' for us! And here I am, yet to report on 'Soundatti'!

These days my hubby doesn't believe me when I say I have an itinerary from point 'A' to point 'B' and back to point 'A'!

Oh yes, the temple is surely very charming, with varied style of architecture! Sloping roof was something new also the Shikhara on the Garbha griha was different. The roof had 2 Shikharas on both sides of the rectangular garbha griha!

Hmm, let's see if Saugata can take it from here, about taking it to 'travel magazine'! The place deserves some mention, I think.

Part 14: The drive continues:

We had visited ‘Panchalingeshwara temple’ at Hooli and started our journey forward. Hooli to Soundatti is about 12 Kms and we had planned to visit the fort there. But then, there was one more interesting place that could be visited just before we finally land up at Soundatti ! I promise, after this place, no more diversions, straight to Soundatti, it will be!

So, as we drove about 7 Kms on the SH 30 (it proceeds towards Dharwad), we saw a direction board displaying direction towards Yallamma hill which is in Soundatti & a right turn would take us to ‘Naviluteertha’!



Now, what is this Naviluteertha and could there be something interesting there? While surfing on the net for interesting places in and around ‘Soundatti’, after Hooli’s Panchalingeshwara temple’, the next attractive/interesting thing was this place called ‘Naviluteertha’! Let us take a slight diversion and drive further 7 kms (SH 103). Let me mention that we had never travelled all these places before and did not know the road conditions at all! But as and when we drove ahead we would stop & enquire with the locals about the road conditions ahead and we would get a ‘thumbs up’ every time!



Here begins an interesting & short but beautiful drive. The first view itself was enough to steer us towards our destination.



It is about 11.35 am and everybody was in a playful mood including the Sun, clouds and the water in the lake beside the road.



The buffalo leader ordered fellow mates to return, but one of them turned out to be slightly stubborn! Does it remind somebody quipped my hubby! Now, was that comment even called for ?



Regular routine!



A kilometer or two had been covered, a smooth ascent began. It used be bright now and suddenly cloudy!



Just a few minutes’ drive, but such joy it brought us!



Within 20 minutes we had driven 7 kms (ofcourse with photo session too in between) and now we were at ground zero 'Naviluteertha'. It is another small place close to Hooli & Soundatti in the Belagaum district. Not a very well known tourist place as it does not have anything special a traveler would want to see, it is a low valley/gorge situated in between the 2 hills. It is said that even some time ago this place was full of peacocks, hence the name Navilu teertha – Navilu in kannada means ‘peacock’!



On the left side of the road is a board which reads ‘Way to Malaprabha Dam ’!! Hmm, now you know what we are about visit!





Another kilometer’s drive inside the colony, we reach the main gate/entrance, we park the vehicle outside and walked up inside.



Shankara Udyana (Garden) Naviluteertha Malaprabha Dam!!



As we enter, we do see a garden with lots of flower bearing plants as well as huge trees! But not at their best, maybe it’s not the flowering season, nevertheless at 12.00 pm; it did look good and made for a few photo ops for me!



Aah, the reservoir - at a distance, that was a beautiful sight.



As we moved ahead -



Oh yes, the garden did have this chikoo tree too (Manilkara zapota, commonly known as the sapodilla).



As we strolled inside the garden and moved further ahead about 500 meters from the main entrance, we were guided by the busy gardeners towards the dam! All this while we had noticed about 5 visitors in that garden including me & my hubby ! Ofcourse there were atleast 7 workers tending to the plants and other cleaning activity in the premises.



As we walked down the road for 2 minutes we had the first glimpse of this dam!! So here we can do with some ‘Gyaan/Intro’ about ‘Malaprabha river’ and the 'dam'! For those who have visited Pattadakal, Malaprabha would have been familiar by now. The Malaprabha River is a tributary of the Krishna River and flows through the state of Karnataka.



It rises in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 792 m in the state's Belgaum district. It flows for a distance of 304 km and joins the Krishna River at an altitude of 488 meters in Bagalkot district. It also flows through Dharwar District. Hubli city gets its drinking water from this reservoir.

A clear view:



Main 'control center'! We were surprised by the absence of any security and such easy access to the dam.



Ofcourse the dam was not accessible to general public after this point.



Nevertheless, the view was excellent from the gallery open for public. Malaprabha Dam is the shortest dam in Karnataka built across Malaprabha river and the length of the dam is about 155 m. This dam is designed mainly to meet the drinking water requirements of the people of Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, and Bagalkot.



The catchment area is 2564 square kilometers & Irrigable Area to be 218191 Ha (hectares) as quoted by Water Sources Department, Government of Karnataka.



We were at this place for almost an hour before we decided to walk back to our vehicle. So another interesting place visited, I thought. But before we left the place, ek photo toh banta hai (One photo had to be taken)!!

In the garden: Some time back somebody had taken a dig at me while taking the photo of the buffaloes! Now, what do I comment on this photo?



Malaprabha Dam is located close to Saundatti Yellamma Temple, could we just take a peek at this temple in my next post and surely drive very fast to Soundatti fort!

And now there is a new entrant in the architecture list: A dam!

!!

Oh well, weren't you bored of all those temple photos? So I thought let me move away a bit from these temples - mind you only for a while! Does that say anything!

Temple photos (certainly excluding the roadside ones covered with ceramic tiles) of the grade you are posting here, are one of the things I don't get bored with. The more they come, the better.

And thanks for assuring that you have more of them in store for us.

When I asked you about antiquity Naveena, I meant this which I have now found from Google search:
Panchalingeshwara temple history

Will see your new set of pics later as they are not loading fast now.

Part 15: Journey towards Bangalore continues!

It was about 1.00 pm as we started back from Naviluteertha towards Soundatti. Within 10 minutes we were back at the junction where we had turned towards Naviluteertha, we immediately proceeded towards the ‘Yallamma Gudda’ which was quite close to Soundatti.



Now a little something about this place called ‘Soundatti’ which I have been referring to in the past few posts. Soundatti also known as Sugandavarti and Savadatti is one of the oldest towns in Belgaum district in the south Indian state of Karnataka. It is a celebrated pilgrimage centre located 78 kilometres from Belgaum. Savadatti is also the name of the taluk (sub-district), which was previously named Parasgad. It was the capital of the Ratta dynasty (from 875-1250), until the capital shifted to Belgaum.

The temple of Goddess Yellamma also known as Renuka Devi, is a popular pilgrimage site for Shakti devotees. Every day, hundreds of pilgrims visit the temple. It seems the crowd is especially large, crossing the ten lakh mark on two auspicious days Bananda Hunnime and Bharathi Hunnime (full moon day).



In ancient ages, the Yellamma temples were cared for by women known as "devadasis" (which means the servants of gods), who stayed back in the temples and were educated as courtesans or artists. It is said that even till date women and girls are still being dedicated as devadasis to Yellamma, though many become sex workers rather than temple priestesses! With a ban on the practice imposed a few decades ago, this practice has now become secretive and away from the gaze of the law and disapproving NGOs.

Arch towards 'Renuka Yellamma temple'.



Only my curiosity led me to this place even against my hubby’s wishes. Hence it was only I who went inside the temple to have a look. The century-old temple of Yellamma is situated atop Yellamagudda, amidst Ramalinga Hills about 5 km from Soundatti. The temple as such I found it to be slightly dirty.



Did not feel like spending much time here hence only these photos. Within 10 minutes we were back on track towards the much awaited visit to ‘Soundatti fort’!



A 6 Km drive from Yellamma Gudda and some enquiries with the locals brought us to this interesting fort of ‘Soundatti’! This is a protected monument now.

A view from our vehicle even as we reach the fort!



We parked our vehicle close to the fort. It was around 1.45 pm and we were feeling a bit peckish, but decided against having lunch immediately. Instead sipped some orange juice (tetra pack) we were carrying with us. And now we march towards the fort.



With mythological and historical background, Soundatti was an important city of Belgaum.

A panoramic shot taken from the rampart of the fort, to start off with - One can see the strong fort walls and greenery with in the fort. Outside the fort one can observe the town of 'Soundatti':



Amongst other interesting places here, this fort is considered to be the main attraction, though hardly promoted by the government!



Some interesting facts about this fort as we walk inside the fort:



It is believed that this glorious Saundatti fort was actually built by Jayappa Desai of the Navalgund Sirasangi Samsthan. An able administrator and a dynamic ruler, Jayappa Desai had a multi-faceted personality.



His reign is considered a ‘golden era’ in the history of Belgaum. Being an avid patron of art, he was also a great poet and well versed in many languages. He was a scholar who translated the Sanskrit granthas (Scriptural text) of Appayya Diskhit’s ‘Kuvalayananda’ & Bhanudatta’s ‘Rasamanjari’, to Kannada!

A view of the Arch from inside the fort:



Many forts were constructed at various places in Hubli taluk at an estimated price of Rs. Eight and half lacs, during the rule of Jayappa Desai.

As we move towards the heart of the fort.



As we climbed up the steps we reached the top of the fort where we found a small but pretty well maintained temple of Kaadasiddeshwara which is still in worship, inside a small complex.



Some research on the net mentioned that the rulers of Navalgund - Sirasangi were Veerashaivas and Kaadu Siddeshwara of Siddhagiri was the Rajguru. Kaadusiddeshwara was the family deity of the Sirasangi rulers.

The main hall of the temple:



The ancient temple of Kaadu Siddeshwara was constructed (1635 A.D. - 1638 A.D.) prior to the construction of the fort by a farmer Kallappa who belonged to Saundatti village. On closer observation, could see the Shivling inside with numerous oil lamps burning close to it.



Close up, KaaduSiddeshwara sculpted in black stone :



Jayappa Desai II remodeled the temple while constructing the fort, is the popular belief.

A student was seriously studying inside the main hall of this small temple! Oh well, such a peaceful place, could surely concentrate well, I suppose?



We came outside the temple and started exploring the temple premises.



As we moved around the temple, the multi-pillared corridor was quite inviting and my curious hubby did want to check every nook & corner!



That little bit of inquisitiveness led us to a flight of stairs which took us directly towards the fort rampart!



It is from here that we walked up along the fort walls getting excellent views of the town below this fort!



Some more details as we walk along: The fort of Savadatti was built during 1743-51 with an estimated cost of about Rs. 2 lacs. This red sand stone fort is spread over an area of 10 acres.



The bastions, stone walls, stone arches, moat and watch towers augment the beauty of this fort.



Are we missing something? Well,the view here deserved a 'panorama' shot!! With the temple gopuram in the right hand side corner, we could see one of the 8 bastions in front of us with the Renukasagar reservoir in the background and greenery immediately next to the bastion!



A very beautiful sight from one of the bastions - the Renukasagar reservoir:



We moved further towards the main entrance as we walked along the rampart.



A view from above the main entrance of the fort. We can see the steps which leads one towards the Kaadusiddeshwara temple:



History says that the fort was besieged by Hyder Ali of Mysore and later Tippu Sultan and huge wealth was collected from Desai.



The ruins of the fort:



From the watch tower:





The outer walls and bastions of the fort still stand tall after all these years authenticating its strong construction. One of the eight mighty bastions close to a moat, looks absolutely gigantic. One can observe from here the modern town is slowly creeping closer towards the ancient fort.



We had spent almost an hour inside this fort and it was time to move on!



By the way, had forgotten to mention that inside the fort is a well maintained garden where I presume the locals do gather occasionally for picnics!



Was it a different place on this temple tour of our's? Surely it was, different and interesting to us !

Had lunch at Soundatti town just a kilometer away from the fort by 3.00 pm and started our journey towards Hubli where we would halt for the night. But then we would reach there by evening, what would we do there the rest of the evening?

I kept the 'Reply To Thread' window open for atleast 10 minutes, trying to figure out what to write. I guess Mithun had commented a few days back that I'll run out of adjectives while commenting on this thread....he was so correct!

Only ten minutes???? And you could write so much? You could have waited for another 10 minutes, and wrote something more ! Now I am a spoilt brat! Itne se nahi chalega (only this much will not suffice )! I will take Mithun to task, he is giving away easier options for others to follow, from complimenting me !

Jokes apart, now I am finding it difficult to find ways to thank you people. You all will need to bear only 2 more posts from me, hopefully, that is if I can post it without any hitch! One will follow immediately - BEWARE!

Naveena ,

I was just wondering what an absolute gem of TL this one is. I am mesmerizing by the photographs and virtually touring these places through your description. As rightly mentioned by Sagar , we are running short of adjective and I wont be surprised if I don’t get to see too many TL in IM having so much of details. I know very few in the world would have the ability to pen-down all such micro details in such a wonderful way and can present with the combination of such excellent photographs. Yes I am following the similar threads by Biman , synonymous - and kudos to all of you.

, BACH GAYE AAP (you are saved)! Good boy, you have written so much more than sagarneel ! I was about to take you to task for making it easier for others!

Again, jokes apart, Mithun thanks a ton for all those affectionate words! It is doing wonders actually, I was supposed to post only one write-up every week, now I have become over/hyper-active and am completing my report ASAP!

Thank you all!

@Naveena, keep bombarding.
Excellent travelogue & Awesome pictures.

Ronak.

Well well, now a trip to a fort. No one would be able to have slightest of idea how varied this report is from the thread topic.

It's so much more than just Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal, even if I take Mahakuta and banashankari as included in the package.

And it looks from this latest set of photos that the light was too harsh for taking good photographs. Yet, you came up with another bunch of charming photos. Congrats.