CHIKMAGALUR, BELAVADI AND BELUR

    On Friday, 22-Mar-2019, my wife, her parents, her paternal uncle and aunt and I set off to Chikamagalur for an extended weekend break. This blog post captures my experience during the break. As usual, I have avoided names of people. Pictures of people are NOT available in this blog post. Please contact me if you want to see group photos.

  I plan to upload several pictures . So hopefully, in terms of words, this blog post should be a lot "lighter" than some of my usual long blog posts !

  We set off on 21-Mar driven in an Innova. In the journey to Chikmagalur and other journeys in and around the town, one feature was the humorous conversation between my wife's father and his brother. The jokes and funny remarks followed each other. My wife was not to be left behind ! All our journeys were finished in an extremely pleasant manner, with all of us joining in the spirit of fun !

Picture 1: Traffic was lesser than what I had expected on the Friday morning when we started. We left at 8 and at around 12:30 p.m., we were in Kadur ready for lunch.

Picture 2: Our first stop was Kalhatti falls. Due to summer, there was no waterfall at all. A festival of sorts was being celebrated. These are the idols of worship.

Picture 3: As we ascended to Kemmangundi, barren, brown hills were a common sight, as seen here.

Picture 4: Kemmangundi was hot, probably around 35 degrees Celsius. Despite the heat, some flowers like this weed have blossomed. It made me feel happy !

Picture 5: From the top of the small hillock in the park developed by the Horticulture Department in Kemmanagundi, one can see the scenery around the place. This is one such view.

Picture 6: In summer, the peaks of the hills surrounding Kemmangundi all appeared barren.

Picture 7: I experienced a curious mixture of sensations in Kemmanagundi. On one hand, the sun was beating down mercilessly, with the temperature in the mid-30s (Celsius). On the other hand, a cool breeze would blow. The park seen here suggests a cool climate overall.

Picture 8: These brilliant red flowers looked nice in Kemmanagundi.

Picture 9: "Gundi" in "Kemmanagundi" could refer to a hollow in Kannada. Here is one such hollow !

Picture 10: The water from this tap was so cool that it felt like it had been kept in a cooler ! All six of us relished the cool water !

Picture 11: The green trees contrast with the red mud, literally "Kempa mannu" in Kannada. This is where the first part of "Kemmanagundi" comes from ! The car we came in had a fine layer of this red mud, as did the footwear that we had !

    We checked into a hotel in Chikmagalur reserved earlier. The rooms were clean, but the hotel had no restaurant. It was already 6 p.m. by the time we reached Chikmagalur. All of us felt the need for a cup of coffee. Using the maps app on my smartphone, I located a cafe nearby. We walked the short distance to M. G. Road, one of the primary roads in Chikmagalur.

    In fact, Chikmagalur appears to have three major roads: M. G. Road, Ratnagiri Road (commonly called R. G. Road) and Indira Gandhi Road.

    The cafe offered us coffee which was excellent value for money ! The milk was heated using steam, delivered via pipes. For sheer quality of south Indian filter coffee, the coffee we tasted at the cafe that evening would match anything that the "darshini" cafes in Bengaluru could provide ! I am quite a big fan of the "darshini" coffees: so the praise for the Chikmagalur cafe is to be noted ! For connoisseurs of coffee, I feel that a visit to the cafe on M. G. Road, Chikmagulur is recommended !

    The next morning, we ate breakfast and left for Mullayanagiri hill.

Picture 12: When we saw the lake (or river?) seen here, one comment in the car was that we should attempt reaching it. Our only problem was that we still didn't know which lake or river we were looking at !

Picture 13: I can see at least five folds of hills in this picture. Our driver commented that he had visited Mullayanagiri several times earlier, but never had he seen such clear views of the hills. There is some advantage of visiting Mullayanagiri in summer, after 9 a.m. !

    This was my second trip to Mullayanagiri. My wife was incredulous that I had climbed the 200+ steps earlier, much to my indignation ! I described what she would see on the peak. She decided to take the steps, almost matching me as I set off quickly upwards ! Seeing her attempt the climb, her parents and uncle and aunt also joined her in the climb upwards !

Picture 14: One can see the cars parked from where we climbed the steps to the top of Mullayanagiri peak.

Picture 15: The neighbouring peaks surrounding Mullayanagiri are a mixture of brown and green, mostly brown, as seen here.

    The top of Mullayanagiri is around 6300 feet above the sea level. It felt good to have climbed so high. The temple there is peaceful. My wife and her parents spent some time in peace, letting the fatigue of the climb dissolve.

Picture 16: On the way down from Mullayanagiri, this was one view that we saw.

Picture 17: There were many beautiful views in and around Mullayanagiri.

    We saw Honnamma Waterfall on the descent from Mullayanagiri. One plan was to visit Datta peeta, but we observed a lot of security in and around the place due to a function. Looking at the arrangements and the crowd, we decided against visiting it. We ate lunch in Chikmagalur.

    In the evening, we went to Belavadi first, where we went to the Veera Narayana Swamy temple, after drinking coffee at the same place as the earlier evening !

Picture 18: I had not expected the Belavadi Veera Narayana Swamy temple to be this grand. I felt that I was in Belur or Halebid. The walls of the temple are full of carvings. The priest there explained the history of the place. There are three idols in the temple, the Veera Narayana (Vishnu), Venu Gopala Swamy (Krishna) and Yoga Narasimha. All of them are made of the "salagrama" stone. The Venu Gopala Swamy idol is a wonderful sight to behold, in my opinion.

Picture 19: One famous carving in Belur is the "Darpana Sundari" or the "Mirror Woman". Zooming into this picture taken at the Belavadi temple, one can see a darpana sundari here also.

    We saw the "Udbhava Ganapati" in Belavadi. This is a Ganesha (Ganapati) that has emerged independently from the ground. We prayed there and spent time under a green "arali" or "peepal" tree.

Picture 20: From Belavadi, we set off for Kalasapura. The doors of the Ranganatha Swamy temple were closed by the time we reached. On the way, we spotted a mongoose and a peacock. We also saw the beginning of a memorable sunset, seen here !

Picture 21: This picture was taken on the road from Kalasapura to Hiremagalur. It brought a good day to a close !

    Chikmagalur and Hiremagalur can literally be translated as "The town of the younger daughter" and "The town of the elder daughter". In Hiremagalur, which is close to Chikmagalur, we stopped at the Kodanda Rama Swamy temple. Here, the priest performed the pooja first in Sanskrit and then translated it into Kannada ! This is a specialty in the temple. The Rama idol lit by the lamps at the base of the idol made for a wonderful sight.

    By the time we returned to Chikmagalur, it was nearly 7 p.m. We walked along the length of M. G. Road, splitting up. Three of us, including me, went to the cafe, by now well-known to us. The person serving us coffee was the same on all three times. He noticed that we ordered only three cups this time. "Why are you taking only three? Where are the others?!", he asked, apparently upset at losing customers ! I told him that they were out shopping.

    The next morning, we checked out after breakfast. Our first stop was the Yagchi dam. From there, we went to Halebid.

Picture 22: The two creatures flanking the centre are the mythical "makara". One can see this creature at several places in Halebid and Belur.

Picture 23: I was amazed to see the ornaments on the body of this carving ! It is quite a feat to see such elaborate and intricate carving - remember that the material used is stone and not any soft material !

Picture 24: It appears that the "chakra vyuha" ("wheel arrangement") that Abhimanyu was trapped in is depicted here.

    Our final stop was the Belur temple. We were fortunate to meet my wife's father's cousin there. He is a remarkable man, a doctorate who has been researching the Belur temple for many years. He showed us several intriguing carvings in the temple and also explained the sound engineering principles behind its construction. The insight I gained from him during the hour we spent in Belur was tremendous.

Picture 25: There are two dancers in the left and right of this picture. However, it is the seated figure in the middle who requires our attention. This is Vishnuvardhan, the king who started the construction of the temple.

Picture 26: I learnt of several points that I would have missed in this carving, thanks due to the insight provided by my father-in-law's cousin. First, this is Ravana holding the Kailash mountain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravananugraha describes the legend. Observing closely, it is not only Shiva but also Vishnu and Brahma who Ravana has also carried, demonstrating his strength. Further, it is observed that Parvathi's posture is asymmetric. This is because when Ravana lifts the mountain, she is off-balance. An angry Shiva presses his foot (actually, the big toe) firmly. Due to his act, Ravana feels the pressure and is almost crushed by it. The expression on Ravana's face is best described as a grimace ! All these details were pointed out.

Picture 27: One can see the three headed Brahma here. To me, it looks like the bearded Brahma resembles the Egyptian kings !

Picture 28: This picture describes the eye for detail in designing the carvings in Belur temple. As seen in picture 25, the dancing women are all at an inclination, an acute angle to the ground. In this statue, the tip of the nose, the middle finger and the tip of the big toe are all in a straight line ! If water is poured from the top, it would follow this path ! I marvel at the skill of the carvers, when I learnt of this detail ! One should remember that the statue itself is at an angle to the ground !

     After spending a wonderful hour at Belur, we met an old grand uncle of my wife, a stalwart in Kannada theatre. We ate lunch at Hassan and then it was back to Bengaluru.

    Three memories stand out from the trip, among several others. First, the carvings in Belur and the details provided by my father-in-law's cousin ; second, the temple at Belavadi which was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise and finally, the delightful taste of hot south Indian filter coffee tasted after a long journey.