Yana Rocks and Caves

Date: 24th Dec 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: Rs 30 for car parking.

Timing:  Sunrise to Sunset.

Distance: 465 Kms one way.

Parking: Available.

Food: Small snacks available.

Photography: Allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Shri Venkataramana Temple, Manjuguni

Yana is located in the sahyadri mountain ranges in western ghats. The famous rock and caves are located in middle of the forest. The main tourist attraction here are the two massive rocks formed of karst limestone. The two rocks are named Bhairaveshwara Shikhara and Mohini Shikhara. The swayambhu linga formed below the Bhairaveshwara rock is an important pilgrimage site. According to ancient belief the demon king Bhasmasura performed severe penance towards Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva pleased by his penance gave him the boon that he wished for. Any one will burn and turn into ashes when the demon places his hands on the persons head. Bhasmasura wanted to test his new power and chose none other than Lord Shiva as his subject of test. Lord Shiva approaches Lord Vishnu and asks for help. Lord Vishnu takes the form of a Mohini and challenges Bhasmasura for a dance competition. The demon king agrees and during the competition the Mohini places her hand on head. Forgetting his power the demon also places his hand on head and burn to ashes. It is believed that the ashes found around the rocks are the proof of the story.

Few pics from the visit.

The base of the rock is around 3 Kms from the car parking. Though the distance was less the climb was bit difficult. The beautiful trees and the cool breeze kept us going.

We rested few times and then finally managed to reach the top. Like in Shri Marikamba Temple, Sirsi here too schools had got kids for picnic.

The sanctum was closed and we were exhausted. We decided to skip entering the cave. Another reason is the cave path goes around the temple it needs to be walked barefoot.

We sat in the temple for a while and left.

Though road towards the rocks was beautifully covered with trees on both side it was narrow in few sections.

The place can be visited if one has time and happened to be in that part of the state. 

Shri Venkataramana Temple, Manjuguni

Date: 24th Dec 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing:  6:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Distance: 450 Kms one way.

Parking: Road Side.

Food: Small snacks available.

Photography: Allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Yana Caves.

The Manjuguni temple dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara is located 28Kms from sirsi. We took a slight detour on the way to Yana caves and visited the temple. It is believed that the Lord of Tirupati settle down here in this temple while he was on his travelling around the globe hunting wild animals. Thus the temple is also referred as Tirupathi of Karnataka or Chikka Tirupathi. The main idol here is assumed to be more than 1000 years old. The temple Ratha yatra is an important festival in the temple.

Few pics from the temple.

It is believed that the devotees who cannot visit Tirupati gets the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara by visiting Majuguni.

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi

Date: 23rd Dec 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi, Harsh and Sunil

Fee: None.

Timing:  6:00 AM to 12:30 PM and 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Distance: 420 Kms one way.

Parking: Road Side.

Food: Small snacks available.

Photography:  Allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Shri Marikamba Temple, Sirsi.

Madhukeshwara temple located in Banavasi in dedicated to Lord Shiva and is located around 20Kms from Sirsi. Banavasi was the capital of ancient Kadamba dynasty who ruled most of uttara Kannada region between 345 - 545 AD. The temple was built in Kadamba architecture style. The Kadamba shikara is pyramid shaped and raise in steps with kalasa on top and generally lacks any decoration. The stone cot and the stone triloka mandapa are a major attraction in the temple. The stone cot was donated to the temple by Raghunatha Nayaka. The cot is carved in hard granite stone. The intricately carved cot is decorated and the idols kept on it are worshiped during Ratha Yatra. The triloka mandapa is another marvelous piece of architecture which depicts the three worlds. The nether, earth and heaven are depicted in stone with Lord Shiva and Parvathi blessing the devotes from the throne in middle. The 7ft tall Nandi at the entrance is positioned in such a way that it looks Lord Shiva with one eye and Goddess Parvathi with other. This is because both the shrines are built adjacent to each other. 

The temple complex also houses smaller shrines dedicated to Ashtathika balahas.

The Linga in the temple is of brown honey color and thus the name Madhukeshwara. Madhu meaning honey.

Another marvel in the temple is the Panchaloka bell. The bell produces om sound which reverberates close to 60 seconds.

The pyramid shaped Shikara with plan step like raising.

The thirloka Mandapa with extensive carvings.

The Nandi positioned to look in two direction.

The unmatched beautiful stone cot.

The temple priests also act as guides and provide lot of details to the visitors. Sunil knew a priest who took us around and explained the history in detail.

The temple also houses the idol of Lord Ganesha with vertical split whose another part is believed to be in Varanasi.

The Parvathi temple left of the main shrine. The Sakshi Ganapathi and few other minor carvings adore the outer wall of the nirtya mandapa.

The two sthambas at the entrance. One used to light the lam during the month of Karthigai.

One another interesting aspect of the temple are the lathe turned pillars (not the below ones) in the Nirtya mandapa. The shining pillars with concave and convex carvings on one other. This arrangement makes the images reflected straight on upper half and inverted in the lower half.

The usually ferocious lord Narasimha is portrayed with peaceful face in a smaller shrine.
One of the two elephants and the soldiers welcoming the devotees.

We were here.

The temple with never ending architectural marvel should be added as a major tourist attraction and promoted by the KSTDC.

Shri Marikamba Temple, Sirsi

Date: 23rd Dec 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing:  6:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

Distance: 425 Kms one way.

Parking: Road Side.

Food: Small snacks available.

Photography:  Allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi.

Shri Marikamba temple located in Sirsi town is dedicated to goddess Durga. Its believed that the idol was recovered from a tank and installed in the temple and worshiped. The eight handed goddess is also referred as doddamma meaning elder sister of all goddess. The walls of the temple is decorated with beautiful murals. The temple chariot festival held every year is one of the famous procession in all of Karnataka. In olden days animal sacrifice was one of the main feature during the festival. The practice was brought to halt in later years by various leaders. S.N Keshwain and Vitthal Rao Hodike were credited with accomplishing this difficult task.

I heard that since nothing else is there to do in town you can find lot of people in the temple. This is the only place people visit.

It was proved undoubtedly when we visited. We saw schools bringing kids as part of day picnic.

We saw school students leaving temple in queue even at 8:30 PM while coming back from Banavasi.

The murals depicting scenes from the epics were painted in red all over the temple.

A social welfare group was getting petition signed by devotees to protect cows and we too signed it.

A nice town for a stopover if driving up north from Bengaluru.

We stayed in Hotel Madhuvan which was a decent hotel for a night stay. We had lunch in the restaurant below which was average.

We were here.

We met Sunil after the temple visit and all of us went to Madhukeshwara temple in Banavasi. 

Mypadu Beach, Nellore

Date: 30th Sep 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing:  None.

Distance: 414 Kms one way.

Parking: Available.

Food: Available.

Photography:  Allowed.

Other attractions nearby:

Mypadu beach near Nellore in Andhra Pradesh was the last place we visited in our trip to Andhra and Odisha. The beach is located around 25Kms from nellore and is a good tourist attraction. The beach was crowded as it was the dusherra weekend. Though crowded the beach was clean and we spend couple of hours playing in water. There is a shiva temple on the shore and it was crowded because of festival. We stayed in Haritha hotel run by APTDC. We generally had good experience in haritha hotels in other places but this was not good. The room and bathroom was not clean. We just brushed and left the room early in the morning.

Few pics from the beach.

Nice waves to play.

Nice picnic place to spend some time.

Swachh bharat. A nice feeling when the tourist places look clean.

A nice clean beach to have fun for the people nearby.

Mirjan Fort

Date: 26th Aug 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi, Muthusamy, Vijayalakshmi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing: 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Distance: 485 Kms one way.

Parking: Available.

Food: Not Available.

Photography: Officially not allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Murudeshwar, Om beach Gokarna.

The fort located between Kumta and Gokarna is one of the historical place in the region. There are various theories on who built the fort. The widely believed theory is it was built by queen Chennabairadevi between 1552 and 1602. She ruled over the north bank of Sharavathi with stronghold over malpe, karwar, mirjan Honnavar and ankola. Pepper was exported to Europe from this region and she was given the title pepper queen. The fort was last captured by Marathas before falling to British.

The fort was built with laterite stones with high walls and circular bastions.

Officially photography not allowed in this place. The guard at the gate allowed us to use camera as the officer in-charge is not in.

It started pouring the moment we stepped out of the car. We got back to car and waited for 10 min and the rain stopped.

From the look of the fort and the other places nearby its evident its been raining a lot recently.

We could see the fort with green cover all over making the sight pleasant.

The protective walls with embrasure.

Palace should have been here.

More views of the fort.

The circular bastions is the major attraction in the fort.

Panoramic view of the fort.

We were here.

One of the beautiful fort that we have seen. We would highly recommend to visit the place during or post monsoon.