Weekend Getaway: 29. Panchapalli Dam

Date: 29th Nov 2015

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None

After visiting betrayaswamy temple we drove to the panchapalli dam. The road to the dam was beautiful and scenic. The drive was a enjoyable one as there was not much vehicle on the road.
The place was so peaceful except for it was bit hot. We parked the car under a shade and had our lunch. We knew we will not have much option on the way so had packed idly from Balaji restaurant.
After lunch we took a walk near the dam. The walkway on the dam was blocked and we were not allowed to walk. There was 2 small water falls on the way to the dam. There was no one at the small falls but the path was not a easy one. Need to jump over the rock so decided not to do it. The bit bigger one had a easy path but there were few people so did not go there. While coming back we found a small stream of flowing water and spent some time there and made up for not going to the falls. The dam was full as there was a decent amount of rain in last one month.

Some pics from the visit.

Beautiful road leading to the dam.

A temple on the way to dam.

The small falls on the way to the dam.

View of the reservoir.

Some fishing activity in the dam.

The view of the dam.

One of the doors open and the water flowing from the dam.

Nice time sitting along the stream and enjoying playing in the water.

On the way back an army of monkey's surrounded the car on 3 sides and was looking at us for food.

The road to the dam with a small mountain on one side.

One of the nice weekend gateway from Bengaluru.The dam along with Betrayaswamy temple and Gavi sree lakshminarashimha swamy temple makes a nice one day trip from Bengaluru.

Weekend Getaway: 28. Gavi Sree Lakshmi Narashimhaswamy Temple, Denkanikotai

Date: 28th Nov 2015

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: Nothing

After visiting panchapalli dam we decided to visit the Gavi sree lakshmi narashimhaswamy temple. This cave temple is located on a small hillock. Harsh had slept by the time we reached the top. We reached there at 2:25 and the temple was closed. The elderly lady sitting in front said temple will open at 3. We decided to stay back as we had nothing much to do. Parked the car under the share of the tall temple Gopuram and took a nice nap. There was a nice cool breeze on the top and we left all the windows open and fell asleep. The temple priests came at 3 and we visited inside. There was no one else other than we three and 2 priest and the elderly lady. I wanted to talk to the priest and ask about the story of the temple but harsh was bit cranky as he was not fully awake from sleep. Could not talk to the priest but found this article on net about the temple. Click here to read it.

Also see: 2Km from this temple is the Betrayaswamy temple and Panchapalli dam.

Some pics from the visit.

One can either park the car here down and climb the 60 odd steps or drive upto the top.

The pillars with some carvings of the lord Narashimhaswamy.

The view of the 5 story main temple gopuram.

The entrance to the temple.

The full view of the temple from road.

The steps to the cave temple. No photography allowed beyond this point.

Chakrathalwar.

The Naga temple.

View from top of the hillock.

The cave temple was a unique one located on the hill. The cave is too small one needs to worship only sitting. The deity of the lord narashimhaswamy looks very beautiful. 

Direction from Bengaluru.

Weekend Getaway: 27. Rajaji Birth Place, Thorapalli

Date: 28th Nov 2015

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None

After visiting Betrayaswamy temple, Panchapalli dam and Gavi sree lakshminarashimha swamy temple we went to Thorapalli to see the house of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari one of the prominent freedom fighter. The house was a small one with a bronze statue of the leader and lot of pictures of the leader. There are 2 rooms with pictures of Rajaji at various times. There is nothing much to see.  He stayed in this place during his early age and later went on to Bangalore and Madras for further studies. He was one of the first recipients of Bharat Ratna award in 1954. He along with S.Radhakrishnan and C.V Raman (All 3 from Madras Presidency) received the highest civilian award in 1954. He was also the last governor general of India.

Some pics from the visit.

The road to Thorapalli from onalvadi is very bad but the greenery on both sides of the road made up for the bad road.

Arch at the entrance of the street.

House of Bharat Ratna C. Rajaji

The bronze statue of the leader.

Some pics from inside the house.

Rajaji with Nehru.

Rajaji discussing with Kennedy.

Thinnai (i guess porch or veranda in English). Its a dream to have something like this outside the house and sit and spend evenings talking to someone.

One can visit here if they are planning for the dam and the temples nearby. It wouldn't much time.

Direction.

Weekend Getaway: 26. Betrayaswamy Temple, Denkanikotai

Date: 28th Nov 2015

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: Nothing

Wanted to visit the panchapalli dam from long and we got time this weekend. Did some reading of the dam and came to know about couple of temples on the way to the dam.  First we visited betarayaswamy temple. In tamil its vettaiadiya piran. The story goes that yaksha a rakhsnasha was disturbing the devatas in that area. Kanva munivar was also meditating under a tree and he was disturbing him too. Kanva Muni called lord venkateshwara for help and the lord came disguising in the form of a hunter. The lord defeated the rakshasha and stayed in denkanikotai as betrayaswamy as per the wish of kanva munivar. The deity here is of lord venkateshwara accompanied by sridevi and bhudevi. The deity is beautifully decorated.


Also see: Panchapalli dam and Lakshminarashimha swamy temple.

Some pics from the temple.


The view of the 5 layer Gopuram and the temple tank.

The stone and a brass flagstaff.

Some of the 3d carvings on the pillars of the temple. The renovation work is going on in the temple.

Tulasi plant inside the temple.

Mahakumbabishekam happened few days back and all the pillars and roof was painted new.

Few pillars in the temple.

All the avatharas of the lord vishnu was carved in the pillars along with few other gods.

The flower design on the roof.

Old stone pillars and carvings on them.

The statue of kanva muni under the tree.

Harsh feeding idly to the fishes in the temple tank.

There is also a temple for godesses soundarya valli inside the complex. The temple with an  interesting story is a nice place for a one day trip along with near by places.