Gurudwara Guru Ka Taal, Agra

Date: 15th Oct 2018

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi, Muthusamy, Vijayalakshmi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing:  6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.

Food: Small Snacks available.

Photography: Allowed outside.

Other attractions nearby: Mariam Tomb, Akbar Tomb.

The Gurudwara is located near sikandra. The Gurudwara is built in memory of the ninth Guru Sri Guru Tegh Bahudar Ji. This is the location where the Guru offered voluntarily arrest of himself to Aurangazeb. Initially it was a reservoir built in 1610 to collect rainwater and used during summer. Later in 1970 the Gurudwara was built. It is one of the holy place for the sikhs.

Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib along with his followers reached Agra after visiting various places. The Guru halts at this place asks a goat herdsmen who was grazing his goats in that area to get some sweets from the market. Guru Sahib gave his ring to the herdsman to sell and get food. The confectioner mistook that the grazer might have stolen the expensive ring and alerts the police. Police arrest the herdsmen and took him to Guru Sahib. When inquired by police the Guru replies “The saviour of Hindus Tegh Bahadur is my name”. Police arrest Guru Sahib and his followers and took him to Delhi. The herdsmen was offered a price of Rs 500. The place is visited by devotees every year to pay respect to their Great Sikh Guru.

Few pics from the place.

One of the attraction that should be on the list of places to be visited in Agra.

Mahalakshmi Temple, Mumbai

Date: 28th Jan 2018

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: None.

Timing:  6:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

Food: Available.

Photography: Not Allowed. All electronic item should be kept in cloak room.

Other attractions nearby: Siddhivinayaka Temple.

Another important temple in Mumbai is Mahalakshi temple located on Bhulabhai desai road. There are three idols in the sanctum sanctorum namely Shree Mahalakshmi, Shree Mahakali and Shree Mahasaraswati. During navaratri first three days the goddess Shree Mahakali is worshiped and next three days is for Shree Mahalakshmi and last three days for Shree Mahasaraswati. The temple has an very interesting story. The three idols where immersed into sea near worli to avoid destruction by the invaders. Project Hornby vellard, uniting all seven islands of Bombay into a single island was under taken by William Hornby in 1782. The construction between worli and malabar hill as affected severely as the wall kept collapsing. The goddess Mahalakshmi appeared in the dream on chief engineer Ramji Shivji Prabhu and asked him to take the idol out of creek and place on top of hillock. He did the same and the connection of both the islands was completed uninterrupted. He then got the hillock as a gift and constructed a temple around the idols.

A pic from the temple.

Another important Hindu temple which can be visited in Mumbai.

Hiranyakeshi Temple, Amboli

Date: 25th Dec 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Fee: Parking Rs 20.

Timing:  Sunrise to Sunset.

Distance: 600 Kms one way.

Parking: Available.

Food: None nearby.

Photography: Allowed.

Other attractions nearby: Mahadevgad point.

Hiranyakeshi temple is located around 6 Kms from the MTDC resort. The temple is where the Hiranyakeshi river originates. The source of the river is somewhere inside the cave of the temple. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Parvathi. Hiranyakeshi meaning the one with golden hair refers to goddess in the temple. The temple is around a Km walk from the car parking. The temple was open but there was no priest. There was way to enter the cave but we did not check it out. The water flows out of the cave into a small pond in front of the temple from where it flows as Hiranyakeshi river..

Few pics from the temple. 

The temple located amidst the serene environment is one of the important tourist attraction in Amboli.

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.