[airguitar]

This is going to be a running thread documenting different places that are gleaned out of literature. I read a lot of vernacular stuff, especially Kannada, for that's a true reflection of what our country and states were back then. Pure, unadulterated facts, though they may have an element of exaggeration. I try to make personal notes and try to visit them when I can. Sometimes they are traceable, but sometimes they are not existent anymore at all. Why am I choosing to write here ? I have realized that I cannot make full use of all the personal notes I make - i.e.,

1. I cannot travel to all those places by myself - given that, I could derive satisfaction in seeing those pictures here if someone uses the information and travels there and posts picture.
2. Who knows, those places in disrepair may suddenly spring back to life when someone travels
3. People could share other places they read about and we can mutually share
4. If the places are not traceable, we can research together and unearth a gem!
5. The reach of such information is more on this platform

[airguitar]

Book: Hemavathi Theeradalli Matthu Itara Prabandhagalu
Writer: Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar
ISBN-13: 9788195673315
https://www.sapnaonline.com/books/he...-9788195673315

• Adibylu Bindigamma Temple: https://goo.gl/maps/SGj1yYHiXkNMdX7fA This is known for the Bindigammana Jatre during Sankranti. The books says that the jatre happens a day after Sankranti. The priest carries a kalasha from Bindigamma temple and all the way to Bharatur Rangana Betta ( see below ). The jatre (fest) was initiated by a king that lost his kingdom (Sakleshpur) to the palegar of Chitradurga and how he got it back by carrying Bindigamma (Goddess Lakshmi), a kalasha from Adibylu to Ranganatha ( her husband, Vishnu ) at Bharatur. The place provides a panoramic view of the distant Hemavathi dam backwater.
  
• Bharatur Rangana Betta: The book refers to the place as Bhartur, but we can only find a place by name "Bharatur" on the banks of the Hemavathi Dam at Gorur. I don't find any Rangangabetta or Ranganatha temple on Gmaps or wikimapia at Bharthur. Given it's proximity to to the backwaters, was it submerged during the dam construction? The essay was written by Shri Gorur in 1920s and the Hemavathi dam was built in 1979. So quite a bit would have changed. Interestingly, the Bindigamma temple now is called Bindigamma-Ranganatha temple. Need more local knowledge, will find out.
  
• Maharajana Durga: https://goo.gl/maps/eQB8uvMnzRVU42o69 : Also called "Maganannu Konda Maharajana Durga" The fort of the king who killed his own son. This is a fort in disuse, accessed via the village of Magge, Alur Taluk, Hassan District. This : https://www.teamgsquare.com/2016/11/...rt-hassan.html : is one of the rare travelogues to the place and you can see how tricky the place is to get to. A king was habituated to eating meat and one day the palace cooks couldn't find any animal, so they killed a child and cooked it and fed the king. The king liked the taste, asked what animal it was and after getting to know that it was a human child, insisted on eating a child each day. The king himself took the responsibility of sending the child to be killed to the kitchen, by asking the child to deliver a lemon to the kitchen. That was the hint to the cooks as to which child to kill. One day an "appointed" child was walking to the kitchen with a lemon and the King's son volunteered to deliver the lemon so that the appointed child could continue his turn of play. The prince reached the Kitchen with the Lemon and the cooks were aghast but still felt that the rogue king could do anything to satisfy his palate. They killed the prince and cooked and fed it to the King. That day the king felt a little uneasy. He later discovered what had happened to the prince and lost in thought and guilt slipped and fell of the hill/fort.
  
• Parvati Betta aka Parvatammana Betta : https://goo.gl/maps/yiuS9jyM8iL4Tnna9 : a place known for Goddess Parvati staying for sometime here before the birth of Subrahmanya. The temple is located in a beautiful natural spot, atop a hillock and needs a small gentle trek from the parking spot. To get to the place, from the Hassan Sakleshpur route, take a left at Ballupet and ask for Parvathammana Betta. The view of Maharajana Durga from Parvathammana Betta is splendid.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[anoopBH]

Interesting thread idea. I'm a big fan of Kenneth Anderson's jungle books and always wanted to visit the places which he has mentioned in his books. He lived in Bangalore so most of the events in his books took place within a couple of hundred kilometers around Bangalore.

But it is very hard to pinpoint the locations as most of these events happened deep in the wilderness. But few of the place which I remember and want to visit are :

Moyar river valley: a valley created by Moyar river near the Madumalai national park, Anderson has described the unparalleled beauty of this place. But I have hardly seen any pictures of this valley as this is a restricted area for public. But it looks fascinating in Google maps satellite view though, where we can see the distinct cavity of the valley for many kilometers.

Secret River of Anchetty: Anderson calls this the secret river because he had seen many interesting geographical features along this river, though he did not reveal much about them in his books.

Ubrani forest : Never knew about the existence of this forest until I read about it in one of his books. An interesting patch of forest as this is not connected to any forest (unlike most of the forests in Karnataka), even though it is in very close proximity to Bhadra tiger reserve.

Apart from these there are many other interesting places which Anderson has mentioned in his books and had praised them for their natural beauty. There is a youtuber named Shreyas Ranganath who has done a series of videos visiting few of these places like forest guesthouses or villages where Anderson had stayed during his man eater hunts. Makes me want to visit those places and re imagine those incredible stories again.

[kshastry]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Book: Hemavathi Theeradalli Matthu Itara Prabandhagalu
Writer: Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar

Thanks for this thread! I too am a big fan of Goruru and have read most of his books. There is one more book called 'Halliya Chitragalu' with interesting anecdots which I am sure you would have read.

Books of SL Bhyrappa, AN Murty Rao, TaRaSu etc, have references to many places of KA, which seemed magical and surreal.

[airguitar]

After I wrote the post, I was tempted to make a trip to some of those places. An impromptu solo trip on the Thar trying to locate these places happened just like that. Where this a will, there is a way!

First, I headed to Gorur Hemavathi Dam and Konapura Rangananathaswamy temple. At Gorur Dam, you cannot take your vehicle inside the Dam premises and have to walk for a kilometer to witness the gates or the outbound channel. I walked all the way and no gates were open. People around were disappointed that the dam was unlikely to fill this year, 'no chance anymore' they said. Blame it on the below-average rains! From this point, you cannot see the backwater. Nor can you climb up the dam. I was fortunate enough to witness a minimal opening of one of the gates through which they let out some level of drinking water/water for irrigation for the neighbouring districts. They closed the gate within a minute.

To experience the actual backwaters of the dam, the best place is Konapura Ranganathaswamy temple, about 2 kms from the Dam. Just before the temple, you take a left and you can take your car all the way to the water. Instead of taking left, if you continue straight, you get to the temple which is on a hillock looking over the backwaters on either side.

Gorur Dam


Hemavathi reservoir backwater at Konapura, near Ranganathaswamy temple.



The Konapura temple



After this, I headed to Adibyle temple, the temple known for the Bindgammana Jatre. The fest stops at 12 mantaps. They carry the goddess from the Adibyle temple to a place called Bharatur Jatre Mantapa in the morning and then the actual "temple run" starts from Bharatur back to Adibylu for the priest. He carries the Goddess on his head and runs/walks the hilly/foresty distance of 6 kms (or 12?) in about 1.5 hours. As he does so, he is not supposed to hold the Kalasha on his head - it has to balance without any support. I was fortunate enough to meet the priest, Shri Purushottam, and was very happy to hear that the fest exactly happens today the same way it is described in the book, written some 100 years ago . The priest was also kind enough to share the videos from the last year's fest.


The following are the 12 places / village mantaps where the procession/priest halts.
1. Bharatur Jatre Mantapa
2. Bharatur torana
3. Purabyravanahalli
4. Hanjalige
5. Kallare
6. Kodagathavalli
7. Singari torana
8. Kanigere
9. Adibylu
10. Kanivebasavanahalli
11. Adibylu Ranganathaswamy Bindigamma temple Mantap 1
12. Adibylu Ranganathaswamy Bindigamma temple Mantap 2

These 12 places represent the exact same places that King Krishnappa Nayaka had stopped on the maiden Bindigamma Jatre and are supposed to be the places where he had illusions of the Goddess appearing before him as he did the run centuries ago.

I could locate most of these places except Singari. The villages are all in Alur Taluk. The views of the Hemavati dam backwaters from the Adibylu temple is stunning. One can also see the Shettyhalli church as well as Gorur dam from the hill.

Shettyhalli Church at Shettyhalli (Shettyhalli falls on the route from Gorur to Adibylu )



Adibylu Ranganathaswamy-Bindigamma Temple


Views from the Adibylu Temple of the backwaters. In one of the pictures the submerged Shettyhalli church maybe seen




The drive to Adibylu is a rewarding one through roads that graze estates and forest boundaries. The temple is open from morning to 4pm and doesn't reopen for the evening. I have the contact number of the priest if anyone needs it.

From here, I headed to Parvathi Betta aka Parvathammana Betta, near the village of Magge. I reached the parking lot of Parvathammana Betta around 245pm. Not a soul in sight. I started walking up the hill and it took about 30-45 minutes for a gentle stroll up ( at places, it is steep, so not recommended for elderly people ).

The first thing you get to see as you ascend is the hump-shaped hill opposite, which is the Maharajana Durga (described in the previous posts), staring right back at the Parvathammana betta.




At the top of the hill, there is a temple dedicated to Parvati. I heard from locals that earlier it used to be frequented by treasure-hunters etc. The views from the top are fabulous and one can see the Hemavati backwaters too! The 2 local students that I met atop the hill told me that it wasn't safe for someone to travel alone to the hill as there have been incidents of mugging as well as elephant encounters, especially after 4pm. I don't know if /how true these reportings are. But it was certainly very lonely.




I inquired if Maharajanadurga was accessible from Magge, they said it was but difficult to cut through the shrubs and undergrowth and is a difficult climb for the uninitiated. They also said that someone from Magge may take interested folks up. I didn't have the time and wasn't sure of my fitness either. It also happened to be elephant territory after 4pm.

When you descend from the parking lot in your vehicle, just before you get to the arch, there is a small walkway to your left. At about 500 meters of walk is a cave temple - Gavi Sidda temple. Those that plan to travel to Parvathammana Betta from Bengaluru can take a left at Ballupet on the Bangalore - Mangalore highway and get to Magge and then to Parvathammana Betta.

After descending to the main roads, I took the beautiful road that passes by Ubban Estate, joined the B-M road and cut across it to get to Wartehally for my stay before proceeding to Belur via Arehally, another wonderful road.

[airguitar]

Steed resting at Watehally Homestay