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Hi friends .. its travel time again after a long gap due to Covid restrictions. After Vizag this one is a long trip. It was with my child hood friend Baskar. We set off on a Friday early morning from Bangalore the capital city of the state Karnataka to avoid the traffic We drove down the full distance and it was indeed a lovely trip. It was a bright morning and lovely weather for a long drive,
Its a distance of 220 kms from Bangalore. It was breakfast time and there are number of restaurants on the way. We chose the Pakhshala, a pure vegetarian joint. Idli, Vada and coffee was really tasty an we did relish the hot breakfast and resumed our journey. Its a best breakfast combination light and satisfying.Do try this when you are in south India and you will love it.
My friends car was a Maruti Ertiga and the ride was indeed smooth through out..Now on Belur some info. Its is a small town falling under the district Hassan. It is famous for the Chennakeshava temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It has the finest architecture. It is one of the largest Hindu temple complex
that has survived from the pre 14 th Century Karnataka- Dravidian tradition.
Renowned for its magnificent stone carvings this temple was built by Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana to commemorate his victory over the Cholas in 1116 AD.
I have only seen the pictures and was longing to see this place, the sculptures are unbelievably stunning. Without electricity or machine tools how can one create such marvelous stone sculptures those days, its really a magical creation. It was not very crowded and we spent a long time going around enjoying the ancient sculptor's magic. How did they do all these it again and again keeps hitting my head..Just amazing and unbelievably superb. The next stop was Halebidu not very far from this place.
Hoysaleswara temple, also referred just as the Halebidu temple, is a 12th-century temple dedicated to Lord Shiva It is the largest monument in state of Karnataka, India and captial of Hoysala empire.The temple was built along a large man-made lake built by Vishnuvardhana the king of Hoysala Empire Its construction started somewhere in 1121 CE and was complete in 1160 CE. During the early 14th century. Its almost 900 years back can you just imagine! Hats
off to our ancestors who were so intelligent and hard working.
Halebidu was twice attacked and plundered by the Mughal armies of Delhi sultanate from northern India and the temple and the capital fell into a state of ruin and neglect.
]It is 30 kms from Hassan town.
The Hoysaleswara temple is of a Shiva tradition monument, yet reverentially includes many Vaishnava themes and as well as Shakthi. There are indeed some Jainism touch as well.
it was a mixed beliefs and we got to appreciate the understanding in them so long ago.
Lovely intricate sculptures all around and marvelous symmetry and designs. All these were stunning and out of the world. Tourists from all over the world come here to witness these age old magical creations. This reminds me of the Brihadeeswara temple at Tanjore in Tamilnadu, South India which is again a marvel. Shall post a separate blog after visiting again for this as my pictures are old and not very sharp.
Our next stop was Sringeri and we planned to stay for night here.Its in Chikmagaluru district of Karnataka.A mutt established by Adi Sankara the Hindu Theologian. He spread the
Advaita Vedanta. Established in the 8 th Century on the banks of river Tunga. The temple draws large number of devotees all the times of the year. We visited the ashram , also saw the pooja performed by the Sankaracharya the head of the mutt. The temple was open and not much crowd. It was a neat and clean place. Spent some time on the temple and were back to the hotel after a tiring day. Had dinner and hit the sack.
The hotel was good, rooms spacious and the morning breakfast also not bad. The hotel was Sharada Consorts right at the junction before we enter the main town.
Next day we planned to see the river bank and also the temple again, having come so far wanted to take the blessings again. The river was flowing in full swing and it was a lovely sight..We then started off to the hill shrine of Annapurneswari at Horanadu. The route was through the ghat section and winding roads. It was raining and we did have tough time reaching the top.Though google map assisted we had to take directions from the locals to be on a safer
side.
The temple was not very crowded and we spent a good time and off to the descend to Bangalore. It was good 7 hours drive and we stopped over first for a tea at a hill side stall and then for dinner after touching the plains.Overall it was a lovely memorable trip.
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