Melukote (ಮೇಲುಕೋಟೆ)

೨೫, ಡಿಸೆಂಬರ್ ೨೦೦೮ 25, Dec 2008

The Bajaj bike family came together to explore one more place. This time, it was Melukote.

The chilly winter weather with cool breeze, the warm sunlight added the glitz to the ride. The trip started at 8:30am on Christmas day with morning tiffin planned at Shivapura(Maddur) at our friend Giri's hotel. We reached Maddur at 10:00am(87km from B'lore). After bitti oota(free food), we took a butti too for lunch!! One quick pit-stop at his house we started our onward journey to Mandya. We visited a jaggery processing unit(ಆಲೆ ಮನೆ) on way. They will show the whole process from sugar cane crushing - mixing of sunna - heating to make it solid jaggery. (You can taste it too but it comes at a price!)

We reached the Melukote at noon (around 150km from B'lore) and had a quick darshan of the main deity Cheluvanarayana Swamy, which is in the middle of the town.(closing time - 1:00pm) The granite stone structure is in resemblance to the hoysala architecture, with some fine carvings. We visited the ruins of a Gopura (Gopal Raya gate - In movie Guru, the song Barso Re, is picturized here), Akka-Thangi kola, Heritage house of famous Kannada poet Pu Ti Narasimhachar.

Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple was next in the list. It is located on hill top, which we can climb on the granite stone steps. As the temple was about to close (closing time - 2:00pm) we had a quick darshan of this deity as well. We spent some time looking at the panoramic view from the top of the hill. The whole Melukote still dotted with red-tiled houses unspoiled by the new RCC buildings. We had our lunch at the pushkarni which is near the hill. As far as I can recollect it is one of the largest water ponds that I have seen(Many Rajnikanths movies are shot here). It is completely covered with mantapas all corners. We had our lunch at Bhuvaneshwari Mantapa at the right side of the entrance. It is having 8 sides with some nice carvings.

We started our journey back at around 3pm.(We dropped our plans of visiting Shravana Belagola - 30km from Melukote- as it was getting late). Had a second round of tiffin at Giri's hotel and left for B'lore. It was a night ride for the first time and reached room at 8:00pm.

Even though it was a bit long journey it was good to see few new places after a long time. The country side, the nature, few temples, the ride and friends are just refreshing.

Click Here to get more info about Melukote.

ಮತ್ತೆ ಕಂಡಳು ಅವಳು, ಕಾಡುವ ಕಣ್ಣಿನವಳು*

We: Me, Shashi, Giri, Santhya, Cherri.
Bikes: Bajaj XCD, Discoverer 135, Pulsar 150.
Distance Covered 300km
* Thanks to Anoop Chandrachar for writing such beautiful quotes!