Trip to Mysore, Shravanbelagola, Halebid and Belur:
(02, 03 Sept 2006)

Day 1
Departure from Bangalore
My wife Prachi, my in-laws and I, set of in a TATA Indica on a Saturday morning for a weekend trip to Mysore, Shravanbelagola, Halebid and Belur. Even though, my wife and I know that, the trip would not be as lively as our previous trips, where we were alone, we were enthusiastic. The reason I say ‘not lively’ is because of the generation gap between my in-laws and we both. We started of early in the morning at 6.15 AM to avoid traffic of Bangalore. I always like to sit in the front seat of the car, as I have the opportunity to view all the sides and I was fortunate this time also. I sat along side our driver Raju who happened to be our travel guide at few places.

As we were going through the roads of Jayanagar during that pleasant morning, guarded by dense, shady, old greens, sun trying to show its mighty presence in between these greens, I developed a suspicion whether Bangalore was so beautiful. We had to reject the beautiful sense of chillness touching our skins, the pleasant morning breeze soothing our nostrils and I particularly had to miss out the visual and mystical beauty (the window beside me was very scratchy), as my father-in-law asked the driver to switch on the air conditioner. Further as we traveled from Bhanshankari to Mysore road, we had a chance to appreciate that Bangalore is a mountainous terrain at a decent altitude (~900m).

4 lane (2+2) highway starts 20 Km from Bangalore. We were able to drive un-interrupted at a speed of 90 to 100 Km/Hr. Indian government had admirably focused in the development of transport infrastructure in this decade. Good work!

Breakfast
We had to break our journey for 45 minutes, just after Ramanagaram, as the hunger bell struck my stomach (my in-laws, rather Gujarathis are not used to have breakfast). It was a very decent, not very costly restaurant, Kamat Loka Ruchi. It has a very good environment in comparison to any restaurant on the highway. It had garden, thatched roofs, tiled roofs and all variants. As we were masticating the idli and ragi dosa, I understood that this restaurant should be famous among the frequent travelers on this highway. Before idli was served to us as per our order, we saw something cylindrical, wrapped in a leaf was being served to almost all the tables. We thought it was Puttu and were tempted to have that also. Later when Idli was served we came to know that the cylindrical stuff was Idli. The idli was a special delight there. I guess, they were wrapped in palm leaf and boiled. They were served along with the palm leaf itself. This satisfying breakfast was to be followed by the very boring medicine session. My wife and I were gulping down our regular ‘Siddha’ tablets for various complications we had. As we started further, people in the back seat started dreaming, but not as Dr. Abdul Kalam had defined. The next big town was Mandya. This seemed to be like a very busy agricultural and educational hub. Lot of schools and higher educational institutions bordered the highway on both sides.

Srirangapattinam
Our next break and our first place of visit as per our plan, came 15 Km before Mysore. A diversion to the left from the highway took us to Srirangapattinam. Srirangpattinam was the capital of the prodigious warrior of ancient Colonial India and the nightmare of British Empire, ‘The tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan’. This was a old, little village with the ruins of ancient pieces of architecture here and there. It brought me the memories of my native place, as this little village was analogous to the small chettinad villages.

Nimishambha Temple
There were many ruined, half-ruined living places and rose gardens along side of the small village road which took us to the Nimishambha temple. This was not in our trip chart. This was introduced into our trip route by our driver guide Raju. This temple was not architecturally famous. I believe it should be a famous religious place for people around this place. This temple lies on the shore of the river Cauvery. As my in-laws went to pray, we were enjoying this sight of the river, which is not possible in our day to day life. It was not a new sight to me, as I had been to many such places where a coconut and green fields sandwich the river. But Prachi was very much excited. She was full of kiddish joy, dipping her legs in the flow of water.

Sangam
From here, our guide suggested us to visit the ‘Sangam’, which was also not in our places to visit. This place was very calm when we went there. Three rivers, Cauvery north branch, south branch and Loka Pavani united here. Hence the place is called Sangam. As can be seen in any river bank, a Hindu pujari was conducting Tarpan, a Hindu ritual. There were small handmade canoes called “Parisal” in tamil, available for a trip at a nominal charge of Rs.20 per person. Prachi was so interested for a trip on the canoe, even I internally. But I refused, thinking of the fact that we should reach Chamundi hills before 1 O’Clock noon.

Gumbaz
On the way back, we halted to visit Gumbaz. This was the first place that we visited, as per our trip plan. Gumbaz was a place where Tipu, his parents and several others are sleeping eternally. Gumbaz was built by Tipu. It had the cenotaphs of Tipu’s father Hyder Ali, mother Fakr-Un-Nisa and Tipu after his death. Both sides of the pathway from the old fort type entrance to the Gumbaz were maintained with garden and lawn. In addition to the 3 cenotaphs of Tipu’s family inside the Gumbaz, lot of his close family members, ministers and other administrator’s tombs were lying around the Gumbaz. The buildings around the Gumbaz were under renovation during our visit. This was built in Islamic style, with few Urdu / Persian letters engraved at some places. The side doors to the Gumbaz had art made of elephant tusk, hence protected by glass. We were told that Tipu made this door with art made of precious gems. This door was no exception. These were also looted after Tipu’s defeat. These were again fabricated with elephant tusk, as we saw now, by ‘The king of Mysore’. The inner walls of the Gumbaz were painted with Tiger stripes, as Tipu liked Tiger and he himself was baptized ‘Mysore Tiger’. The corridor of the Gumbaz had 36 granite pillars; depicting a unique reason (I remember that Hyder Ali ruled the kingdom for 36 years).

(I was so happy to see that all the ancient places under archaeological department that we visited were properly maintained. It is worth for the entrance fee collected. I would like to appreciate the Indian Archeological Department).

Tipu’s Summer Palace
Our next break was at Tipu’s Summer Palace which was on the way from Gumbaz to the Bangalore – Mysore highway.

Why is it called Summer Palace? Did those days even had summer vacation.
It was also called “Dariya Daulat”, meaning wealth of the sea. Please help me to understand why this place was named so. This was built in commemoration of victory over British in 1784 AD. It had exhibits of pictures and information on Tipu, his family, his rule as a King and his fame as a warrior. It also housed the furniture, attire, coins, swords, pistols and revolvers used during his reign. In addition to all these were the most interesting wall paintings all around, depicting processions of mughal rulers and battlefield of a battle against British.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple
We expected that our next destination was Chamundi Hills in Mysore, when we started off from Daria Daulat. But our guide told us that we should visit Sri Ranganathaswamy temple. This is a Vishnu temple inside the destroyed fort of Tipu. According to me, this was a very normal Hindu temple which can be visited only for religious reasons and not as a travel spot, even though there were few foreign travelers. May be our guide suggested us to visit, thinking that this will be of interest to my in-laws. The weather being so hot than normal was not favoring us. By this time I started feeling tired. We had a tender coconut each, leaving my father-in-law. I always believe in having a tender coconut while traveling long distances in hot weather. The tender coconuts were cheaper than Banglore, costing Rs.8 each.

Chamundeswari Temple
We reached Chamundeshwari temple at the right time before closing. This was located in a small hill near Mysore. As our driver was experienced in these areas, we didn’t have much trouble reaching there. This was maintained as a plastic-free zone (All the shops sold wafers, gutkas all in plastic packs). A big statue of Rakshas (Hindi word for Devil) welcomed us at the entrance. I waited in the small shelter in front of the temple, to avoid removing my shoes, while my in-laws and wife went inside the temple to pray. From the 7 storied temple tower, I understood that this belonged to Hoysala’s period. This temple was of Godess Durga’s incarnation Chamundi to demolish the evil Mahishasura. On the way down the hill there was huge monolith statue of Nandi (Shiva’s bull as per Hindu Mythology).

Nap Time
The day was so hot, making us tired in half a day. As we got down the Chamundi hills, our search for Hotel Dasaprakash (793, Sardar Patel Road , Gandhi Square, Mysore - 570 001, Ph: 0821-2442444) where we had booked rooms for our stay, started. It was the right time to have lunch. As soon as we reached the hotel, we had our lunch. Lunch was not bad. The hotel was a decent and classical, even though not very impressive in modern terms. It was located in the heart of the city with immense free space for parking and greenery. It had very old buildings, but neatly maintained. The rooms were enough comfortable, with neat bedding, clean bath and toilet. We had a little nap till 3.30 PM.

Mysore Palace
We continued our trip after coffee at 4.00 PM. First, we went to the Mysore palace. This was built by Krishnraja Wodiyar in 1890’s, at a cost of 40 lakhs, taking 15 years. Ah!!! It was an architectural beauty, which aesthetically touches everyone’s heart at the first sight. There were a lot of shops and vendors welcoming at the entrance. A nominal entrance fee was collected which is worth to pay as a contribution to maintain such a mammoth, ancient beauty. We had no chance of capturing this place for future memories, as the camera was not allowed. From the entrance to exit, our eyes were wide open by the surprise provided by this splendor. I don’t find enough words to explain and even if I try, it would run to pages. There were paintings of the ancient days on the walls. The specialty that was found in one of the paintings was that, the bullock looks into the viewer from any side the viewer looks at. There were elephants and camels available to take the travelers for a ride around the palace. The entire palace was gorgeous.

Brindavan Garden
Our next stop was 15 kms from Mysore - Brindavan Gardens, one of the old gardens in India. An unbelievable incident happened on the way to the garden. In one of the main roads of around the palace, one traffic constable stopped us. We were afraid that we were losing time, because we were told that after 6 PM the entry to Brindavan Gardens is denied. I thought it is one of those normal checking to find some fault and earn few pennies, but I was astounded with the happening. The constable explained the driver and the inspector that, our cab crossed the yellow line in the middle of the road. The driver was saying that our cab didn’t cross and defending that there was no fault from his side. Immediately, the constable took the camcorder and shown us the picture of our cab crossing the yellow line and violating the traffic rules. It went on as usual, with driver justifying his act and all. Finally the police warned and let us free. But the camcorder part of the scene was something unexpected from the Indian traffic police, in Mysore.

We continued our travel, reaching Brindavan Gardens at the dusk. This garden lies adjacent to the Krishnaraja Sagar dam on river Cauvery. There was a huge crowd. The lighting of the garden begins normally at 7.00 PM and lasts till 8.55 PM. I understood that everyone at this point of time, didn’t want to go back without watching the beautiful lighting. Hence the traffic was one way. At the entrance was a tall guy, who seemed to earn his livelihood, using the gift of God (height), for posing with visitors. I had to attend my stomach’s call with something to munch, as I didn’t provide him with milk in the evening. We except my father-in-law, took Aloo vada and Bhel Puri. It was a normal garden alongside the dam (like the one in Mazhampuzha). I was not much interested while my wife was very much. I felt that the Lalbagh near my home (one of the big botanical gardens in India) was much better than this one. It had a big channel of water flowing from top of the garden with very colourful lighting. We climbed to the top. As my in-laws were waiting for the lighting, my wife and I went further up to see the magnificent dam and it catchment area. It had so much water like an ocean due to heavy rains last month. We came down rejoicing the colorful lighting.

As we were approaching the entrance, my wife wanted to go to the other side of the garden separated by a water channel. There were boat services and a kilometer wide bridge connecting the two gardens. Her father and I rejected the idea as it was already 8 PM, her parents were tired and it would take another hour for us to leave. She kept insisting strongly and finally was so disappointed to board the cab instead of boat. She was so silent to show her disagreement. But we had no reason to reject her idea except for time. Finally her father broke the ice on the way back, saying sorry and justified the act. I was looking for a good restaurant in the city to have dinner, as my wife was not satisfied with the lunch we had in the hotel where we stayed. But we didn’t come across any good one before we reached the hotel, disappointing my wife again. We wanted to have something different. So, in addition to the normal dosa, we ordered for a new dish “Guliyappa”. It took a long time to arrive. During the course of our dinner, we were discussing about our next day, rather my father-in-law was telling us how he wanted the next day to be. As it was getting late for our special dish to arrive, my in-laws took leave. Then my wife consoled me that her father was not like this before and it was due to age. Agreeing to that we completed the new dish, as the waiter explained us how to make the dish.

Day 2
Departure from Mysore
We had a good sleep the previous night due to lot of traveling. We had our breakfast in the same hotel, settled the expenditures and set off at 7.30 AM. Our next stop was very near by inside the city limits. My in-laws wished to visit Sri Ramakrishna Mutt, which we noticed yesterday on the way to Brindavan Gardens. Mutt was so beautiful, and filled with nature and peace in the early morning. After spending few minutes here, we set off again in the same direction as of Brindavan Gardens.

We took village roads as they are shorter. There were a lot of state transport buses with banners of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and few state congress leaders running in the opposite direction. We were even put to think that entire state transport buses were diverted here. Later we came to know that there was a congress meeting in Bangalore that day attended by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.

The roads were very poor at few places and worst after K R Nagar till Hampapura due to rain. Roads were under construction. After this was a good 2 lane highway. One thing that impressed me during this entire trip was the quality of roads. Except for few patches during this session the rest of the roads were so good that it was easy to travel at a speed of 100 Km/Hr. This was an impossible speed few years back on Indian roads. I m happy that India is developing, rather Indian roads are developing irrespective of the ruling party, especially after the last BJP rule when Golden Quadrilateral and other such express highway projects were initiated. Apart from the roads, almost the entire region was dry and barren, with less vegetation and poor development. For long stretches there were no big towns. I saw people still ploughing very small areas of their land manually, near Doranahalli. I wondered whether the development of this state is limited only to few places like Bangalore, Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli and Belgaum, concentrating a lot on IT centres, leaving rest of the state behind.

Sharavanbelagola
After our driver had his breakfast at Holenarisipura, we took a diversion to the right from the highway to Shravanbelagola. This was road was again a very poor village metal road, filled with agricultural lands and coconut farms on both sides. Betel trees were in abundance in this region which I used as a botanical sample to show my wife. There was no traffic at all, except for the share autos running between villages. After more than half and hour of travel on this road, we reached Bangalore – Mangalore national highway when I came to know that Sharavanbelagola was not anywhere in those village roads. From here we had to travel another 11 Km to reach the exact place. The roads and the place were well maintained with lot of sign boards on hotels and the monolithic statue. We got down just at the entrance of the hill. It was a steep rocky hill over which was a Jain temple with a huge monolithic statue of Lord Gomateshwara with a height of 18m. Footwear was not allowed on top of the hill. Sun was scorching as we reached this place. We got a pair of socks for my wife with which she can climb without getting her foot burnt. My in-laws denied not to come up, seeing the height of the hill. My mother-in-law was in dilemma, but decided to sit back. My wife and I started cimbing with enthusiasm which was lost after 200 steps. My wife as usual, didn’t have stamina and lost all her energy when 100 steps were left to be climbed. She sat in a shelter where many people were resting. I had to encourage her for at least 10 to 15 minutes to make her climb the rest of the hill. We faced the same situation when we climbed Gaumukh in Mount Abu, year back as a newly married couple. That scene was flashing in my mind. The top of the hill had a temple, with Lord Gomateshwara in nude standing posture, surrounded by 24 Thirtankaras. We were unable to appreciate this statue as it was covered by scaffolding and cleaning was in progress, leaving few parts of the statue exposed. My wife was telling me that, the Shiva statue in Bangalore (Airport road) was more beautiful than this. I had no chance of visiting that temple till then. Still I tried to convince her that this is a monolithic statue, where as that would have been made of brick and cement, which was much easier, compared to this. Even though I understood that the symmetry was to be appreciated in this piece of architecture, I was not entirely impressed by this ancient architecture.

We started to return back in the same route on our way to Belur and Halebid. We had our lunch at Channarayapatna in a restaurant which seemed to be the best in that small town. We had the so called north Indian meal in the so called air conditioned room without A/C.

Halebid
We reached Halebid via Hassan. Everyone in the car was fast asleep as soon as we set off from Channarayapatna except driver and me in the front. The hilly terrain landscape after Hassan, was so aesthetic. It was covered with green all over. The weather enhanced this beauty. We took a diversion from highway to a village road at Heggere. Halebid was a remote place 10Km from highway, where there was nothing except the monument. As soon as we reached Halebid, it started showering. My wife and my in-laws enjoyed the shower along with tea in a small mobile tea shop, while I had tender coconut. As we were approaching the entrance, the shower turned to be a heavy downpour. Our experience in Bangalore for the last 6 months, made us bring the umbrella with us. My in-laws protected them with that umbrella, while my wife and I enjoyed the touch of rain water. We continued further without caring much for the rain.

Halebid was once the capital city of Hoysalas. The temple monument here was a display of the Hoysala architecture. This was built in 12th and 13th century. The temple wall had miniature art sculptures of various things like dancing girls, Gods, Goddesses, war scenes, animals etc.., and similar work beautified the inner walls and roof tops. There were 2 garbhagrihas for Lord Shiva and 2 Nandis outside the shrine. Almost 80 percent of the sculptures on the outer wall were destroyed during the invasions. There were statues of Ganesha and Gomateshwara on the periphery. There was also a collection of statues, pictures and antiques on the side of the temple, which lies unnoticed by visitors.

Belur
It was already nearing dusk as we finished around Halebid. We were in hurry to reach Belur. In the next half an hour, we reached the Channakesava temple in Belur. Belur seemed to be a big town and gateway to the mountain towns in the Western Ghats.
Belur was a similar architectural work as Halebid displaying Hoysala style. This was a big Vishnu temple. It had a big courtyard in the front. There was a tall pillar (about 40 ft) just placed without cementing or any other holding structure. The art and sculptures were intact and un-destroyed, unlike Halebid. This was a superset of Hoysala art work. The garbhagriha and the platform on which garbhagriha was located, was star shaped. There were varieties of dancing girls with different outfits. Various avatars of Vishnu, Various mythical stories were explained by sculptures. Row of identical elephants was displayed all around the outer wall of the garbhagriha. Inside the temple were many different pillars. Each pillar amazed me, as they were grinded as if lathe were invented centuries back.

Both these places made us think that not only the architect of those days was skillful, but also the workforce. Each workman should have added value by his own, in addition to the ideas of the chief architect. The entire work is a proof of this fact. This is another architectural work of ancient India, to be seen by any traveler interested in art and architecture newly added to my list consisting of Avudaiyar Koil near Pudukkottai, Brihadeswara temple in Tanjore, Nataraja temple in Chidambaram, Temples in Kancheepuram and Kumbakkonam, Dilwara jain temple in Mount Abu, Moghul architectures in and around Delhi.

Return journey to Bangalore
We started around 6.30 PM from Belur. We had few snacks on the way, which we took along with us from home. Then, my wife and I were playing 20 questions to pass time. This is played like one person has to think of a person in mind. The other person asks 20 questions, while the first person only replies with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. After 20 questions, the other person should guess the name of the person. This was a great way of passing time till we broke our journey at 9 PM for dinner. Everyone was asleep after dinner till Bangalore. This part of the journey was at a little higher speed to reach Bangalore in time. We reached Bangalore at 11.30 PM. My in-laws were so tired that they slept immediately, while we spent few time in preparing for the next morning and slept.

We had a feeling of satisfaction that we were able to cover the entire route as we planned. The only thing we would like to do is to make a trip again to Halebid and Belur to visit the place leisurely, with guide assistance.

Note: Everything that is written above is from my perception of the things that I saw and need not necessarily agree with anyone else. The measurements are from various other sources and need not necessarily be true.