0 Varavi Siddeshwara Temple and Waterfalls, Yekkeri

I was not sure what to expect when Ningappa suggested Varavi Siddeshwara Kolavi but I felt I would see something special. Shankrappa Megappa Kumbhar the pot-maker of Hooli agreed to accompany us. The drive was a short one- Hooli > Hoolikatti > Yekkeri -less than 10km. The last one kilometer was dusty dirt track. As we neared our destination the path was just wide enough for one four-wheeler flanked by Honge trees (Derris india, Pongamila pinnata), rock hill to our left and a stream on the right. The road ended where it met the stream, we left the car under the tree and went by foot.

The stream, at this time of year barely flows but there is enough water for cattle to take a midday dip. We were entering a gully between two rock hills, packed with trees, mainly Honge trees. We were greeted by a herd of cows, buffaloes, few boys and women.


Buffaloes are pretty sensitive and were alert at the sight of strangers, especially urbanites. The honge shade relieved us from the heat radiated by the blazing Sun.


Do watch the video.



A waterfall would dominate this place between June and December and we would have very less place to walk in this valley-stream bed.


That's the temple, right next to the falls. The temple is actually a narrow gap in the rocks. Walls with a gate were made to keep monkeys away from the temple. Surely they would relieve pilgrims of their pooja stuff like coconuts and bananas.


Lord Ganesha.


This little cave temple has three Shivalingas of which two are definitely ancient and the third one looks new to me. This one is enclosed in four walls.


Aum Namah Shivaya.


Its rare to see twin Basavannas.


Outside, we look at the way we came. It's a paradise!


Walking on the rock strewn stream bed demands effort.


Shankara climbs up a rock face and I follow him up. Ningappa is worried about me, kept warning me that the rocks could be slippery. There we are; bird's eye view of the valley.


And that's where water from the hills dives down. My mind is made up to visit again sometime August or September this year.


Ascending is easy but descending is dicey. With my two cameras, it was a circus, I had to squat down couple of times.


We approached a herd of sheep. As I was trying to get a shot the herdsman offered to show his best ram and sheep.


The one holding the ram is Sangappa Bhimappa Yergatti, the boy in white is his son, the man in all white is Sangappa's brother and boy in blue shirt is Sanpappa's nephew.


When I promised to send this picture, Sangappa said "please send the picture, we'll frame it and display it at home. We'll remember you..." It'll be a crime if I did not keep up with the promise.

One last look at Onge before we leave Yekkeri.


Varavi Siddeshwara Coordinates: 15°49'6"N 75°9'37"E

May first week I posted two copies of the picture, I hope they've reached Sangappa and his kin.

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Detail: Varavi Siddeshwara Temple and Waterfalls, Yekkeri

0 Parasgad Fort

...driving from Aminbhavi, as we neared Saundatti, we could see Yellammanagudda to our right. The fort sits on the top with a portion of the wall right on the edge. I was thinking of taking a right towards of the base of the hill and climb up instead we stopped to check the correct approach... go to Saundatti, go towards Yellamma temple and ask for helipad, the fort is close to the helipad. Perfect directions.

We had but tickets @ 2 per head. We were welcomed by the couple of black-faced monkeys leaping around. The fort is in ruins. The place does attract visitors, mostly pilgrims to visit a spring pond just outside the fort on the other side ...the side we saw from Aminbhavi-Saundatti road. I missed taking pictures of the enterance... you'll have to manage with this video.

...past the twisty gateway designed to slow down movement.


Inside it's open ground and few partly standing walls. We followed the heavily tread path...


This image of Lord Hanuman is unique. I've never seen anything like this before. Three teenage boys were the only other visitors other. They were chatting away non-stop, just like us, I could not make out the tongue they spoke. Chetan told me it was Pategari, a mix of Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Lamani and few words of their own.


Little further the path goes down hill gradually and we enter a shallow rocky valley. The Pategar boys stop, waiting for us to take the lead. They were scared of a bunch of red-faced monkeys.


This was one the most friendly of the lot. He was chewing away some sort of grass trying to quench his thirst from the moisture in it.

Someone remarked his haircut is stylish. The gateway in the background is the most intact part of this fort. This the path down the hill to the base.


The western sky. Middle of the picture is the Aminbhavi-Saundatti road.


Shri Yamanuru Raja Baksha Devastana. Get blessings. We did not go in but we could see a small pool of water. The place stank of bat droppings.


We were on a narrow ledge with a 20 feet fall. The rock overhang was a good shelter for soldiers guarding the fort's gateway. The place gave a good view of the surrounding plains and the approach to the hill.


The only bastion sitting on the edge.




Neelkant, Chetan and Veeresh.


We could see a small temple further down the stairway but we chose to skip it and turn back.


Pategar boys stuck to us until we were out of the monkey's domain. We devited from the regular path and climbed up the step like rock formations.


We were inspecting a fort within a fort. The structure is an enclosure with four bastions connected by four walls. As you see it's crumbling away.


We took the narrow gateway out and few steps ahead Veeresh spotted a snake skin ...completely intact. We could make out the eyes also.


Check out this video, it's interesting to see Veeresh lifting the snake-skin.

It's still at our office.

The bastions of Parasgad fort.


There are few things we did miss seeing ...the temple and the spring pond on the western side. Hope to visit again.

We moved on to Hooli from here, the last destination of the day.

Parasgad Fort coordinates: 15°44'21"N 75°7'42"E

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Detail: Parasgad Fort

0 Day out at Saundatti

I was disturbed with some happenings at office. I wanted to go out and clear my mind of all thoughts ...something like clearing history and cookies from a browser. I was done with my routine Sunday morning chores by 10. I packed my camera, two bottles of water and a pack of cookies (real cookies). I was dilly-dallying between Hebbali and Saundatti. I had heard that Hebballi is filled with ancient temples. Again I was confused if it was Hebballi or Shivalli. I thought Mohan mama, my mom's brother could clarify my doubts. Mohan mama was not sure. I decided to head towards Saundatti. As I was about to leave Suresh mama turned up, another maternal uncle. I asked him to join if he was free. Yes.

We drove past Inamhongal, Aminbhavi, Harobelvadi... I neither saw much sowing activity nor fields with tender green rows of newly sprouted plants. Lack of rains had delayed much of sowing activity. I wish it rained for farmers' sake. We drove past Saundatti up the rocky hill road, then the flat stretch on the rocky plateau. It was quite windy up here. Soon the temple was in our view, in the shallow valley to our right. Straight ahead was a larger valley. The hill on the other side of the valley was covered with windmills.

We got two coconuts, incense sticks, turmeric and vermilion ...offering for the Goddess.



I avoid crowded places, temples included, but I do not know what made me visit Yellamma temple. We bought special tickets Rs.20 each and stood in the line waiting for our turn for a view of the gharbha gudi sanctum sanctorum. I noticed a 3' x 2' board with two images of a man with palms together and some lines of Kannada text. The board explained the proper way of doing 'namaskara' in two steps and the benefits of doing so. When palms are joined together the thumbs have to be slightly away from the index fingers.

Step 1 - Bend neck & head slightly forward with palms at the forehead level. Stay in this position for 2 minutes (not sure about the duration).

Step 2 - Bring down palms down to chest level, neck & head still bent forward. Stay in this position for a minutes (again not sure about the duration).

These two positions are supposed to direct cosmic energy to our body and helps the body absorb it fully. I was really happy to see this board. Appreciate the person who conceived the idea of educating people in spirituality. If photography was permitted I would have snapped it. Normally one can see boards with a list of different poojas with prices for each of them. Madness!

We got Devi's Darshana, I did step 2 namaskara. We went around the temple ...on the sticky oil coated terrace.



Went to another smaller temple close by.





On the way back to the car park a local woman with a cane basket in her arms was peddling food- jolada rotti, chatni, palya, mosaru. I was tempted to try but resisted the temptation. We did not go back the way we came but took the other road to Saundatti which passes by the reservoir.

Driving downhill, we saw the reservoir filled to it's brim. We stopped at a junction; straight ahead to Saundatti and right turn to Gokak and Navilteerth. I asked mama if he had visited Navilteerth Dam. No. We decided to check out the place. A kilometer up th road, we took the left fork, towards Gokak. We could see a hill range ahead of us with more windmills turning gracefully. As we drove closer, we realized how huge each of the windmills were. I was toying with idea of climbing the hill and a get a closer look at the windmills...

Navilteerth Dam Gate. We were not sure if public was allowed in. A local confirmed visitors were allowed. We drove down the narrow road, parked close to the gate, bought handful nerelehannu from a hawker, they seem to have a cooling effect in warm weather. They tasted great! Wind was blowing from the reservoir on our left. We walked down the path, we saw some families picnicking, few young couples trying to get some time for themselves but the dam was not in sight. We walked down some steps and there was the little dam.


A typical 70s construction, this brought back my childhood memories of a visit to Lakkavalli Dam when we lived in Bhadravathi. I learnt that Navilatirtha is said to be where Mahatapasvi Shri Kumarswamiji meditated in 1932. I remember seeing the Swamiji sometime 1984 or 1985 at the ashram Tapovan, Dharwad.




Of the 4 gates, one was open letting out a steady stream of water which flows into the narrow valley beyond our sight.


On the way back we checked out some old construction equipment. Looks like a mortar mixer and tar heater.



I liked this place. We decided to head back towards Saundatti. Near the gate I noticed a old vehicles; roadroller, tipper and a bus.






We drove back to Saundatti, visited the fort, it's more of a children's park inside. At the peak is Kadsiddeshwara Temple.








We spend about 20 minutes, got bored and decided to head back to Dharwad.

Even though cookies were cleared my mind was still disturbed. The problem was more like a virus, it required some amount of action...

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Detail: Day out at Saundatti