0 Ramteerth revisited Part 2

We climbed a shikaraless temple's stone walls to get a better view of the surroundings.

The Shiva Linga within the walls. The circle looks perfect and design symmetric. I wonder how artists of those days achieved such precision. We got down and Veeresh got busy looking for something ...he would not tell us what.


South-eastern view of the temple.


I was lucky to even get this shot ...would not rest for more then a second at any spot. Kept fluttering around.


Life in a row ...these holes could be for breaking the rock into pieces with straight edges. Probably to be used for the half done smaller temple on which we had climbed.


While i was exploring, Veeresh was busy scribbling away on the rock. He must've spent a good 20 minutes writing... I got curious.


"Art work by Veeresh" was added below the date. It's a work of art indeed. Looks like J is about to swallow O. :)


From here, the surface sloped downwards and then a sudden 20 feet drop, and slopes down again towards a jungle covered valley ...that;s on the right.


Towards the left; more paddy fields. We went back up to the lizard face rock where Veeresh was leaving our team signature. We climbed it, being the highest point of the hill, we got a good view.


Temple from top of the rock. We must've stayed up there for about ten minutes. One by one we climbed down...


but Veeresh was still there. We asked is we should send him kaavi and kamadalu. He can stay up there and become a Swamiji chanting Om Namah Shivaya. I think it was Chetan who remarked he can say Ojoino Namaha instead!


Chetan and Neelaknt were brave enough to stand on loose rock on the overhang.


We took a different way back to the temple ...south-western view.


Colors and texture of dragonfly and rock match so well. Here we spoke about dragonflies' similarity to helicopters. How you could make them lift pebbles when you hold them by their wings.


Chetan spotted this butterfly and both of us approached it very slowly to get closeup
shots. The butterfly did not budge ...we guessed it's time must be up. Its wings look battered, may be it's just awaiting it's end.


This dragonfly reminds me of Rayban glasses with amber tint.


Veeresh becomes Manninamaga- son of the soil. I wanted few plants to take.


Chetan and Neel also joined. All set to become mannina makkalu. We stopped plucking when we had a handful.


This picture is a good picture for a birthday or love you card.


The sun was up and the soil had dried. it was so much easier walking now. We saw short and tall varieties of paddy.

The last leg of our trek back the car.



From here we drove to Sangolli Rayanna's memorial at Nandagadh. All we could see either side of the 4km drive was paddy fields. Rice seems to be a major produce in this part of Belgaum district.

Coordinates: 15°31'51"N 74°34'26"E

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Detail: Ramteerth revisited Part 2

0 Ramteerth revisited Part 1

My last visit was on Sankranthi, sometime January or February. It was my wish to see Ramteerth just after rainy season.

We met at my place by 5-30AM. Drive on NH4 was a breeze... At Kotur I mentioned about a dhaba popular with truckers. Veeresh wanted to stop there on the way back. He was already thinking about lunch! From Kittur to Bidi it was slow because of road condition. After Bidi the road to Halasi was in good condition. By 7-15 we were at the trial to Ramteerth. I parked the car under a mango tree and we were all set to go.


That's our destination... hill top temple amidst paddy fields and jungle.


Barely 100 meters into our trek, Veeresh said he was hungry. He wished we had brought guavas. I told him we had bread and jam, and we'll be having breakfast at the temple.


We were walking on narrow foot-paths which are actually mud retaining walls to hold water. We had to look before stepping...


Neel got a call from one of his relatives.


A farmer on his morning inspection round.


We found this butterfly... hmm.. is it a moth? Wings look so leathery.


Another farmer heading home with fodder for his cattle. We had to bend down to let him pass. Just behind him is the border between paddy-fields and the hill.


This leaf looked like a giant elaichi fruit.


An abandoned quarry... patches of red is some kind of plant grown in gaps in the rocks.


A spiderweb which held three leaves together.


I asked these guys to imitate poses in cinema posters.


A weaver bird nest. Just below this tress we found a foot long cucumber... Chetan had called it boodakumbalkayi...white pumpkin. Veeresh wanted to cut it open. We had to stop him... some farmer might have kept it here to take it home. I guess Veeresh was really hungry.


I found the color and texture combination irresistible. I just took a shot.


Check out the look in the myna's eye. It took off just after this shot. Did not give me another chance. Little further ahead, at a fork in the path, we took left. A furlong down the path, I had a feeling we were not on the right path... Veersh mentioned we were going down hill instead of climbing. We turned back, found the fork...


We were climbing again.


I let these guys go ahead and took a short break. The jungle seemed to stretch till the horizon.


These rocks looked like seats arranged for a meeting.


A colony of ant homes? Normally they live in one big home...


I wonder why paddy in one field are in different color ...green and cream. Green plants are still tender while cream colored ones are almost ready for harvest.


Temple Shikara... I was also hungry now.


Chetan spotted this butterfly. The most beautiful butterfly of the day.


That's Ugranarasimha watching over the hills, jungles and fields below. I washed my feet, plucked some flowers and kept them on the Shiva Linga in the garbhagudi. We settled down on the temple benches and spread out two loaves of bread and a 500g jar of mixed fruit jam ...Mala's. I actually liked the picture on the bottle and decided to buy it instead of Kissan jam. We had paper plates and a spoon. I spread jam over the slices and made sandwiches. We had a filling breakfast. We packed up and decided to go exploring.

...will continue next post. I had to split this visit into two posts because I wanted to share all 40 pictures selected out of 100 odd pictures.

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Detail: Ramteerth revisited Part 1

0 Ramtheerth

From Halasi; a short drive on a dirt track, I turned right into a mango garden and parked the car. From here I had to walk. Not a soul around. I could see the rock hill with a little temple sitting on it's top. I wanted to find out the path leading to the temple. I ran into a ittangi bhatti ...a brick yard.


I found a family who lived here. I wonder if this little house is cool inside. These people pointed out the path and asked me if I was not worried about going alone. I said I'm used to going around by myself.


The path snaked through a paddy field then through woods with patches of dirt and rocky surfaces, shady and sunny, went though a almost dry stream bed. I imagined how it would be trek here in rainy seasons. I heard many bird but saw few ...difficult to spot them in the foliage. I saw one bird about the size of a robin with long tail feathers ...gave me no chance to shoot.


Rocks here are granite ...being quarried. Man just cannot let nature alone.

This seems like a little temple made by quarry workers.


I must have walked for about 20 minutes to reach the temple atop the rock hill. As you see it's a temple made of roughly finished stones.


Water was not inviting, in fact the pond looked scary with it's dark green slimy water. Little frogs scampered across the pond.


As I went closer to the temple, I heard a voice ...mantras being chanted. I stepped into the temple, found a man snoring away in bliss. Inside the sanctum sanctorum two elderly men were going through a ritual of Shivalinga Pooja. It was Makar Sankranti; I guess these men were offering special pooja.




A smaller, roofless structure housed this Shiva Linga.


This rock looks like a lizard head


and a tortoise head from here.



The place was silent and a light breeze helped take the heat away. I wanted to explore more but I had to be back in Dharwad. I've made up my mind to visit this place some time September 2010 ...by which the place should be green and fresh.



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Detail: Ramtheerth