Humcha - Jain Pilgrimage Place and Achakanya Waterfalls

It was long weekend of 15th Aug and this time we had planned to visit Humcha , a relatively lesser known tourist spot  , but very famous religious place for Jain community. I was not that much keen on it , but on insistence of elder people from home , I agreed. Anyway I was wanted to go on long car drive  in some scenic area & what better place than Shimoga district...  so my purpose was solved :)

     

     Let me first give some information about this place,.. situated in Shimoga district  of Karnataka state of India , Humcha is home to very old  Jain temple of Goddess Padmavati . Jain devotees of this holy place are everywhere throughout India and also in foreign countries. Humcha is also called as Humbaj or Hamchawadi  & was founded in 7th century by Jinadattacharya, a founder of Santhara dynasty.  There are also other well-known sites in Humcha , which are of great historical and cultural heritages .. 

We started on 15th Aug morning , around 8AM , from Bangalore & took NH4 route towards Tumkur. Leaving the NH4 , just before Tumkur , we took Tumkur-bypass route , & got on state highway (SH) 206 .  Following tumkur -Gubbi--> Tiptur-->Arisikere-->Kadur-->Tarikere--> Bahdravati--> Shimoga route , we reached Shimoga by 4PM.  The complete  route has two way traffic, but driving on smooth road with  scenery on both sides of road, was great experience.  From Shimoga you need to take Sagar Road. (You need not to enter Shimoga city , as there is bypass route ). Taking diversion at Ayanur on sagar road , we enjoyed the travel in dense forest of Shettihalli wildlife sanctuary & reached 'Ripponmet'.  From here turning right we reached Humcha at about 6pm.
               
      It was really cool climate of typical rainy season. We 1st checked for accommodation. Since is is very small town, there are no private hotels , but temple trust provides basic accommodation in "Dharmashala" built close to temple , at very nominal charges . But since it was long weekend  , that too in Indian holy month of "Shravana" , many jain devotees , from various parts of India , had gathered. So we had some trouble in getting accommodation.  There is ample parking in front of accommodation, We quickly put out luggage in room & headed to have food , as you won't get food after 6:30 in evening. As per jain religion , one should have dinner before sunset , & same is followed by temple trust. Food is very basic rice & "sambar" - but it had awesome taste. Rooms are very basic too , with one bed.
       
         Next day we had Darshan of Padmavati Devi in temple , for which jain devotees throng Humcha town in large numbers.  There are 24 "Tirthankar"s  in Jain religion. "Parshwanath" is one of them & if you observe the Parshwanath's statue , you will oberve he is being guarded by two snakes. So these two snakes are nothing but Goddess Padmavati & God Dharnendra.  There was some king who travelled from north of India , to the south & when he came in Humcha & then Goddess Padmavati came in his dream & asked to setup this town of Humcha & build a temple.
        
There are quite a few interesting things around Padmavati Devi temple.  There is one tree , locally called 'Lakki tree' , which is ,300-year-aged & is said to be immortal.

 'Lakki tree'

After having nice darshan of Padmavati Devi , we visited nearby ancient Jain Basadi , that belongs to 10th century AD which was constructed in the Chaukyan style and known as "Panchkuta Basadi". This Basadi has been constructed with five cells, all in a row which has a shared navaranga as well as an open Mukhamantapa. You can find a verandah all round the temple.

Main entrance of  "Panchkuta Basadi"

"Panchkuta Basadi" temple premises..

"Panchkuta Basadi" temple premises..

There are many statues of various Jain Gods in "Panchkuta Basadi" temple premises..

Pillar erected in front of temple

The main attraction of this Basadi is a Pillar erected in front of this Basadi. Manastambha which is an impressive monolithic pillar, this pillar is a masterpiece of work with rich carvings. This attractive pillar has been erected on a high platform comprised of three levels. The base one has four elephants at the four corners plus four more on the cardinal points. Lions in various postures are carved in-between these elephants. Ashta dikpalas along with all their followers as well as musicians are carved in the second level.

high platform comprised of three levels

Nearby there is also beautiful lake called as "Moti kere".

"Moti kere" Lake

Then we had lunch &  decided to explore something outside Humcha.
1st destination we decided to reach is "Ambuteerth" which is origin on "Sharavati" river (On which famous "Jog falls" is formed) .

This place is about 12 km from Humcha. This route from Humcha to "Ambuteerth" goes through dense forest & is very scenic.. In fact we saw two beautiful blue peacocks crossing the road in front of our car.. you can observe village life , through small houses that are there on this route.

It is said that , god "Ram" shot at the ground with his Ambu (meaning : bow & arrow) because his wife, Sita, was thirsty . When his arrow hit the ground, water poured out and quenched her thirst. Because the river, originated with this event, the river is called "Sharavathi" as "Shara" translates to arrow. There is nice Ram temple & the actual spot from where water come out is just in front of statue of God Ram.

Ram temple

Small lake in from of Ram temple in "Ambuteerth"

Achakanya waterfalls ; one of the less explored waterfalls which is formed by river Sharavati , is not too far from this place ..just around 7/8kms.. so we reached there in around 1/2 hrs.. You need to come 1st to Aralasurali village & then from there take diversion. It is very muddy road on this diversion . We checked with locals for directions to waterfall; as we were inside dense forest.


It is little hard to locate waterfall , we somehow managed as we could saw couple of tourist cars. I would recommend to take some local from Aralasurali village with you for safe side.

The access to warterfall is also tricky one & one need to be careful on the slippery patches. There were hardly 3/4 people. We enjoyed to the fullest in the cold waters of waterfall & what a refreshing experience it was !

'Achakanya' waterfalls 

It was around 5 pm & then we headed back to Humcha & then had nice dinner in Humcha temple trust. Next day we started early around 7 AM to return . In return journey we entered Tumkur town to have lunch & then reached Bangalore around 5PM ... off course, with lot of great memories of quality time spent with family !!!

       

'Achakanya' waterfalls,Ambuteerth,Goddess Padmavati,Humcha,Moti kere,Padmavati,Panchkuta Basadi,Ram temple,Sharavathi,

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