Goddess Kabbalamma! @ 'Kabbal Durga'

Friday evening.. 5pm.. & I was in thoughts of going to some trek trails.... as it was several months ago I trekked last. That is when I decided to trek 'Kabbal Durga'  through Bangalore Adventures group. As I called Aruna - organiser , I got to know there was one seat left , so I immediately enrolled for it.
         It was planned to go by car , as there only five members. So Saturday early  morning  I joined Aruna near Marathalli around 6:45AM & other members joined at various spots enroute Kanakpura Road.   Kabbaldurga is a hillock ,  in the village of Kabbal which is around 20 Kms from Kanakapura and is home to the temple of Goddess Kabbalamma,  To reach here , you need to take right diversion from 'Sathnuru' village on Kanakpura  Road.  We had breakfast in Kanakpura & by around 9:30AM we were in Kabbal  village.  There is temple of Goddess Kabbalamma in the village , just besides that the trail of trekking starts

Trek Begins

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View from base village

         We started to ascend immediately, it was quite sunny.  The trail is quite steep at places & also need to be careful at some spots where on one side there are 70/80 degree slopes. As we continued to ascend  we had chit-chats on various topics including trekking experiences of everyone.

Carvings in the rock

We were there at the top around 11:45AM & the breeze we experienced there was just awesome.  There is small temple at the top & some  ruins of ancient fort. We explored around , enjoying surrounding views from every corner of top & had some photosession :-) ..  

Temple at the top

Temple at the top

Selfie with DSLR :-)

ruins of ancient fort

  

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            Interestingly  we saw many small stackings of small rocks.  The devotess who visit here believe that , if someone do this stacking & make a wish , there wish comes true .. Nevertheless there were jokes cracked on that... as we saw one tall rock stacking , we thought it must be done by some software engineer who must have wished of going onsite for longer duration time.. :-) :-)

Faith :  Rock stackings infront of temple at the top                 

Unfortunately we had not got packed lunch in the morning , but I had some backup food, which we all enjoyed there.  And then started to descend , which was little bit tricky as it was quite sharp. We comfortably reached base village around 2:30PM.  

  
After this we headed towards famous Shivsamudrum falls.  Everybody was hungry , so we had lunch at KSTDC hotel nearby at Shivsamudrum falls.
After that we enjoyed viewing this beautiful falls , though now it is prohibited to enter the waterfalls. After spending some time there, we started to return around 6PM & reached Banagalore by 8PM.. only to be welcomed by world famous Banaglore traffic :-)
                          
In summary it was nice day out in the lap of nature... 

Shivsamudrum falls

   
             

Kabbalamma,kabbaldurga,kanakpura,Shivsamudrum falls,

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Har Har Gange .. Shiva Ganga Hills

My trekking instincts were once again forcing me to trek somewhere  & same time got to know about trek arranged by BASC (Bangalore Ascenders)  , so immediately enrolled for it.  We  around 10 folks were ready to exlpore this popular trekking-cum-religious destination on bright sunday morning of January month.    

                We gathered at Majestic railway station & boarded  Hublli passenger around 8AM.  Crowd was Ok in  train & we managed to get the seats. As per BASC traditions ,we started to have introductions  in train itself. It was fun.  At around 9:30 , we alighted at Dobbaspet station & took small six-seater to reach at the base of Shiva Ganga Hills. 

              Shiva Ganga Hills is a hillock in the small town Dobbaspet ,  located about 60km from Banagalore , around 8km from Tumkur.  The hillock  is shaped as a shivalingam and a small spring flows nearby , which  is called as "Ganga" by local people & hence the name  "Shiva Ganga Hills".

 There are numerous temples situated along the route & also on the top.  Also if observed carefully , hills looks like a ‘Shiva Linga’ when seen from one of the sides.

               After having breakfast to satiate the hunger , we were ready to climb the hill.  There are defined steps & entrance door from where you need to start the climb.  You can see plenty of Nandi statues & Gopuras.   The surrounding areas around the hill , looks more beautiful as you go up higher levels.  

                                                     

'Balancing Act'

        

Enroute there is interesting temple called as ‘Olakala Teertha’.  There is a small hole inside here. When someone puts their hand inside and if that person finds water then he has done good deeds & he  is a good person and vice versa.  I could touch the water :-)  Actually  water is present at deep levels , one has to put whole hand ..so that is the trick :-)   Temple is carved inside the hill, so it is very hot inside & also very narrow path , so you need to literally  bend & them move at some points inside the temple.

Big Statue of Shiv-Parvati 

 Final part of the climb

    After this we continued to ascend towards top.  The final part of the climb is very steep & difficult one and to add to that there is monkey menace , who will try to attack you for food. So it becomes adventure :-) Thankfully there are safety railing installed , so it is manageable to all age group of people. 

By the time we reached top  it was around lunch time.  First we explored some of the spots/temple. One of the main temple  is Gavigangadhareshwara Temple. It is a famous temple. Gavi (kannada word) means cave. As the temple is situated within a cave like structure it is called as Gavigangadhareshwara. The devotees who visits this temple  bring along with them the ghee to offer to Lord Shiva.

  

There is also one Nandi statue at the top , situated on small isolated hillock , which  connects to main  Shiva Ganga Hills. 

At the Top

The Team

 Nandi statue at the top

After exploring all the things we decided to have lunch , which everyone had brought alongwith themselves.  The whole Lunch time turned out to eventful -thanks to Monkey business :-).  It was next to impossible to sit at one place , as Monkeys were constantly trying to snatch the food.  So we decided to have lunch in two groups , one by one :-)   So while one group took lunch, other group protected them from Monkeys by shooing away them.. 

I would never forget that LUNCH. :-)

We had some time gossiping out there

  Dobbaspet station 

We started to descend at around  3pm .  Descend was quite easy one  & enjoying breathtaking views around the hills  , we were at the base by 4pm.  

We replenished ourself with "yellneeru" (means tender coconut water in kannada)  & boarded the six seater to catch the  passenger train from 

Dobbaspet station & we reached back to banagalore by 6pm ,, with lots of Memories of an truly eventful day.   

I would strongly recommend  Shiva Ganga Hills for joyful one day outing !

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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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