Vacation part 2 - Trip

Simsha

On Saturday, my parents, my mom's brothers and kids went on a trip.

We first went to the water falls called Bluff. Its also called the Sivana Samudra (Simsa). There are two water falls beside each other, Gaganachkki and some other chukki. There was no water in one fall and the other one was looking like a leak from a tap!

All of us were feeling totally dejected. Then, we went to Talakadu. This was an amazing place.


Talakadu

It is on the banks of Kaveri. Generally, the river banks are rocky or covered by mud. In this place, there is sand. It almost looks like a sea beach! The explanation for this was provided by a guide (its a myth rather than an explanation).


There was a governor of the city of Talakadu in ancient time. He used to report to the Mysore King. He and his wife were great devotees of the Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangapattana. On all important occasions, he and his wife used to visit the temple and decorate the idol with lot of ornaments and offer prayers.

The governor fell ill and died. The king of Mysore sent his soldiers to collect the ornaments. His belief was that the pryers shold not stop due to the death of the governor. The widow mistook the intentions. She felt the king was a very mean guy who had sent the soldiers to usurp and steal the ornaments and the property. So, she took the jewels and tied it in a cloth. She dropped it into the river. Then, she heaped three curses:

1. Mavalli madilagali (Mavalli will become a whirlpool. It's a point in the river Kaveri)
2. Talakadu maralagali (Talakadu will become sand)
3 Mysorina Maharajarige makaalagadhirali (Mysore Maharaja will not have sons)

Then, she jumped into the river and committed suicide.


Until today, the curses hold. The river has a permanent whirlpool at one spot. The place Talakadu is covered with almost 40 feet of sand. The Kings of Mysore do not have a direct male descendant for every alternate generation. For example, the previous king, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar is an adopted son. The present King, Sri Srikanthadutta Wodeyar is the son of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. But, he does not have a son. He has adopted her sister's son. This has been happening now for a long time!


Well, myths apart, the river was wonderful. The water level is barely till the chest and the Kaveri water here is absolutely clean. So, all of us dived into the river and had a great time. Also, by then a gang of college guys came in. It was from the Jain College in Jayanagar, B'lore. There were two really great looking grls. Half the time, I sat staring at them.


Somnathpur

Then, we went to a place called Somenathpur. This is an ancient temple built in 780 AD by the Hoysala Dynasty. They are the ones who built the famed Balur and Halebid temples in Karnataka. The temple was an amazing piecece of art.

There are more than 5000 idols carved out of stone. The temple has the complete depiction of the Mahabharatha and the 10 avtaars of Lord Krishna. The intricate carving and the detailed sculpting is incredible. It took 58 years for 500 sculptors to work on this.


The sad thing though is that it was ravaged by the Muslim Invaders. It was invaded twice and the idol was desecrated. So, there is no puja at the temple and it lies dead. On top of it, the British smuggled all the smaller pieces of art during their rein. So, what remains is a graveyard of the masterpiece.

Well, that's about the second part of my trip.