the journey continues…

Staying in Bangalore and not seen Coorg yet?? So a weekend we were in Coorg with friends.
Coorg also called as Kodagu is 250km from Bangalore passing through Mysore.Since Mysore was not in our itinerary we bypassed it from Srirangapatnam and took the Bangalore – Mandya – Srirangapatnam – Hunsur – Piriyapatna – Kushalnagar – Suntikoppa – Madikeri route.
Coorg land is rich with many coffee estates and they grow the best coffee in India.Most of the houses in Kodagu have some one in the Indian army or navy.They are well known for their bravery and hospitality.There are many sites in the internet which gives info about homestays,food etc in Coorg so travelling is not at all a problem here.
First day we covered Iruppu falls,Bylakuppe Golden Temple,Dubare Elephant Camp.
Next day we went to TalaCuvery and BhagaMandalam.

Iruppu

Iruppu falls

Golden Temple is a major attraction at Bylakuppe Tibetan Settlement. The gold coated Buddhist statues in the monastery are impressive and unique, explains the rich cultural heritage of Tibetans.
They have good accommodation facilities here.So we stayed here for a night and early morning visited the temple.

Golden Temple,BiluKoppe

Monks inside the temple

Monk & Buddha

Dalai Lama

GoldenStatues

Paintings on the wall

Dubare elephant camp is good for children.We can bath the elephants ,feed them,have a ride and enjoy.But there are timings for these activities.I remember we should be there before 10AM in the morning to do all these.

Dubare elephant camp

ElephantRide

Dubare Camp

Tala Cauvery where the river Cauvery originates, is my favt spot.We did pooja and archana here.We also did a small trekking to Brahmagiri, a small hillock near by which gives a nice view of western ghats.

TalaCauvery

View from Brahmagiri

Few kilometers away is Bhagamadala where River Cauvery merges with the rivers Kannike and Sujyothi to form a Triveni Sangama.

Triveni Sangama

Bhagandeshwara Temple

Bannerghatta National Park is around 22km from Bangalore. Its wild life sanctuary that spreads over 525 sq. km. A zoo and a butterfly park are the main attractions here.
The forest department also has safaris like lion safari,grand safari etc. inside the park which gives a closer feel of wild animals.When we went on safari we spotted lions,tigers,white tigers and deers.
Ticket prices are reasonable and park timings are from 9 to 5pm except on Tuesdays which is a holiday.
Butterfly park is well maintained and less crowded compared to zoo.We didn’t spot much butterflies as it was an off season.
This is a good family outing spot and if kids are there then they will really enjoy a lot.

There is a saying in kannada “If its god then it has to be Tirupati Timmappa and if it is guru then it has to be Manchale Ragappa “. Hardly people need any explanation about Mantralayam.
It is the divine place where Sri Raghavendra swami entered into the Brindavan, alive – Sajeeva Vrindavana.It is believed that Shri Rayaru, as he is lovingly called by his devotees, still exist in the vrindavana and is fulfilling the prayers of devotees.

Places to visit in Mantralayam are
Manchalamma Temple
Shri Raghavendra Swamy Temple
Shri Panchamukhi Anjaneya Temple

Manchalamma, the local deity of Manchale gave the land for Rayaru to construct the Vrindavanam.Its a custom here that first we need to see Manchallamma and then Shri Rayara Vrindavanam.

Mantralaya Temple

Early morning hours is the best time to visit the temple. If you want to book any sevas,you need to do that booking in the previous day inside the temple.There is big hall where they will do the Sankalpa for the pooja and give prasadam also.
There are many ways to worship Rayaru here.You can see people doing Urulu Seva [rolling on the ground],Hejje Namaskara[Step by step walking] etc. All these sevas are considered to be very auspicious here.The sacred sand of the Moola Brindavana (Moola Mrithika) has very special significance, it will cure diseases and protect you from evils. We keep this at home and everyday take it as prasadam.

The temple also serves prasadam i.e afternoon meals for everybody.
Tunga bhadra river flows in the back side of the temple which would be floddy during rainy seasons.

Tunga River

This is time we also got the opportunity to visit the house where Rayara Padukas are there.

Rayara Padukegalu

Panchamukhi Veeranjaneya temple is around 30min from here.There are auto rickshaws available to go there. Sri Raghavendhra Swamy was an ardent devotee of Sri Moola Rama and Sri Panchamukha Anjaneya. He performed penance here for 12 years and got the dharshan of Hanuman in the form of Sri Panchamukha Anjaneya, an incarnation of Lord Hanuman. The anjaneya is a swayambu inscription on the rocky cave.

Pachamuki Anjaneya

Bed and Pillow

Pushapaka Vimana/Aerial Vehicle

Many lodges are here for accommodation. But we always prefer to stay in the guest houses provided by the Mutt.These guest houses are maintained well and they are very cheap compared to hotel lodges.There is the mutt administration building near to temple where you can book the guest houses.

The famous mantra you should chant here goes like this…
“Poojyaya Raghavendhraya Sathya Dharma Ratayacha
Bhajatam Kulpavrukshaya Namatham Kamadhenuve”

Some useful links :
http://www.srsmutt.org/
http://www.mantralayam.com/
http://www.gururaghavendra.org/

Hanuma Bheema Madhwa

Rigveda says Mukyaprana came in three incarnations (avatars) to lead the world as a Marga Darshaka (guide), and to uplift the world.His first avatar was Hanuman,second is Bhim and third is great saint Shri Madhwacharya.

Ananta Padmanabha Mandira in Pajaka is the home/birthplace of Sri Madhva. Here you can see a small shrine dedicated to Sri Ananta Padmanabha. Vasudeva [ original name of Shri Madhwacharya] spent his child hood in this house.There are some archaeological evidences of the life and times of Sri Madhwacharya at this place.
One such spot is the stone where his Aksharabhyasa was done.Now also people will come here and do the Aksharabhyasa for their kids on the same stone.

shila

There is small pond called Vasudeva Teertha in the house. Madhwaharys’s parents used to collect water from 4 near by ponds [Parashutirtha ,Dhanustirtha , Baanatirtha, and Gadhaatirtha which are created by Parashurama] to take bath and perform daily rituals.When they become old,they couldn’t able to go,so Vasudeva created a fifth pond which has water from all the 4 ponds and it is called as Vasudeva Teertha.Taking dip in this pond is equivalent is to taking bath in all the other 4 ponds.

Once his father had incurred some debts.That time Shri.Madhwacharya took the creditor under a big tamarind tree and gave him handful of tamarind seeds.Those tamarind seeds turned in to gold coins.Now also there is a big tamarind tree in that place.

tamarind tree

You can also see 2 big stones which the small boy Vasudeva had kept on the pots where his mom had kept curd and milk.

mosaru patre

Manimanta was a demon and he tried to kill Vasudeva.Vasudeva used his big toe to press down on the demon’s head, and killed him. The impression of Vasudeva’s toe where Manimanta was slain, can still be seen in Pajaka.

Near by there is Madhva Mandira.
This is the place where Sri Vadiraja Swamy has installed the idol of Sri Madhva Acharya. You can also see the foot prints of Sri Acharya here.

Other places of interest here are
>>Kunjaru Giri Temple
which is 1km from Pajaka where Sri Durga resides. This small hillock is very beautiful giving the glimpses of Western ghats one side, Manipal at the another other side and the Arabian sea. You can do a nice trekking to reach the top.

>> Parashurama Temple
Opposite to the KunjaruGiri, there’s one more hillock where a temple is built for Lord Parashurama. At the base of the foot hill is one of the teertha he created thorwing his weapons which is called as Bana Teertha.

Bana Teertha

There are buses from Udupi to Pajaka but the frequency is less.
http://www.pajakakshetra.org/index.html is the official site of Pajaka Kshetra.