the journey continues…

Jomlu teertha is a small water fall created by River Seethanadi. It is around 35km from Udupi and 10km from Hebri. Teertha means holy water in kannada.
Water falls from a small height and you can take a nice bath.
Ideal picnic spot and a weekend gateway from Udupi.There are buses to hebri from Udupi and from there you need to take a private vehicle.No food is available on the spot and you definitely need to carry some food.We spent a whole day there took bath,had lunch and did fishing also .
My dad had an interesting conversation with the local guy there ..
Dad – why very less crowd nowadays ?
Local guy – Not many come here because of Naxalites.
Dad – Oh is it ?
Local guy – Yes they are everywhere. Usually they don’t do anything to local people but they target tourists for money etc.
Dad – Yeah, if they started troubling the locals, they wouldn’t be able to exist here at all !!! [ little sarcastic ]

falls

fishing

Hanumangundi falls is one among the few falls that I always liked.Water falls from a height of 100 ft
and is situated amidst the deep forest.I have visited this falls during my college days.Those days there were no steps to reach the base and we used to do real trekking.Now the forest department has constructed nice steps, and you need to scale down around 300 steps to reach the base. Hanumangundi falls is well maintained by the forest department and you need to pay an entrance fee of 30 Rs per head.
No food is available on the spot.
If you are going with family should be careful with small children as most of the steps are steep and slippery.Water accumulates in a small pond in front of the falls where you should never try to swim/dive as its very dangerous.

Hanumanagundi Falls

When ever we go to Mantralaya, we will try to visit Hampi also.Its around 150kms from Mantralaya.
You would need complete 3 days to visit whole Hampi.There are good accommodations available in hospet which is around 12km form hampi.Summers would be very bad here. August – January is the best time to visit Hampi.
Hampi, the capital city of Vijayanagara Empire, was founded by two brothers Harihara and Bukkaraya (more popularly known as Hakka and Bukka), under the guidance of their Guru Vidyaranya. The markets in Hampi were always crowded with merchants from all over the world to barter their goods in exchange of spices and cotton, grown abundantly in the area. Rubies, diamonds and all precious stones were sold on the streets in the scale of seers.

As the saying goes, everything that goes up must come down. It was true in case of Hampi also. After seeing its golden period, Hampi fell down to the attacks of the five Sultans of Deccan – Bidar, Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar and Berar . The city was looted for a period of 6 months. The temples were destroyed and the markets were plundered. The golden empire had come to an end.

Virupaksha Temple,Hampi

Virupaksha temple is the oldest and the principal temple in Hampi.This is the only one temple which has been survived from the attacks of Muslim kings.The reason is that Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Kings has a pig in that and it has been carved in the entrance of the temple.Pigs are considered to be auspicious for muslims and they stepped back from here.So every temple/structure has been destroyed by Muslim Kings in Hampi except this.

Royal Emblem of Vijayanagara Kings

Below picture is shows a bull/nandi which had 3 heads.

3 headed nandi in Virupaksha Temple,Hampi

Can you figure out the pig in the royal emblem?

Royal emblem

Mantapam inside the temple

Apart from many architectural places, Hampi is also famous for Ramayan History.
We can see a small hill where Sugreeva used to stay during the period of Ramayan.Also there is a small river which is called Chakrateertha.

Chitrakoota,Hampi

Chakra teertha,Hampi

There are 2 main temples to visit here.One is Kodandarama temple and the other one is Yantroddharaka Anjaneya Temple.My mom is a great devotee of Yantroddharaka Anjaneya and we will never miss a visit to this temple.The temple has a very interesting story behind its origin which you can find in this link.

http://ashwini.logukrishnan.net/2010/05/24/yantrodharaka-hanumantahampi

Kodandarama Temple,Hampi

Yantrdharaka Hanumanta Temple,Hampi

Kadale kalu Ganesha,Hampi

Akka Tangi Kallu,Hampi

Ugra Narasimha,Hampi

Badavi Linga,Hampi

Lotus Mahal,Hampi

Elephants Stable,Hampi

Mahanavami Dibba,Hampi

Vijaya vittal temple is one of the key attaractions in Hampi.Its built by KrishnaDevaraya.
The temple has around 56 musical pillars. When tapped gently, these pillars produce musical sounds. These pillars are popularly known as Musical Pillars or SaReGaMa pillars.
Inside the vijaya vittal temple we can find the stone chariot.We can find only 2 stone chariots in India one is in Hampi and the in Konark Sun Temple,Bhuvaneshwar.

Vijaya vittala Temple,Hampi

Musical Pillars,Hampi

StoneCart,Hampi

Stepped Tank,Hampi

There are several useful links about Hampi where you can get all the information.
http://www.hampionline.com/
http://www.hampi.in