Best of My Travel

Avani, Kolar Avani is a small village in Mulbagal taluk, Kolar district in Karnataka, India, about ten miles from Kolar Gold Fields. The village is located at 32 km from Kolar, the district centre and 32 km 13 km from Mulbagal, the Taluk headquarters. It is a popular location for rock climbing. I set out to Avani on a Sunday evening along with my wife Akshatha and her cousin Sid. We left Bangalore around 4:30 P. M in the evening. We reached Avani around 5:40. Roads were very good upto Mulbagal. From Mulbagal roads were very shabby till Avani which is about 6 kms. Location: Avani Temple Avani is known for the Sita temple situated on a hill. This temple is one of the few temples dedicated to Sitadevi in India. There is a belief that the sage Valmiki, the author of the epic Ramayana, was residing here during the period of Ramayana. Sitadevi lived here in his ashram while in exile. Sitadevi gave birth to her twin children Lava-Kusha here. Even today the room where Sita gav...

1. Chennakeshava Temple, Belur The Chennakeshava Temple, originally called Vijayanarayana Temple was built on the banks of the Yagachi River in Belur, by the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana. Belur, which was an early Hoysala capital, is in the Hassan district of Karnataka state, India. It is 40 km from Hassan city and 220 km from Bangalore. Chennakesava (lit, "handsome Kesava") is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu. Belur is well known for its marvelous temples built during the rule of the Hoysala dynasty and has been proposed to be listed under UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Reason: Chennakeshava Temple, Belur is the largest of all the Hoysala temples. This was the first temple that made Hoysalas famous and brought them to limelight. The architecture and craftsmanship is of the highest quality.  2. Hoysaleshwara Temple, Halebidu Hoysaleswara temple is a temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. It was built in Halebidu (in modern Karnataka state, India) during...

Keywords: Hoysala Temples, Kedareshwara Temple, Nagalapura The temple is just a few yards from Chennakeshava temple. Location: Nagalapura This ekakuta (single sanctum) temple faces east and is dedicated to Shiva. It is consisted of a garbha-grha (sanctum), an antarala (vestibule) and a navaranga (closed hall). There would have been a porch but it has disappeared. Though the garbha-grha faces east however the main entrance to the temple, through navaranga, is on its southern side. The garbha-grha is modeled on a sixteen-pointed star plan. The shikhara (tower) of the temple has not survived. This temple belongs to the matured Hoysala architectural phase. This phase is distinguished by the series of the bands of the adhisthana of the temple and the eaves over the external wall images. Both these features are evident in this temple. The arrangement of bands found here, over the adhishthana (platform), is consisted of six separate horizontal friezes. These are, from bel...

Keywords: Hoysala Temples, Chennakeshava Temple, Nagalapura This ekakuta temple is very much ruined and has been reconstructed with its falling material. The temple, as it stood today , consists of a garbha-grha (sanctum), antarala (vestibule) and navaranga (closed hall). There might have been a porch attached to navaranga in earlier times, but it has disappeared completely. The external walls of the shrine are embellished with various icons of Vaishnava cult. Noticeable among these are, Hayagriva, Vitthala, Venugopala, Yoga-Narasimha, Ugra-Narasimha, kevala-Narasimha, Vishnu over Adi-Shesha, Dhanvantari etc. Location: Nagalapura

Keywords: Hoysala Temples, Panchakuta Basadi, Kambadahalli Panchakuta Basadi (or Panchakoota Basadi) is located in the Kambadahalli village of the Mandya district, Karnataka state, in southwestern India. Location: Kambadahalli It is one of the finest examples of South Indian Dravidian architecture of the Western Ganga variety, related to the Jain faith and iconography. According to the historian K.R. Srinivasan, the temple complex, which was built by the kings of the Western Ganga Dynasty is assignable to the period 900-1000 CE. The historian I. K. Sarma however assigns an earlier date of 8th century, based on traces of early Pallava-Pandya and Chalukya-Pallava influences. Kambadahalli (whose name in the Kannada language literally translates to "village with pillar") which is located 18 km from the famous Jain heritage town of Shravanabelagola, on the Mandya-Shravanabelagola highway, gets its name from the Brahmadeva pillar (Manasthambha) erected in front of the templ...