Weekend Road Trip to Jog falls and Sringeri
History of Sringeri :
We planned to visit Sringeri for my kid’s Aksharabhyasa . The name Sringeri is derived from Rishyashringa-giri, a nearby hill that is believed to have contained the heritage of RishiVibhandaka and his son Rishyashringa. Rishyashringa appears in an episode in the Bala-Kanda of the Ramayana where a story, narrated by Vasishtha, relates how he brought rains to the drought-stricken kingdom of Romapada.
According to legend, Adi Shankaracharya is said to have selected the site as the place to stay and teach his disciples, because when he was walking by the Tunga river, he saw a cobra with a raised hood, providing shelter from the hot sun, to a frog undergoing labour. Impressed with the place where natural enemies had gone beyond their instincts, he stayed here for twelve years. Adi Shankaracharya also established mathas in the northern (at Joshimath, near Badrinath), eastern (at Puri) and western (at Dwaraka) quarters of India.
Sringeri temple complex consists a 127 feet tall Rajagopuram entrance of which construction completed in June 2014 .
The Sharadamba temple, dedicated to the Goddess of learning and wisdom, has grown from a simple shrine dating to the time of Adi Shankaracharya. In the fourteenth century, Vidyaranya is said to have replaced the old sandalwood image with a stone and gold image. The temple structure itself continued to be made of wood till the early 20th century. After an unexpected fire that damaged the structure, the current temple was built.
The Vidyashankara temple was built in commemoration of the pontiff Vidyashankara, around 1357-58 C.E.. It was built by Vidyaranya, patron-saint of Harihara and Bukka, the brothers who founded the Vijayanagara empire.
The Travelogue:
We Started the Journey in the morning 5 a.m and took the route through NICE road to Shivamogga . We reached there around 11 a.m . After the checking in to the hotel room there and having lunch we started the journey to see the Jog falls.It was raining heavily at that time so, we were doubtful about the road condition and the visibility of the falls. We reached Jog view point around 4:00 p.m. We were able to get a glimpse of the Jog falls and then the dark fog covered the entire place in a few minutes.
We waited there for some time and started the journey to Shivamogga . Ideal conditions to see Jog falls is before noon, when there is no rain, and when you have ample water in the falls (August and September ).As we didn’t have spent enough time at Jog falls due to the rains and our plan to visit Sringeri next day , We ll be having another visit to Jog in some ideal conditions and share the experiences here.
Day 2: We started the journey to Sringeri next morning amid the rain fall. We reached there around 9:30 a.m. Probably due to the rain, the crowd was less and we were able complete the Aksharabhyasa and Dharshan within an hour.
We started our Journey back to Bangalore from there . The Ghats from Sringeri to Hassan is very scenic and the beauty of the Western Ghats will multiply when its raining there.