Weekend Roadtrip to Mysore – 1
Details of Sravana Belagola:
We started the Weekend Roadtrip to Mysore to cover some of the prominent places in and around Mysore over the weekend.As we have already covered the Halebidu and Belur in Journey through Hoysala Empire – 1 which are also near the places we are going to travel but not covered as part of this trip. Details of some of places that are going to be covered in this trip can be found Journey Through Hoysala Empire – 2. Apart from the Hoysala temples we also travelled to Sravanabelagola. It has two hills Chandragiri and Vindhyagjri.Vindhyagiri hosts the worlds largest monolithic statue of Gommateshwara which is of 58-feet tall.Its architectural and sculptural activity reached a peak under the patronage of Western Ganga dynasty of Talakad. Chandragupta Maurya is said to have died here in 298 BCE after he became a Jain monk and assumed an ascetic life style.
Every twelve years, thousands of devotees congregate here to perform Mahamastakabhisheka, a spectacular ceremony in which the statue is anointed with Water, Turmeric, Rice flour, Sugar cane juice, Sandalwood paste, saffron and gold and silver flowers.Recently, Mahamastakabhisheka was held in 2018 during Feb month. The next Mahamastakabhisheka will be held in 2030.elve years, thousands of devotees congregate here to perform Mahamastakabhisheka, a spectacular ceremony in which the statue is anointed with Water, Turmeric, Rice flour, Sugar cane juice, Sandalwood paste, saffron and gold and silver flowers.Recently, Mahamastakabhisheka was held in 2018 during Feb month. The next Mahamastakabhisheka will be held in 2030.
The Travelogue:
We started the journey at 5 a.m on Day 1 towards Shravanabelagola which is a 180kms drive from my place .We took the same path as in Journey through Hoysala Empire – 1 (via NICE road ,continued on to NH75).It took around three and half hours journey to Sravanabelagola and reached there around 9 a.m.It took around one and half hours to climb the hill and reach the temple.
After the dharshan we started the Journey towards Venugopala Swamy Temple, KRS backwaters, Mysore which is of 55 kms from Sravanabelagola .We reached there around 1 p.m.
Go through Journey Through Hoysala Empire – 2 for more details on the temple.
After spending some time at the heart of Kaveri river and in the premises of the Venugopala swamy temple ,we went to Brindavan Gardens of Mysore .
A part of the garden was closed due to Kaveri water flooding like a boat club etc.
We strolled through the remaining part of the Brindavan Garden.
Brindavan Gardens is famous for its Musical fountain that starts at 7 pm in the evening, plan to attend the same in case of your schedule permits.
From there, we went to Mysore for checking-in to the hotel room which was booked and took much needed break. We ll continue the the Weekend Roadtrip to Mysore in second part of the series
Second part of the series: Weekend Roadtrip to Mysore – 2