Why Travel Blog?

As our intro goes, we are a 30+ married couple, a doctor and a lawyer by profession based in Bangalore. Ruins, ancient civilization, history, architecture draw us like a moth to flame. Cynics to legends and myths of world, gullible nonetheless to visit them. We are fascinated about mountains, valleys, beaches, languages, nature, art, culture, food, and heritage. We get adrenaline rush every time we plan a trip. A mixed breed of travelers and tourists. Out motto is "Take only memories and leave nothing but footprints". In our journey we love to inspire others to travel and see what a marvelous world it is.

By now you know we are very passionate about traveling. When we travel we create a lot of memories and magical moments. However, over a period of time it is impossible to remember everything that we experienced. Hence the blog, "miles and trails." It is like a personal journal where we jot down our travel experience and share beautiful pictures for future references. And when we are old, frail, unable to travel anymore this log will help us in reminiscing good old times. 

Maybe in this way we can be a little useful to other travelers who wants explore the world like we do. Or for the people who are not fortunate enough to travel, but can virtually visit the place and get some knowledge. And of course "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Inception of this was in the corner of our mind for a very long time, but busy life got in the way. It is amazing to notice how we transformed to be a better photographers, paying attention to teeny-tiny detail, memorizing things, and always focused ever since we stared the blog.

Sahasralinga Tank, Patan

"Lake of thousand Lingas"

In Amit Tripati's Shiva Trilogy there is an elaborated reason for drying up of mythical Saraswati River. Fictitious Meluhans use Saraswati River's water to prepare Amrita (nector) to keep them immortals. If anyone is wondering why we are talking about a novel, the answer is we were exactly standing on the fabled Saraswati River that is said to have dried up some 4000 years ago. Or that is what our guide made us to believe. The curious thing is he says he has seen flowing river in his childhood. River Saraswati is considered the personification of Goodess Saraswati. It is believed the ancient Rig Veda is written on the banks of this holy river. Triveni Sangama in Prayag (Allahabad) is confluence of real Ganga and Jamuna River and mythological Saraswati . There is small dargah of fakir Farid on the banks. It is just a walking distance from north side of the Sahasralinga Tank in Patan.

Sahasralinga Tank or as the name suggests "lake of thousand linga" was built by Jayasimha Siddhraj (1094-1144 A.D.). He is known for construction of various artificial lakes in Gujarat. This reservoir is the largest and grandest among all. Various small shrines containing Shivalingas placed on the banks. It is a belief of that time that presence of statues of Gods have the power to purify the water, in this case lingas. This was excavated in 1942-1943 by Archaeological Survey of India. The tank used to receive water from a canal of the Saraswati River. It tells a great deal about the planning of water management of that period. 

Notice board says "Near the middle of the eastern embankment are the remains of the old Shiva Temple. Comprising of the basement of the pavilions together with a colonnade of forty eight pillars. It was in good condition until the 16th century".

Legend: King Jayasimha Siddraj was enchanted by the beauty of Jasma Odan and wanted to marry her. But, she was already married to Rooda, of Odh tribe. His profession was pond digging. In fact, she accompanied her husband to Anhilwad Patan where Sahasralinga construction was going on. She refused King's proposal. So, spurned King ordered Jasma's husband to be killed. Before immolating herself she cursed the king to be heirless and Sahasraling to be waterless. Later a human sacrifice reversed the curse resulting in filling of the tank. We couldn't help but compare this legend to our own "Kerege Haara". Jasmadevi temple dedicated to her was built near the Sahasralinga Tank in 12th century by her community. 

Another story is Bairam Khan, Akbar's tutor, while passing through Patan on his way to Mecca, was said to have been murdered after he returned from boating in this tank in 1561."

Walk of Shame-Chandragutti

This subject troubled us deeply. And the blog comes in handy to express our views on the topic we feel strongly about. We chose not to mix this subject with the "Chandragutti" post for two reasons. Firstly, it would have been a lengthy post; secondly this topic demands a separate narration. The "subject" we are referring to is none other than Bettale Seve (Nude Worship) to Renukamaba Temple at Chandragutti. A Seve/worship is a form of service provided by the devotee to God/Goddess. As mentioned in our early post, Chandragutti holds an annual festival (Jatre) mostly in the month of March. During this period thousands of devotees used to partake in Nude Worship. The majority of the participants were women of Dalit-Bahujan Caste. They were conditioned to believe that by completing harake (vow) in this form will fulfill their wishes; if not they had to face the wrath of Goddess Renukamba and tragedy will ensue in a most unexpected way. So, the worshipers used to take bath in Varada river and walk towards the temple situated at distance of 4 kilometers on foot. A few men and non-dalits perform too, but the count is minimal.

Legend: Renuka, wife of sage Jamadagni had the gift to collect water in unbaked pots (even sands) by the power of her chastity. One day while returning home from collecting water, she saw a gandharva (male nature spirit/excellent singers) taking bath in river and she was sexually attracted to him. She immediately lost her magical power because of infidelity. Jamadagni learned about this and ordered his sons to behead her. The eldest four sons refused to budge. Parashurama, the fifth son decides to carry out father's order and chases his mother. While running, Renuka's clothes get torn from thorns in the jungle. Now completely nude, she takes shelter in a nearby cave embracing a Shiva linga and unifyig with it. However, Parashurama succeeds in beheading her. And he kills his four brothers at his father's command. Now pleased with his son's obedience, Jamadagni asks for a boon and Parashurama requests for his mother and brothers to be brought back to life, which Jamadagni obliges. 

  

Another myth goes something like this. Renuka had a maid named Mathangi. Before embarking on a journey to kill all the Kshatriyas (warriors), Parashurama asks Mathangi's son, Beerappa to take care of his mother. But, Beerappa turns out to be a lecherous man and tries to molest Renuka. Now Mathangi saves Renuka and offers her clothes to cover up. The folklore of Mathangi being the protector is essential to the bettale seve at Chandragutti. Devotees visit Mathangi shrine, close to Renukamba temple after taking a dip in Varada River, where they are given new clothes.

In 1986, Dalit Sangharasha Samithi, NGOs, and women's organizations opposed the Bettale Seve. The activists tried to stop the worship at Varada River where women were getting naked. This angered supporters of temple priests and they joined hands with anti-social thugs to thrash the activists. They went berserk, stripping policewomen and forcing them to walk towards the temple in nude. The incident was widely covered by the media and forced the Karnataka government to pass a prohibitory order under section 35 of the Karnataka Police Act 1963. "Under the section, which grants the state the ‘power to prohibit certain acts for prevention of disorder’, the state disallowed any public congregation within a five-kilometer radius of the temple". They made it clear "Bettale seve is illegal, practicing the same can put them behind the bars.

A committee appointed by the government investigated the case and came to the conclusion that there is no such sanction in Hinduism for Bettale Seve. In 1989, it is said for every thousand devotees, 1500 thousands police and home guards were positioned to prevent any untoward incident. Now nude worship has been strictly prohibited.

A local man narrates how thousands of men used to gather around the temple to catch a glimpse and leer at naked women. We cannot believe such inhuman and backward ritual was in practice just 30 years ago. Brandishing religion to instigate fear in mankind is an old technique practiced and it is still at large. It is impossible to change the mindset of people who were conditioned to believe in certain rituals. They fail to understand the exploitation of upper caste or patriarchal society. While sitting outside the temple, we could only imagine and be sympathetic towards the fellow human beings who had to go through this walk of shame years together. We were ashamed to say we live in a civilized society where three-fourth of population is oppressed by blind beliefs, bigotry, caste-system, patriarchy, and hypocrisy.  

We will leave you with a brilliant Kannada poem written by Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy, which was translated by Prof. Rowena Hill.

"The usual male priest

was praying to the deity – right, mother?

"The whole time I'm inside the sanctum,

the life in me is rotting away,

I have no entertainment," he said.

Ellamma appeared to him –

"Ask your heart's desire", she said.

"Once a year at your festival

the womenfolk should go naked

in your presence. The whole body

should be revealed to us,"

he replied.

"Granted," said Ellamma, and holding

her sari tight around her,

she climbed the hill.

In this way

an atrocity

was sanctioned by the gods and became

"service in the nude"

Chandragutti

Chandragutti Temple

When we left Shivamogga (Shimoga) it was exactly 7 o'clock in the morning. It was hot and humid making way for a dreaded summer. The two places we shortlisted for these circuits were Chandragutti and Banavasi. Chandragutti is at 116 KM distance from Shivamogga, just 2 hours drive. Surprisingly it turned out to be a foggy morning.

Foggy Morning

Chandragutti is a famous pilgrimage center where thousands of devotees visit every year. It is just after the popular festival held in the month of March. Chariot was stripped naked. A few stalls opened selling toys, imitation jewelry, religious amulets, etc. A few decorated tractors were parked, which were used by the villagers to reach here for the festival. A group of women huddled together trying to cook a meal. We are unable to fathom whether they are poor or its just their shabby and unkempt appearance that made us to believe so.

Chariot

Shop

Info: Chandragutti (Chandraguptapura) was the fortress of Kadambas of Banavasi in 3rd century A.D. It was under the reign of Vijayanagara king Harihara II (1377-1404) as an inscription dated 1396 mentions about this. A local chieftain named Bachanna ruled for a few years before it came under the control of Keladi Nayakas.

Renukadevi temple is situated atop a hill and accessed through a flight of stairs. Color of the stairs were bright red from scattered kumkuma (vermilion) and arashina (turmeric). We were asked by a man to leave our foot wears here before we could ascend. However, we were reluctant seeing the color and number of steps. It was decided among us that we will walk with foot wears till near the temple. If someone complains, we will take turns visiting the temple. But nobody said anything and we removed them outside the temple in a corner.

View From Afar

Coloured Steps

Lazying Around

Lateral View

Legend: Renuka, wife of sage Jamadagni had the gift to collect water in unbaked pots (even sands) by the power of her chastity. One day while returning home from collecting water, she saw a gandharva (male nature spirit/excellent singers) taking bath in river and she was sexually attracted to him. She immediately lost her magical power because of infidelity. Jamadagni learned about this and ordered his sons to behead her. The eldest four sons refused to budge, however, Parashurama carried out the order without questioning. And he killed his four brothers at his father's command. Now pleased with his son's obedience, Jamadagni asked for a boon and Parashurama asked for his mother and brothers to be brought back to life, which Jamadagni obliged.

In fact, the massive hip-like rocks in the cave are noted as Renuka in hiding when Parashurama pursued her. Outer aspect of cave is in Chalukya style forming the hall. During Vijayanagar time a pillared hall was adjoined. A small shrine is dedicated to Parashurama and Seven headed serpent in front of Renukamba temple. We were able to get a glimpse of main deity during Pooja. Our initial plan was to visit Chandragutti fort too; however, we were told it is 3 KM uphill by trekking. So, we thought maybe we can do it some other time considering we are accompanied by our mother this time. We spent few more minutes discussing the infamous Bettale Seve (Nude Worship) before descending. We could see a small Kalabhairava temple at the foot of Renuka temple.

Front View

Kalasha

Parashurama and Sheshanaga Temple

Matangi?

Nandi

Sign Board???

Sri Kalabairava Shrine

We almost threw up seeing the public toilets. They were filthy beyond anybody's imagination. It is better to pee in your pants rather than using them. First there is huge scarcity in accessing public toilets in India. And availability doesn't guarantee the usability.

Route:

By Road: Bangalore-Tumkur-Tiptur-Arasikere-Kadur-Shimoga-Sorba-Chandragutti.  Chandragutti is well-connected by road.

Nearest train station: Shivamogga.

Nearest Airport-Mangalore

Temple Visiting Hours:

Tuesdays, Fridays, Full moon days, and festival-9:00 AM 7:00 PM

Other Days-9:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM