Sravanabelagola or Shravanabelagola is a religious center for the Jains. The town has two prominent hills of religious significance. One of them houses the famous and huge monolith statue of Gomateshwara Bahubali, the 1st Tirthankara of Jainism. Lord Mahavira was the 24th and the last Tirthankara (saviour and spiritual teacher) of the Jain religion. It started to…
Tag: Travel
Chasing clouds: Road trip from Bangalore to Sravanabelagola ๐๐จ
The rains seem to have left for Kerala from Bangalore and we decided to drive down to a place called Sravanabelagola, located within the state of Karnataka. Sravana-bela-gola, say it twice and the name rolls off the tongue easily๐. The place is a 3 hour drive from Bangalore & suggested by our relatives Dr. S&S.ย …
A City Getaway: ITC Gardenia ๐
The newspapers claim this to be the wettest October in Bangalore so farโ๏ธ. The rains seem to be unpredictable, many areas in Bangalore have become waterlogged and IMD declared yellow alert in the city and it’s outskirts for a few days. But this is in the midst of the annual Puja holidays; we were really…
Bangalore Palace tour ๐ฐ: Glimpse into the Wodeyars story – Part ๐
To continue with the historical timeline, the mighty Vijayanagar empire which ruled almost the whole of the south India, met its ruin in 1565 at the battle of Talikota ๐ Hampi chronicles: Beginning with the end ๐ (Starting the Hampi trail๐ถ๐ปโโ๏ธ) After the disintegration of the Vijayanagara empire, the land was divided among the feudal…
Bangalore Palace tour ๐ฐ: Glimpse into the Wodeyars story – Part ๐
Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka and Mysore is a weekend getaway from Bangalore, touted as the cultural capital of Karnataka, famous for the ten day Dasara festival held every October. The most famous landmark in Mysore is the Mysore Palace of the Wodeyars – the erstwhile rulers of the Mysore kingdom โ๏ธ. I have…
A Bangalore staycation @Hyatt Centric ๐ด
Bangalore weather is gorgeous and one perfect way to enjoy it is by the poolside at the Hyatt Centric; flanked by champa (frangipani) trees with its dark green foliage and speckles of pretty white fragrant flowers โand palm trees swaying in the cool breeze. With the pandemic still not over, the pool is closed for…
Itinerary for a weekend in downtown Bangalore ๐
There is no dearth of activities that you can partake in Bangalore and a weekend is hardly enough time for all indulgences. But given a weekend we managed to cram in a staycation, a walking trail, shopping, a fantastic restaurant and even tour a palace ! It was a welcome break from the homebound weekends…
A moment in memory: Fuchsia ๐
Some words remain etched in my brain and the word Fuchsia is one in the list. I first heard of this colour from one of my older cousin sisters as she was describing the colour of her wedding sari, the manthrakodi – the colourful sari the bride wears for the wedding reception. The bride wears…
18 April: World Heritage Day ๐ – Forts of South India
Celebrated on 18 April, it started off as โInternational Day for Monuments and Sitesโ and after approval from UNESCO in 1983, it was made popular as World Heritage Day. 2021 World Heritage Day theme is “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures” This would be the apt title for our Indian heritage – it’s complex! The history text…
Tourist in my city ๐
I never imagined I will call Bangalore as my city. Kochi has always been my city simply because it is where my home is – a house of my own. Hubs definition of home is different; he plays to the gallery. He was asked once in our family WhatsApp group by my cousins on his…
The perfect muse to (or not) travel ๐ง
I stumble into books; this one was an accidental discovery in an in-flight magazine; on their list of the five best books on travel and it was the first one the list. I remember watching Alain De Botton on YouTube once and I was very curious on what he has to say on travel. I…
Hampi Chronicles: Last glance ๐
It was close to 5:00 pm by the time we finished with the sights at the Vitthala temple complex. There were buggy rides ferrying people from the Vitthala temple to the car park, driving along the length of the 1 km long bazaar or Chariot street. People were standing in queue waiting for the rides,…
Hampi chronicles: Music, myths & magic๐ช with stone๐ฅ (Vitthala temple and Stone chariot)
Sekhar says he is well versed with the history of the Vijayanagar empire and even more with the intricacies of the Vitthala temple. He claims to speak nine languages and that’s not even his talent, you’ll see ! It’s close to 4 pm by now, tired, we were at the last quarter in the sacred…
Hampi chronicles: Framed by boulders & filled with stories ๐
“The city of Bidjnagar( Vijayanagar) is such that the pupil of the eye has never seen a place like it and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world.” as recorded by Abdur Razzaq, the Persian envoy from the court of Shahrukh in Herat to…
Hampi chronicles: Encounter with the magnificent Yali at the Achyutaraya temple๐ฆ
While being spellbound by the sheer size of the entrance to the temple, you almost forget to notice the delicate carvings on the walls of stone !! Maybe the novelty of this temple entrance is that it is not in the usual pyramidal tower format like the Virupaksha temple. The base of the main entrance…
Hampi chronicles: An inept king & an incredible temple ๐ (Achyutaraya temple)
A proclaimed glorious reign by any monarch always marks the beginning of the end of an empire and the story is no different for Vijaynagar. The Vijayanagar empire was at the peak of it’s prestige and power during the rule of Krishna Deva Raya (1509-1529). He was succeeded by his half-brother Achyuta, continuing the line…
Hampi chronicles: Bazaar and beyond ๐
The picture below helps to get an idea about the once thriving markets of Vijayanagar, which must have been glorious so as to be recorded by travellers. R K Narayan paints the picture beautifully for us in his book The Emerald Route ” One can let one’s imagination roam over the old bazaar street in…
Hampi chronicles: Hemakuta Hill – the Granite abode of Gods ๐
We are on a trail covering the sacred centre of Vijayanagar and after starting with the Virupaksha temple ๐Hampi chronicles: Charmed by the colonettes at Virupaksha temple ๐, the next destination is the Hemakuta hill situated right next to and above the Virupaksha temple complex. The entrance to the Hemakuta hill is a majestic quadrilateral…
Hampi chronicles: Charmed by the colonettes at Virupaksha temple ๐
It’s good to have a view of the Virupaksha temple complex in it’s entirety before entering it. It gives you a sense of direction and you are able to place the towering gopurams above the entrances better! The tallest gopuram marks the eastern entrance from the Hampi bazaar and the second tallest marks the northern…
Hampi chronicles: The curse that saved a temple โ๏ธ
There are many stories leading to the origins of the Vijayanagar empire, too many in fact; but they all have some converging points. A broad outline of these narratives is aptly outlined by Srinivas Reddy in his book Raya stating ” It is a tale of two brothers, a sacred geography and one legendary sage.”…
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