Chandramouleshwara Temple, Arsikere

 

This is one of the most beautiful temples that I have visited which were built by Hoysalas. One of the best part of the temple is the start shaped mukhamantapa which is the front part of the temple. There are 21 pillars in the mukhamantapa and it is adorned with beautiful elephants below every seat inside. Due to many invasions many parts of the temple has been destroyed and this is really bad and I personally felt how barbaric of the invaders were! Even if the temples were are restored and renovated the original beauty of it cannot be shown to people. The main deity of this temple is Lord Shiva and this is trikootachala temple where you get to see 3 shiva lingams and 3 nandis and 3 ganeshas. It is really a magnificent temple with intricate carvings around it and inside too. The main part of the Hoysala style of architecture was their emblem Sala fighting a lion, which they used to carve on top of the mantapa was missing here, as it may be destroyed by the muslim invasions. There were many veeragallus that dated back to the Hoysala dynasty that described the bravery and valor, which have been destroyed and ruined by barbaric islamic invasions. 

This is one of the most visited place in Arsikere as it is easily accessible and the road is very good to travel to this place.  It is around 138 kms from Mysore and it will take 3 and half hours to travel. These historical monuments are wealth of our nation and has to be preserved for our next generations too. Hope you too enjoy travelling to this temple 

Sangameshwara Temple Sindhaghatta

 This is one of the ancient times temple which is under the care of Archaeological department. It is said that it was built around 1200 years back but no one knows exactly when it was built. It is very beautifully carved with minute details inside the temple and the ceiling looks so pretty. Every pillar in the temple is carved so nicely. This temple is not much known to the people as it is located inside the village of Sindaghatta which is close to KR Pete. It is quite close to Mysore too and so you can easily travel to this place in your own vehicle. The road close to temple is not very good but the scenery around the place is nice as you get to see many paddy fields and lake too. A huge lake is there close to the temple. 

When I visited the temple was closed but i inquired around and went to the priest's house and requested him to open the place for me to get darshan. He was kind enough to open the doors of the temple for us. He also told us that temple is under the Archaeological Survey of India. He was complaining that he is not paid his salary from the government and that there is a case going on about the same in the high court. Felt bad for his condition as he was telling that they do not give proper financial help to maintain the temple well. 

There is also another temple close to this temple which is dedicated to Lord Janardhana and i missed to get darshana at this temple as the priest had closed the temple and had gone out of the village. Hope I get a chance to visit it some other time and visit both the temples again. I would suggest this is also a must visit temple if you love ancient architecture of Hoysalas. 

Akkihebbalu Laxmi Narasimhaswamy Temple

                                                     

Today its 12 December 2020 and weekend too, so I had planned for a break from routine life and traveled towards Hassan and explored ancient temples around Hassan. I visited this Laxminarasimhaswamy temple around 10.30 am and the road to the place is quite good and it is located at Krishnarajapete (K R Pete) and around 60 kilometers from Mysore, from Mandya it is around  70 kms. This is a very ancient temple which was built by Goutama Maharishi and it is said that Lord gave darshan to the rishi here after the rishi did penance for a long time on the banks of river Hemavathi.

The lord is a very beautifully made in black stone and he is in sitting position and on his lap goddess laxmidevi is sitting and the lord is not in ugra form but soumya mukha. There is a separate goddess Laxmi  temple in the premises with abhaya hasta and is in sitting position. They do rathotsava in the month of February every year. You can call the priest Srinath Bhat on his number 9449628141 and check for more details for any pooja to be performed in the temple. Temple opens everyday at 10 am till 12 but on weekends they are open till 3.00 pm this may differ post Covid situations. 

There is an ancient shiva temple next to this vishnu temple. This is dvikootachala where you get to see 2 shivalingams in one temple complex. They have maintained it very neatly and cleanly. There is a small park where different kinds of hibiscus plants are grown and kept very well and looks gorgeous to all the plant lovers. I would personally suggest for every traveler to visit this place and spend some quiet time here with the nature and god and get his blessings too. The driveway is very beautiful and so much peaceful as you will be very close to nature and you get to see so many paddy and sugarcane fields around. A must visit temple as per me.

Kambada Narasimhaswamy Temple

                                 Kambada Narasimhaswamy Temple- Kotebetta

Its 28/11/2020 and my weekend trip to surround places near Mysore. This was the last temple that I visited today. It was around 4 pm and we reached the top of the hill and not many people were there even though it was a Saturday. This temple is located close to Nagamangala it is around 8 kilometers from Nagamangala. This is a hilltop temple where Narasimhaswamy is in swayambhu roopa in a kambha and so you will not find a carved statue in this temple. But there is a huge very big statute of Lord Narasimhaswamy in the entrance of the temple top where he is in sitting position and on his lap lays king Hiranyakashyapu. It is in ugra form but the statue is nicely made. The temple premises was still under some construction as they were painting gopuram of the temple and some alteration work was going on. It is very well maintained with small parking place near the temple top. You can reach the top of the hill by climbing the steps that has been built or you can take your car/bike till the top of the hill, but still you need to climb around 50 steps to reach the entrance of the main deity.

Lord Narasimhaswamy is residing here in a stone pillar (kambada narasimha) and there is no carved statue of the Lord in the garbhagudi. There are no other gods except Lord Narasimhaswamy in the temple premises. The scenery around the place is very beautiful and there is also a lake below the hill. Its so beautiful scenic view from the top of the hill. As it was evening when I reached the top I could see the sun's rays on the lake and so the lake was shining so bright. There is water facility available in the temple premises for the devotees who climb/drive to the hilltop. There is small parking facility but they charge for the vehicle that are parked there. For car they charge Rs25.00. Not many cars can be parked there but ample place to park the two-wheelers. The temple is open from morning till evening 5 pm everyday. You can go on a bike ride here too very beautiful scenery around. If you want to trek that too is good you will enjoy it. 

Ranganathaswamy Temple

                                             Ranganathaswamy Temple - Bookanabetta

                                                    

It was around 1 pm of 28/11/2020 that I visited this place and it was open as it was a Saturday and they were doing mahamangalarti to the Lord when I visited the place. It is located close to Hassan and is around 89 kilometers from Mysore city. This place is a small hilltop temple where Lord Ranganathaswamy resides in the standing position as like Lord Vishnu. He is not sleeping on his Sheshanaga as usually us see in these kind of temples. There is road that leads directly to the top of the hill and you can reach to the top with your vehicle (car/two wheeler) and reach the temple. You can also climb the stairs and reach the top. Its not very huge hill so its not stressful for anyone to climb the hilltop. This is also quite old temple and has been renovated the surroundings of the temple recently and so you can walk around the hill top easily as the flooring is even as they have put tiles.

This temple is open from morning 6 am to evening 6 pm. The priest said even if the temple is closed and if the devotees who have come to the top of the hill can ring the bell that is kept on the top of the hill and the priest would come to open the doors of the Lord for darshanam for the devotees. The view from the top of the hill is very beautiful you can see the villages around the hill and other mountains too. So much greenery the huge coconut trees look so tiny from the top of the hill. When you reach the top of the hill you first get to see Lord Ganesha in the entrance and then the main door of the temple although it is closed always you can go inside from the side of the main door (Gopuram entrance). When you enter there you get lord Hanuman to the right hand side of the door and then there is main deity Lord Ranganathaswamy who is in standing  position with abhayahastha. It is a small statue may be around 3-4 feet but very beautiful black stone statue. Every Saturday there is some crowd in the temple otherwise it is very calm and quite place to spend time. Not much people visit during other days. If you visit 32 feet Sai baba temple at Hirisave this is very close to that temple and you can also see Ranganatha swamy temple gopuram from Sai mandir. So you can visit this place too along with Sai mandir. Hope you guys also enjoy your drive to this place as me and my son did! :)

Yoga Narasimha Swamy Temple

                                             Mudigere Yoga Narasimha Swamy Temple

                                                                    

Today its 28/11/2020 and we are at the brink of the year ending and so took a break and traveled towards Hassan and saw explored few temples which are ancient ones. This temple is build by Hoysalas which is around 900 years old and is considered that the greatest architect Jakanachari built this temple and you can see the beautiful Lord Narasimha Swamy sitting in the Yoga Mudre. The main deity is very very beautiful you cant take your eyes off the statue. It is carved in black stone and the statue also shines so nicely. Another specialty of this temple is that Lord Laxmi Varaha Swamy resides directly in front of Lord Narasimha Swamy. The priest said that although Lord Narasimha is in Yoga mudre there is some fierceness in the statue and to calm that they have installed Lord Varahaswamy with Laxmi on his lap. Both the statues are really so beautifully carved and there is so much strong energies you can feel here.

On Chandrmana Narasimha Jayanthi and Souramana Jayanthi they organise rathotsavam and people from far and wide come here to witness the same. Turmeric alankaram is very famous here. The temple is constructed may be around 10 feet above the ground and you will have to climb few stairs to reach the main santum and the temple is basically divided in to 3 parts which has Garbhagriha, Sukhanasini, and Navaranga mantapa. You can clearly tell that the temple is Hoysala style of architecture if you look at the 4 pillars in the temple which are finely carved and shines so brightly. I love the Hoysala temples and their architecture and it always mesmerises me how they could do such a fine cuts out of those heavy huge stones!

The temple is kept quite clean and neat and there is well parking facility also. They have also built toilets for all the devotees who visit the place and they are kept quite clean and locked so that no locals use them and make it dirty. Very well managed by the temple. The temple is surrounded by old houses and Sugarcane fields and it is a scenic beauty to drive around such a place and feel the fresh breeze on your face. Its always lovely to be around such a beauty of nature. 

The temple is open from 9 am to 1 pm and evenings 5.30 to 6.30 pm every day (this is due to Covid it may change later). The contact person of this temple to perform any pooja is 9945299923, Sridhar swamy, the priest.