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! :)