And the drive leads to Melkote..

Monsoon weekend without rain.. the weather is just perfect for a drive. We did not want to go too far since we had only Sunday to explore.

So we decided to head towards Melkote, known as “Badrinath of the South”. It is a town which is more than 1000 years old and is famous for “Vairamudi Brahmotsava” and its tasty Puliogare.

We started at 6 am and were on the Mysore road by 6.40 am. The traffic seemed endless. Though the road is good, you do not get the feeling that you have left the city at all till you cross Mandya. We stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast. The route we took was:

Bangalore -> NH 275 to Ramanagara -> Channapatna -> Mandya -> Turn right to catch the old MC road -> Melkote (approx. 140 Kms in total)

After Mandya, do not take the right which has ‘Melkote’ signage. The road is not great. Go towards Pandavapura and then go on to Melkote. It will only add a couple of kilometers to the drive but the road is good.

It is only after you cross Mandya will you start enjoying the rural environment. Looking at the lush Green fields and small villages in between you tend to leave behind the tensions of city dwelling. There are signage all along the route to guide you.

We first went to Cheluvanarayana swamy temple. The crowd was less and the darshan was done within 30 minutes. The Vairamudi Brahmotsava is for this main diety.

Then we proceeded to climb up the hill to go to Yoga Narasimha swamy temple. It is believed that Prahlad himself installed the idol on the hill. It is a small hill with crude rock steps. There are two points from which you can start the climb up: one has 375 steps and the other 220 steps. You can take your car upto the second point so that you can climb up quickly.

The climb is not too steep and we saw quite a few elderly people climbing it with ease. The view from above is breath taking.

There are footprints carved on stone at one of the edges of the hill. Some believe that Lord Vishnu gave up his Narasimha avatar from here.

Be careful about the monkeys in the temple on the hill. They tend to snatch anything and everything. It started to rain soon after and we had a hurried downhill walk.

Right outside the Cheluvanarayana swamy temple, there are vendors selling the famous Melkote puliogare and curd rice. These are must-haves there. They also sell the readymade masala of puliogare.

Must visit places nearby:

Cheluvanarayana swamy temple, Rayagopura, Yoga narasimhaswamy temple, Sanskrit college, wildlife sanctuary and lots of ponds.

We could not make it to the wildlife sanctuary this time, but there is always a next time.