Choudeswari Temple Tiptur

Who would not like their wishes and longings to come true.  If one were to seek blessings of the goddess and seek answers to their prayers, Chodeswari temple is the place to visit from Bangalore.  It is located 160 kms from Bangalore and 10 kms away from Tiptur which on SH6 enroute to Shimoga.  We had seen a recent TV program on TV9 which sang praise of this temple and its power to make individuals wish come true.  So this Sunday ( 18/3/2012 ) we decided to take the trip to check out the powress of the goddess.

 The distance travelled towards this destination was almost very comfortable because the combination of national and state highway was in good condition.  The rustic atmosphere approaching the temple at Dasarighatta was pleasant surprise.  This temple complex is maintained by Adichunchungiri Mutt.  One can seek the blessings of the Goddess Chowdeswari in the main temple complex.  The idol in the sanctum looks powerful, with bold eyes.  The fierce expression on the goddess face is however soothened  by the priest who are hospitable.  They request you to go to the goddess and seek divine intervention.

One has to buy a ticket for Rs 110 to seek the blessings of the Devi.  Two lemons are placed on a table which is filled with vibuthi ( ashes ) on which the goddess is supposed to answer one's wishes.  Two priest hold the goddess and it is guided by the spirit to answer the queries of the disciple.  We paid for seeking the divine intervention, but unfortunately the queue system and issue of the token seemed to be mismanaged, so we decided to enter the main complex and silently prayed for our wishes to come true.  We had to proceed a long way back lest our doggie goes hungry.

We had a good lunch at the temple premise, it was sumptuous but once again mismanaged by the bhatts, who ran out of  plantain leaves.  We were surprised many advised us to serve ourselves, and there was commotion among themselves and the incharge left the place in a huff.  The rest of the devotees were served on plastic banana leaf.

Accomodation for pilgrims to stay put is being developed, and one can seek the same.  I am sure the devotees may eventually ending up donation for the temple if one decides to stay put in the free accommodation provided.  Marriage ceremonies to seems to be conducted to bolster the revenue generation in this temple.

I hope more organised system of  dharshan is ensured online in future.  The system of  having food too needs to be organised so that devotees don t feel let down.  Whatever lacuna in the organisation the feeling of the visit aftermath definitely leaves behind a miraculous effect.  One feels as if one's burden and worries is off the chest.

Weekend Getways from Bangalore..Kaidala

The challenge is when you almost exhaust your one day round trips, to keep churning more routes and adventure.  Normally when we plan a one day trip we would like to cover maximum.  Last month we undertook a round trip of 460 kms which was exhausting due to intermittent bad roads.  This time around we were fortunate to cover 340 kms comfortably because of  NH 4 and SH 6 which takes one to Shimoga and Honnavar from Tumkur.

So when we started off  our primary destination was Dasarighatta, which is known for the famous Choudeswari Devi.  To travel the distance of  nearly 160 kms without covering any places in between would have been tiresome and boring.  So we decided to take a breakfast break at Kamat Upachar near Dobbaspet.  After a sumptous breakfast and freshen up we moved towards our destination but in between we saw the tourism board of  Kaidala, it was pointing 27 kms from Dobbaspet, but i have travelled that route, the road is not so good.  So decided to stick to NH 4, and approaching Tumkur there is a deviation to Shimoga.  We took the byepass, my hunch told me that Kaidala must be enroute.  We enquired and confirmed that a slight deviation of 4 km on SH6 will take us towards Kaidala.

We proceeded towards Kaidala, which is supposed to be birthplace of  fabled Jakanacharya.  There are so many myths associated with this legendary sculpturer, that it is fabled and even a movie is made on this storyline.  But the fact of the matter after seeing the temple i got the impression that it was first of all not a hoysala architecture.  It resembled more from the Vijaynagar Era or Wodeyar era.   This temple has seems to have been resurrected by ASI.  The symbols on the facade of the temple are elephants, fishes etc.

The diety inside the temple belongs to Lord Chennakeshava, which is also present at Belur temple.  This is carved out of the soap stone.  There are not many sculptures on the facade of the temple surprisingly which may have been removed by ASI for fear of vandalism.

I had read an article wherein a famous professor had clearly mentioned that Jakanacharaya is figment of imagination of the ancient folklore.  He was immortalised and credited for the various hoysala temples.  Eversince this news was revealed the guides too nowerdays refrain from uttering his name.  Most of the artisans engaged during the hoysala period have their names etched on the sculpture and monuments.

Kaidala temple complex is managed by priests appointed by Murjai department, who seem to open the temple premise according to their whims and fancies.  Imagine that too on a Sunday an adjacent temple which must have been part of the main complex is separated and handled by another priest family.  Unfortunately the temple was locked at 9.30 am, and we did not want to risk searching for the priest, since we had to proceed a long distance.

The area surrounding the temple is now being landscaped and hopefully it would be a wonderful and serene complex in years to come.  We took the route back to join the SH6 to proceed towards our main destination at Darsarighatta.