Bathi Hill

Davangere’s my father's home town. This house was built by my grandfather in the early 1960s. Now, the house is not there, I mean it was demolished couple of years since I shot this picture.

This is Sri Revana Siddeshwara Devastana, also called Bathi Siddappa Gudi since it's situated on Bathi Gudda. This picture was shot in 1995, before the temple's renovation.

The temple is located half-way up Bathi hill. At the hill's base is the village of the same name. This place is about 6km from Davangere on the way to Harihar. Davangere & Harihar can be called as twin cities with just 12km separating them. The hill offers a nice view of the surrounding mostly flat terrain. Green fields, few ponds and lakes and more hills in the distance. Evenings are good time to spend there; enjoy cool breeze and sunsets.

Below photo was shot during the renovation, probably early 2000s.

During one of the earlier visits when I was about 6 or 7 years old, Appaji, Dipi and I had walked half way around the hill to a cave. It's a small cave, seemed like naturally formed, at the same elevation as the Siddappa Gudi. On the way, I remember Appaji telling us that a lion lived in the cave when asked if any animal lived there. That was the first time I ever saw a cave. During another visit with a group of relatives, we went up the hill beyond the temple. The upper part of the hill is ragged with a lot of outcrops, making the climb unsafe. We weren't dressed for that kind of an adventure. We gave up after a 15 minute climb and returned to the temple.

Here's a short video of the temple shot in March 2013 and the link to the blog post published in 2019 - Doddabathi Revana Siddeshwara Gudi.

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