Huliyurdurga: Kumbi Betta and Malleswara Betta

Aug 17, 2011

My first visit to Huliyur was with Deepak and Vijay. We arrived here from Savandurga. The hill's sides are pretty steep and covered with dense vegetation. Steps are made till the Ganesha temple quarter way up. We could see painted arrows pointing the way up further. It wasn't easy, we had to do bit of circus to climb a 7 feet vertical hurdle. From there the path was barely two feet wide, it wound around the hill. The path ended and this steep rock face seemed to be the only way up. Ruins of a fort wall can be seen up the there. Climbing up is one matter but coming down will be impossible without ropes ..if not for all, it applies to me.

Deepak tried going up and gave up saying its too dangerous without ropes. He might have climbed about 12 feet, climbing down that itself was crazy. I placed my stretched arm creating a step with my palm. And the place where Vijay and I stood was barely 3 feet wide, then a steep slope.

We gave up and turned back disappointed. We were tired and we wanted to be back home before dark. As we drove out of Huliyur and turned towards Magadi, I happened to notice ruins on Hemagiri. I wanted to come back to explore it.

Aug 12, 2012

This visit Durga and Amma joined in. We left Bengaluru early, after passing Magadi we stopped for breakfast- bread, butter, cheese, jam and tomato baaji. I think it was 9 when we reached Huliyur. Hemagiri is about 2 kms from Huliyur bus-stand. Just before the hill we saw a family sowing ragi with bullocks. We stopped to inquire the route to reach the hill top. The farmers were friendly and told there are steps, climbing will not be difficult. As we spoke we noticed a pond with lotus. In the background is Hemagiri.

Bili Taavare Hoovu.

These steps look recently made; thanks to who ever took the initiative and the people who made them. That's Durga, she's really tall for her age.

The sculpted steps ended at a mantapa just behind me. We saw a dead mongoose body here. Deepak and Amma were little behind us, Durga and I were eager to reach the summit. An ancient flagstone path lies ahead..

That's Kumbi Betta and Huliyur town right next to it.

This rock formation looks like an ancient man-made shelter. Notice the small triangular pocket in the rock, on the left.

Ruins of a fort wall. We must be more than half way up now.

A small temple with beautiful Basavanna inside.

Crumbling fort walls. These walls are pretty similar to the walls on Jaalamangala hill.

Weather was pleasant, thanks to the clouds. These walls are made of rough stones, they show no signs of being dressed. In the background on the left is Kumbi Betta. Perhaps, warlords back then wanted a fort here because of higher elevation. For some reason, the fort never got completed.

Little further up, Durga and I made a model temple complex; a towering Shikhara, a Deepastambha, walls on four sides and a Dwarabagilu. We placed a small black stone in the temple- that would be a Shiva Linga and offered it nine Thumbe flowers. It was a great feeling after having made this little temple.

We are very close to the summit now. While Durga and I were busy building the temple, Amma had gone ahead. At the base of the cactus is a slab of granite, makes a very nice seat with a beautiful view.

Mallikarjuna Devasthana with a small tank opposite, no water in the tank :(

Kumbi Betta. Notice how steep the hill is.

 The fort on the top is accessible only to brave climbers.

Ruins of a fort can be seen here.

Amma had brought cucumbers, Durga passed around the peeled & cut pieces. Deepak had nicely settled on the granite slab lost in his thoughts.

I was wondering if these three lines were man-made or natural. Some youngsters had etched "Namaste Matte Banni." That's nice of them.

I climb down, not the way I came but towards the fort walls, wanted a closer look at them.

Though the climb was steep, it was comfortable because the surface of the rocks was rough, grip wasn't a problem.

I went down gradually while my company were relaxing at the top. I went past the temple we built and went further to explore the plateau extending in South direction. I noticed a group of flat topped stones lying in a tight formation ..surely they were one single rock tens of thousand of years ago.

I had signaled Durga to start climbing down. It rained few minutes, Durga and I took shelter in the mantapa while Amma and Deepak climbed down. Rain vanished as suddenly as it had appeared ..a passing rain.

Our farmer friends were still busy sowing. Even the children ran around helping the elders refill their seeds pouch. They asked us to have lunch; ragi mudde and hulli saaru. We thanked them and told our packed lunch bag was in the car, we'll have later. I gave the kinds some apples and said bye. Here's a video of the sowing activity-

Our next destination was Bairavadurga hill and Chikkanna &Thimmakka's Saalu Maragalu.

Huliyurdurga Coordinates: 12°48'45"N   77°2'54"E
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