Until the day I received an email from my acquaintance Jayachanda N S from Shimoga, I'd never heard of a dam submerged in a reservoir of another dam. The email was an invitation to a trip to this submerged dam of Madenur. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the trip but Jayachanda shared some photos of the place. June end I chatted with Jayachanda on phone and requested his permission to post his pictures here.. yes.
Madenur Dam, also known as Hirebhaskar dam was built across river Sharavathi between 1939 and 1948. The dam was inaugurated in 1949 and remained functional until the much larger Linganmakki Dam came into existnce in mid 1960s. Now Madenur Dam remains submerged in the waters of Linganmakki reservoir only to surface when the water level dips during peak summer month of May. With some more research, I found Rajesh Naik's post on dreamroutes.org and learnt how the dam functioned.
The construction of Madenur dam was supervised by a civil engineer names Ganesh Iyer from the Old Mysore region. He was an expert in construction of structures based on the siphon system. The 1150' (350 meter) dam has 11 siphons, each 18' wide x 58' high. The mechanism of siphon system enables water to flow out of the reservoir automatically when it reaches the optimum level. Besides the siphons, there are 3 crest gates
Here we go- the wonderful Madenur Dam which has survived 50 years of remaining submerged. In this view the river flows from left to right. The first siphon from the east end.
The siphon top. One can walk on the 2' wide bridges connecting the siphons but it can be very risky.
The stairway connecting the dam crest to the siphon platform.
The pillars around siphons. Each siphon has an outer ring of 12 pillars. The inner wall is the well through which water flows out.
The cement structure has survived the test of time and water. Appreciate the project team's work.
The domes of the siphon; whoever designed this structure had a sense of aesthetics too.
Finally, the twelve siphons in a single frame.
The dam and siphons as viewed from air. Coutesy- Google Maps via Wikimapia.org.
The other side of the dam.. i.e. the tailrace. It is said there's an ancient temple submerged close to this dam.
Jayachanda locates a herostone.. some where on the reservoir bed.
My thanks to Jayachanda for these lovely snaps. Hopefully, one day I shall make it to this place and the nearby forts of Nagara and Kaveledurga.
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Madenur Dam, also known as Hirebhaskar dam was built across river Sharavathi between 1939 and 1948. The dam was inaugurated in 1949 and remained functional until the much larger Linganmakki Dam came into existnce in mid 1960s. Now Madenur Dam remains submerged in the waters of Linganmakki reservoir only to surface when the water level dips during peak summer month of May. With some more research, I found Rajesh Naik's post on dreamroutes.org and learnt how the dam functioned.
The construction of Madenur dam was supervised by a civil engineer names Ganesh Iyer from the Old Mysore region. He was an expert in construction of structures based on the siphon system. The 1150' (350 meter) dam has 11 siphons, each 18' wide x 58' high. The mechanism of siphon system enables water to flow out of the reservoir automatically when it reaches the optimum level. Besides the siphons, there are 3 crest gates
Here we go- the wonderful Madenur Dam which has survived 50 years of remaining submerged. In this view the river flows from left to right. The first siphon from the east end.
View of the dam from the reservoir.
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24 comments:
Great photography!
Oh this architecture is really inspiring. It is very seriously and devotedly designed and created. Thanks for sharing. Liked both the interior and external pics, gave a good complete picture. If someone could pose in them, the scale could be more evident. The builder/architect seems to have taken some aesthetic clue from fort bastions - perhaps may be belonging to this regions and spent some time observing or being with forts!
Siddeshwar, if you do plan Kavaledurga, do let me know, I may send you a secret map of locations you wont want to miss in that hill. If you go to Nagara, I think Devaganga ponds (Basavabaina village) is near.
ಒಂದು ಡ್ಯಾಂ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಇನ್ನೊಂದು ಡ್ಯಾಂ ಮುಳುಗಿದೆ ಅನ್ನೋದೇ ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯದ ಸಂಗತಿ. ಇದನ್ನು ಸೊಗಸಾದ ವಿವರಣೆಯೊಂದಿಗೆ ಪ್ರಸ್ತುತಪಡಿಸಿದ ಸಿದ್ದೇಶ್ವರರವರಿಗೆ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು. ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಮಾಹಿತಿ ಹಂಚಿಕೊಂಡ ಜಯಚಂದರಿಗೂ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.
ಸಿದ್ದೇಶ್ವರರೇ, ನಿಮ್ಮ ಯಾತ್ರೆ ಮುಂದುವರಿಯುತ್ತಿರಲಿ. ನಮಗೇ ಗೊತಿಲ್ಲದ ನಮ್ಮ ನಾಡಿನ ಇತಿಹಾಸ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತಿರಲಿ. :)
@Nikhil - you are so right, the dam does have likeness to a bastion, designed by heart and mind. Its my long wish to see the forts of this region. If you can share the map, it would be great! Now I'm curious to see the secret map.. did you make it yourself.
@Ganesh - thanks for your kind wishes.
:)
Our grandfather C. Subba Rao was the executive engineer for the Hirebhaskar Dam. A Civil Engineer with an additional degree from IISc in Electrical Technology he was the supervisor with a direct hands-on approach to managing the project under the Mysore PWD. My grandparents lived in the area which was full of trees, jungle and wild animals before the water filled the entire area and before the villages had to be evacuated. C. Subba Rao died of cancer at 49 after serving as the fourth Chief Architect of Bangalore in 1947-48 when the first 8 blocks of Jayanagar were constructed.
I was reading a kannada novel by name Punarvasu ( author gajanana sharma) and story based on hirebhaskara n linganamakki project and drowned villages. After finishing the book was searching in Google n got this blog.
Thank you Siddeshwar & Jayachandra for this fruitful information.
@Prakash - nice to know your family's connection.
@Pallavi - I'll suggest my better-half to read Punarvasu.
Thank you.
Thank you for a very informative narrative and some great pictures! Forgotten projects and forgotten people behind them get a chance to be seen and appreciated for the marvels they were for the times!
Namaste it's good information and thank's.I hope about 25 years back myself and my family about 30 members went to this dam by water with the guidance and help of Mr.Swamy of Honnemardu adventure board and they provided us their thepp's with guide we started our georny by 8AM and reached the dam by 1PM we took our lunch and after finishing it again we started our georny and reached honnemard 7PM it was a great and unforgettable journey even the hospitality and the help of Mr. Swamy and his family and team also unfortunately at that time we didn't have cameras to take photos.
travelling by water would've been a great experience. I'm trying to imagine how it feels to travel for hours on water surrounded by hills and forests. thank you for sharing your experience.
@Prakash - let us all together revive the forgotten projects people behind them. thank you!
@Siddheshwar - thank you. Karnataka (the erstwhile Mysore Kingdom) had a reputation for good governance, an enlightened and progressive ruler (Krishnarajendra Wadeyar) who with the assistance of Dr M. Vishweshariah commissioned many such hydroelectric, irrigation, city layout and water management projects. I believe Mysore was the first princely state in India to electrify its cities with the commissioning of the Krishnarajasagar. The layouts of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet and Malleswaram in Bangalore were other examples of designing modern sanitary suburbs that were a far cry from the old Pete. It would be wonderful for someone to compile a history of the projects of progressive Mysore State. I know that my own grandfather was supervising and completed the construction of the then Erwin Canal which brought water to the sugarcane fields of Mandya. Thank you once again for evoking memories of the work of a man that I never saw and who died of cancer at the young age of 49 after working on these great projects.
For those who have read this article...kindly read "Punarvasu" novel written by Dr. Gajanana Sharma...it'll give complete information regarding the Jog falls and Hirebaskara dam construction and many more
Thank you
thank you for the valuable info.
Eagerly waiting to visit it shortly. Tks for posting this for better information
Thank you Pooranima-avre.
I am Padmanabha, now (29-06-2022) 69 year old, worked for ISRO, Bengaluru. I was born and brought-up at Madenuru also called Hirebhaskar. My father late Sri Krishnamurthy was working at Hirebhaskara as Operator cum-in-charge of the dam. There were about 30-35 houses in Hirebhaskara and most of the personnel were working for the Dam. I did my primary schooling at Hirebhaskara school upto 5th Std. and later shifted to Bengaluru in the year 1963 for 6th Std. My father and my elder brother stayed at Hirebhaskara as they were working there. During beginning of 1964, all the people at Hirebhaskara were asked to shift to other places mostly to nearby Talaguppa, Kargal, Thumri, Jog and other places as the entire place including the dam was to be submerged due to Linganamakki dam had become operational. My father & my brother shifted to Jog during April-1964. Later my father died of heart failure at Jog in Dec-1964. I visited with my family only in 2013 to see this wonderful place exactly 50 years after I left. I was so excited, thrilled to see this beautiful wonderful place. I have seen the house where I lived for 10 years but only the foundations. ಎಲ್ಲ ಮನೆಗಳ ಅವಶೇಷಗಳು ಅಲ್ಲಿದ್ದವು. With lots of happiness, emotions, tears were there. I recollected my old memories when I lived there. ನಮ್ಮ ತಂದೆ ತಾಯಿಯವರ ಜೊತೆ ಸಂಜೆ ಹೊತ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೊಳೆ ದಡಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದು, ನೀರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಈಜಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದುದು, ನೆನೆದುಕೊಂಡೆನು. ಆ ಸುಂದರ, ರಮಣೀಯ, ಮನೋಹರ ದೃಶ್ಯಗಳು ನನ್ನ ಮನಃಪಟಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಈಗಲೂ ನೆನಪಿದೆ. ರಜಾದಿನಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರ ಜೊತೆ ಕಾಡಲ್ಲಿ ಸುತ್ತಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದೆವು. I walked everywhere including Dam. I met some of my school-mates at Talaguppa, Kargal & at Jog and recalled our old memories with them. I shot several photographs of the place.
Padmanabha.B.K. # 521. ISRO layout. Bengaluru. Ph : 9900604628.
Padmanabha-avare, you have expressed your memories & thoughts beautifully. Sir, Thank you so much for the wonderfully composed comment.
Hello Nikhil, I'm from Mangalore and hold interests in things you have stated. Been to Kavaledurga more than a couple of times..the maps around the hills, you spoke of caught my interests.. Would you kindly give me some insights about it.
9844813437.pls do get back. Thank you.
Where you found that stone inscriptions. Means which village ?
Sri Chandrakant Sanganayakar, there's no mention of inscription as such. are you referring to the hero-stone?
Yes Punarvasu only brought me here
An inscription is there at the bottom. And it is the last image in dry land
Long while since I visited your blog, you are as prolific as ever :)
I had the urge to visit Hirebhaskara since a long while - I was first let know of this by a local person near Ninasam, whose parents lost some ancestral land during the Linganamakki dam construction. I will not ask 'how to visit' etc, as any public information will only mean unwanted attention, visitors and garbage to the place.
It's a beautiful post about such a beautiful past of such a beautiful area. Sagara and around will remain my most favourite part of Karnataka. There are a lots of unknown things to learn about the area.
Hoping to see a post from you on Hosagunda and it's past ( Here's my post on it : https://sanitybrigade.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-lost-and-rediscovered-village-of.html ) but I can never to do justice to places / research like you do.
Thanks so much to Prakash and Padmanabha sir to bring in so much of additional information. God bless everyone and God bless those even more that gave up their land for the larger good - what a great sacrifice!
I'm also doing some research : I needed the full list of 32 villages submerged by Linganamakki. Where could I find it?
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