Mandaragiri - part 1

Mandaragiri is one of the monoliths dotting the region between Tumkur and Dobbaspete. The hill, though not a very tall one, is visible from Bengaluru-Tumkur highway.  I've seen the hill almost every journey on this road. Its visible even from the railway line. Yet, I hadn't visited it.

June 22, 2021

My journey from Dharwad started early. Destination was Bengaluru. First stop was at Revana Siddeshwara Devastana at Dodda Bathi hill. The second stop was to see the Pillow Lava rocks at the geological heritage site of Maradihalli between Chitradurga and Hiriyur. Few minutes after crossing Sira, I called a friend at Tumkur but there was no response. I wanted to pay a surprise visit but after trying to reach the friend in other ways did not work. As I approached Tumkur, I gave up on the plan and decided to go to Bangalore. After Kyatsandra, on the left hand side, Mandaragiri hill comes into view... let me see the hill today! Seconds later the arch of Mandaragiri was visible, that was the spot to leave the highway to go to the hill. The road cuts across a railway line, goes through a village, winds a bit for a kilometer and then goes through open land.

 

With hardly any people around, the place had a peaceful feeling. There were some huge boulders standing on open land, and on the other side of the road was a group of small buildings. One of the buildings was unique, shaped like an inverted funnel. Decided to check that out later. Then there was a toll gate. The gatekeeper charged ₹40 to enter the premises. I find a spot to park my car and take a long look at the stairway. Its a short climb, may be 10 minutes to the top.

At present there were five other people climbing up. The slope is not steep, so the steps are low, easy to climb.

A few seconds break. The view is interesting.

As expected the climb lasted less than 10 minutes. However people who started climbing ahead of me were still halfway up. The horizon is ragged.. plenty of hills scattered on the plains. On the left hand side of the horizon is a well shaped peak... that's granite hill called Shivagange.

I wasn't carrying the DSLRs, here's a not so bad picture from my Moto Z. As you see Shivagange is shaped like a Shivalinga. The monolithic rock hill looks like a sleeping bull from the other side.

Back to Mandaragiri, atop the hill is a walled enclosure with four or five ancient shrines. The simple ancient shrine is now undergoing expansion. A concrete platform has been constructed which sits a circular platform. At the center of the circular platform a sculpture is taking shape.

I took a peek into the scaffolding, the sculpture seems to be a tree with lot of branches. Well, we'll have to wait until the scaffolding is removed to know what would be standing there.

This is the entrance to the enclosure. I'm guessing the shrines are accessible to Jains alone, for carrying out their rituals or to make offerings. The enclosure is quite secure with chain-link fence on top of the wall.. may be its needed since this site is remote.

A modern building stands at one corner of the enclosure. Probably its an office or a hall for pilgrims to rest. May be there's a kitchen as well. A footpath runs along the wall to the other side of the hill. Would be interesting since there's a lake behind the hill.

A little pond on the side, definitely an ancient one to harvest rainwater. Notice the boulder with tiger painting? In the background are hills with wounds caused by quarrying activities. Granite business seriously affects out landscape and environment as well. Major changes in the terrain disrupts rainwater flow, probably cutting off supplies to ponds or lakes or even rivers.

This is the northern side of the enclosure. Probably there was another gate here which is being renovated with a Gopura. Since most temples face either north or east, this could be the main entrance of the enclosure.

Close to the pond is another boulder which seems like a teardrop from this side. It has a flat face on the left hand side, very convenient to paint pictures on it.

The boulder's other end. From here it looks like a skewed cone.

A finely sculpted pillar caught my attention. Its a very handsome piece of artwork. It could be a of some incomplete structure or it could be simple discarded for some reason. In the background, is a boulder, a mantapa, a rocky mound and waters of a lovely lake... a very interesting scene,

I turn a bit keeping the pillar in view. There's another on the right. Two mounds forming a cleft between them.. this place would be magical during rains, sunrises, sunsets and full moon nights.

I turn some more. The base of the pillar is designed to fit into a socket... ancient self aligning and locking designs. This could be made anytime from Hoysala's time to post Vijayanagara times. On the ground are sings of light quarrying activity, probably to reduce the slope of the hill to make it convenient for pilgrims to climb, especially in wet conditions.

Last of the series is a view of the enclosure and the boulder. Its because of our ancient shrines hills have survived modern times. Any hill without a shrine is an easy target for mining or quarry companies. Its my thought that many of our superstitions were made to protect Nature's creations like trees, or lakes or hills or even rivers and seas. However, in the name of science, every superstition was made to foolish or evil. One need to really think deeper while dealing with matters connected to ancient people.

This is the scene I loved most. A rainwater harvesting pond, the hills, Mydala Kere waters, and the jagged horizon formed by the hills of Devarayana Durga. I stood here for a minute captivated by the scene. An ideal place for a spiritual center.

I'll continue the article in Mandaaragiri part-2 where we see few more scene of the lake, a sculpture on a boulder, and a mantapa.

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JaK in top 15 Indian history blogs

A quick post to mention that Journeys across Karnataka has been selected by a team of panelists from Feedspot as one of the Top 15 Indian history blogs on the web. My heartfelt thanks & best wishes to Team Feedspot.

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Gange Bhavi, Yettinahalli

It was September 2010 when I first heard of Gange Bhavi. It was from a colleague, and a friend too, who's father's native is nearby village Yettinahalli. Gange Bhavi is 2 km from Yettinahalli and 6 km from NH 48 at Shiggaon. In 2018, my friend shared a few pictures of Gangebhavi. The place looked so serene, lot of greenery, a kind of place which one would to visit. Though I drove through Shiggaon a few times, I could not plan a stop over. Finally, on June 24, 2021 evening a decision was made. In fact Gangebhavi would be the only place I would be seeing during the journey. My niece Durga would be traveling with me to Dharwad for a vacation.

June 25, 2021
We left Bangalore around 5-30 am, stopped once between Hiriyur and Chitradurga for breakfast of cheese sandwiches, reached Shiggaon just before 11-00, turned off the highway and took Gangebhavi road. An arch belonging to Karnataka State Police Training School welcomes travelers to this road. The country road is flanked by fields, some green with new crops, some still brown waiting to be sown. In minutes we were entered Police Training School campus. The campus too is green.. a very nice place for a school. A couple of hundred meters from the other gate is Gangebhavi... a twin well in one enclosure, an ancient temple dressed in concrete walls, a huge Ficus, a sloped roof monastery building, a large pond, and a temple with a Shikhara on elevated ground ...is what one sees from the road. 

I decided to check out the temple first because its pillars looked interesting.

This is a picture from 1995 or 1996 of my friend at the temple. Back then the temple was an incomplete structure. The Garbhagudi would be there, may the Antharala too but the Sabhmantapa was a framework of ancient columns and beams. The side walls were about four feet high. Manjula is posing next to her favorite pillar, the pillar is quite unique, I don't remember seeing it in any other temple.

The present day temple. Any passerby new to this place might ignore the temple unless the columns are noticed.

This is the Sabhamantapa, the pillared hall. The pillar in the foreground on the right is the pillar seen in Manjula's photo. From afar it looks pretty simple, almost plain because its vertical ribs are very spaced closely. The pillar on the left is impressive. I remember seeing a similar one at Bagali Kalleshwara Devastana.

Here's the ribbed pillar. This design looks simple but elegant. Try to imagine how this was made.. the engineering skill to produce this is master level... assuming its was hand sculpted, the level of concentration has to be intense.. very difficult to maintain that accuracy and precision. The columns seem to be coated with some kind of paint which is not really thick, luckily. A long low bow to the ancient temple builders of our land.

This is the adjacent pillar. Plain and simple yet elegant. I think originally i.e. before being painted, was mirror finished. The doorway connects to the small hall which is between the Sabhamantapa and Garbhagudi. The five level door frame is the original one. So are the idol of Nandi and the pedestal on which it is mounted.

Side view of Nandi & its pedestal. Also seen are two more objects- 1. a stone tub and 2. a pyramidal block. I'm guessing the former could be used to store water and the latter for placing offerings like coconuts and plantains. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

This is Garbhagudi's doorway, a relatively simple one but very elegant. On the side wall is an idol of Umadevi, a form of Parvathi.

The temple deity. A Shiva Linga. Compared to other temples Linga is big, its almost three feet tall. Thankfully the Garbhagudi is tidy.

We turn our attention to the main item of this place, the two sources of water- a well and a spring. The enclosure also has three tiny shrines of which one is dedicated to Hanuman. One has a female deity with four arms, two of the hands are holding a Shankha and a Chakra which are symbols of Vishnu. The third shrine's deity is something I missed seeing. The waters from both sources are fresh. The larger of the two is the spring which flows continuously. The smaller one must be a well, it doesn't overflow.

Gangebhavi is closely connected with the great sage Jahnu Rishi. In the Hindu legend Mahabharatha, in the story of Ganga descending from heaven to earth, the turbulent waters flooded Jahnu Rishi's ashram and disturbed his penance. The angry sage drank all of Ganga's waters thereby stalling her journey. The worried gods pray and plead Jahnu to release Ganga so that objective of her coming to earth is met. It is said that Jhanu Rishi came to this spot once and he wanted water for Sandhyavandane ritual. The sage called Ganga to give him water. Ganga came from Kashi to this spot. The larger of the two ponds which is a continuously flowing spring is said to be Ganga's waters. This place is called as Dakshina Kashi since Gangamatha flows here.

I think the spring water feeds this tank. The niches in the enclosure wall are used for performing rituals. In Hindu tradition, a person performing a ritual first purifies himself/herself and then starts the ritual. Pooja is performed right next to the source of water instead of trying to go to another place and get defiled on the way. Many such wells and Kalyanis can be seen in temples across South India. Two good examples of such places are Hosa Mahakoota and Halea Mahakoota near Badami.

A noisy group of boys from Shiggaon were diving in and out of water as if this was a public swimming pool. They were conversing in Hurdu.. no need to tell what community boys. It was irritating to see them at a place which is considered holy and sacred. The noisy scene here reminded me of the scene at Nandi Baavi close to Arvattu Kambada Gudi at Nagavi in Kalburgi district. That community people are indifferent to other's feelings. Disgusting people with a disgusting culture. Wish there's a way to quick clean way to get rid of such people.

This is one of the three little shrines. Durga standing on the steps is shooting pictures with her camera. I felt her vacation had a good start with a visit to a historical place. 

The large pond next to Gangebhavi. The water from the spring flows into this pond and then flows out as a stream. A dirt track runs along the pond shore which goes to paddy fields. This area is Malnad i.e. part of the Western Ghats.

Scene from the road. Young paddy saplings cover the slopes. Few farmers have planted palm along their field borders. I happened to talk to a farmer who's home is next to the pond. He told that the annual Jathre (fair) takes place on the day of Sankranthi. People from surrounding villages and towns attend the fair with great enthusiasm.

Gangebhavi is also known for a monastery named Shri Jagadguru Panchachari Matha. It is said that Sri Gangadhar Swamiji (Rambhapuri, Muktimandira) stayed at Gangebhavi for some time. Sri Rajendrayogi is the head of Jagadguru Panchachari Matha. He's affectionately known as Gangebhavi Ajja. He attained Kailasa recently. Om Shanti.

I skipped the Matha and resumed the journey. It was a mistake which I realized after returning home and chatted with Manjula. She shared a few pictures of a cave shrine and a temple behind the Matha building. I felt I cheated myself. Anyway, guess it wasn't destined for this trip. Hoping to see it another time, So, this is the entrance to the little cave shrine.

A short tunnel to reach the shrine. Such a lovely place. One could sit here with eyes closed and float away.

The other shrine is a temple dedicated to Jahnu Rishi. Gorgeous artwork gives the temple façade a very warm look.

I must come here one day just to see the Matha interior, Gavi and Jahnu Gudi.

On the way back, we stopped to take a picture of Ganga's idol at the police training school. It's a beautiful idol, very nicely made. It would've been more beautiful if the water was falling from Ganga's pot.

If you are passing by Shiggaon and have an hour to spare, take a break, visit Gangebhavi.

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pillow lava rocks of Maradihalli

Besides prehistorical and historical monuments, there are geological or geoheritage monuments as well. A unique or rarely seen natural rock formation is of geological importance hence such a thing is called a geological or geoheritage monument. Based on the rareness or uniqueness the monuments are awarded a status by the geological department. There are around two dozen national geoheritage sites across India, of them four sites are in Karnataka. They are:

1. Peninsular Gneiss, Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bengaluru City
2. Columnar Basalt, Coconut Island, Udipi District
3. Pillow Lavas, Maradihalli, Chitradurga District
4. Pyroclastic Rocks, Peddapalli, Kolar District

Besides the declared sites, there are other unique sites such as the Yana's crystalline karst limestone rocks, Savandurga's monolith, Badami's sandstone hills, Kutkankeri hill, Mudgal granite formations, acrobatic rock formation near Koppal, boulder strewn hills of Anegundi, and many more.

I'd seen and been on Lalbagh's Peninsular Gneiss countless times since childhood days. Then in early 2000s I happened to see the Basalt columns of Coconut island. Then during district wise research of historical monuments I happened to learn of Pillow Lavas of Maradihalli and Pyroclastic rocks of Peddapalli near KGF recently, probably four or five years ago. Though I drove in the vicinity of Maradihalli, a visit didn't materialize due to several reasons. During the first week of June 2021 a trip to Bangalore was taking shape. During the second week the plan was frozen with a stop over at Maradihalli.

June 22, 2021

Dharwad-Bengaluru journey started at 5-15 am. First stop was at 7-30 at Dodda Bathi Gudda. The break was used for a visit to Revana Siddeshwara temple followed by homemade breakfast. The journey resumed around 8-30, by 10-00 I was at Maradihalli driving through a narrow lane going up the hillock towards the pillow lava. I parked my car where the cement road ended.

A group of boys were playing on a water tank, I approached them with a hope that one of them would oblige to take me to the pillow lavas. One of them was willing but another boy dissuaded him. The dissuader said they had some work. They were conversing in Telegu.. from what I caught, they were wary of strangers. The willing boy gave directions instead.. just go along this dirt road, it'll lead you to the rocks. After couple of minutes on the dirt road, I decided to just cut across. As I got closer to the hill top, the slope was littered with brown to black colored rocks.

My target was to reach the pole atop the hill. I guessed the pillow lavas could be see there.

On the way I happened to notice this rock which was much different from the ones seen earlier on this hill. I guessed this must a sample of pillow lava.

The hill was peaceful. Though cloudy, the air was warm but a mild breeze was a relief.  

At the top were a few dressed granite blocks. They seem to be pillars for an upcoming temple. However work seems to have ceased months ago. A larger rock similar to the one seen minutes ago caught my eyes.

This too is pillow lava but I know this isn't the main rock formation. I kept looking and found smaller rocks. 

A closer look at one of the rocks close to the hill top. It looks like a slice of cheese stuck in between chunks of vegetables.

Pillow lava is seen clearly in this rock. It looks like samples have been hacked away from this rock.

A little below the hill top is this ancient shrine. If I'm not mistaken, this shrine is called Ranganatha Gudi. I'm not sure if these shaped pillars are parts of a proper structure which had existed earlier. A narrow flight of rough cut stone steps is there in front of this east facing temple. This shrine seems to have regular visitors.

The temple as seen from the lower end of the staircase. Semi dressed stones have been positioned to prevent soil erosion by rainwater. From this spot, I could see a fabricated structure.. a frame with two legs grouted into the ground. 

The frame was meant to hold an information board but the board was missing. I guessed this was the board about pillow lava rocks. With a little online research I found a picture of the board, its content is given below:

National Geological Monument

Pillow Lava

This hill made up of pillow lava represents an unique feature formed as a result of outpouring of molten rock matter called lava from submarine volcanoes about 12200 million years ago. When the lava comes in contact with cold seawater, pillow like structures develop in by sudden chilling. The study of pillows help establish relative ages of the rock types and the environment of their formation.

These pillow structures are among the best of their kind preserved in the world.

Right behind the board is this rock formation. Good rains have nurtured the vegetation around the rocks, giving the place a lively look. Yes, this is the main rock formation.

A wedge shaped rock clearly displays pillow lava formations.

A closer look at the rocks. The surface is pockmarked at some places.

A few meters away is a larger group of pillow lava. 

This boulder seems like a bunch of smaller boulders have been fused together. It's surface is covered with pockmarks. The following picture is a closer look a the pointed end of this boulder.

Molten lava frozen between lumps of lumps of harder stone.

This is the largest flat surface among all the boulders seen here. The boulder face is approximately 10' feet high. This seems like very liquidly lava froze while in contact with some flat surface.  

Pillows spread across multifaced surfaces. This is close to the base of the 10' tall boulder.

Large to small pillows. I must've shot more than fifty pictures and felt like shooting more. These rocks are very interesting, the more one looks at them the more interesting they get.

I had a journey to continue. I move on reluctantly. A battered stone lying near the board. From here I take the dirt road back to the water tank where my car is parked.

I meet the group of boys were still there including the willing boy and the dissuader. The willing boy was smiling, asked me if I saw the pillow lavas. Yes. Then he pointed me to a footpath and said there are more rock if you go up this path. I told him to come and show it. The dissuader started saying something, I told him to keep quite and asked the willing boy to lead me. It worked, the willing boy lead me to another group of rocks. He said there are many such rock formations on this hill and other hills nearby. He pointed out in the direction of Chitradurga and said there's a big hill with lots of such rocks but there's quarrying activity out there.

This is the willing boy Tarun Kumar posing next to a rust coated pillow lava.

This formation is so beautiful. As I said earlier,, one could spend hours here and shoot countless pictures.

In the few minutes we spent here, Tarun's brother Nithin came up. He wanted to make sure his brother was safe. I guess the dissuader failed for the second time :) The footpath seen here goes straight down to the water tank.

We walked back to the car. The dissuader was frowning. I asked him if he finished whatever work he had. No answer. Tarun and I chatted. He was a curious character. Wanted to know how the car lock worked, how the windows worked. I thanked him, said bye and headed back towards Bengaluru.

While on this topic, do check out a related article- the geological museum at Syntheri Rocks.

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