Maari Kanive Dam and Vani Vilas Sagar

Though we had driven past Hiriyur several times since my childhood days, we couldn't make a trip to Vani Vilas Sagar. I fact I'd not even seen a photo of it until 3 or 4 years back. When I read about the place, the urge to visit it got stronger but it was still a pending item. Then in the third week of January 2023 during my inquiry for Ficus Krishnae trees I heard from my cousin's husband that there was  a tree in a park near Vani Vilas Sagar dam. Around the same time, a long pending trip to Bengaluru was being planned, the Ficus at Vani Vilas Sagar was a catalyst in finalizing the trip.

Jan 23, 2023. I left Dharwad around 3-45 AM; my first stop was Sri Revana Siddeshwara Gudi at Dodda Bathi where I spent about 20 minutes; the next item was Sri Basaveshwara Gudi, Anekonda which I reached by 7-15, spent about 45 minutes looking in & around the XII Century artifact; then I drove out of Davangere towards Bengaluru. During my previous drive on this highway, I'd seen the new bypass around Chitradurga was being constructed. Now the new bypass road was open to traffic, we don't even get to see Chitradurga, a number of rock hills have been leveled to make this new road, its quite scenic but hurts to imagine the original state. That's the cost of development. At Hiriyur I got off NH48, drove through the town, found the road to Vani Vilas Sagar, which is a 20 km drive. By 10-30 I was at the spot, the dam came into view, on the left was a big Ficus with hundreds of aerial roots and on the right was Kanive Maaramma Devastana. 'Kanive' means valley, since the shrine of Maari is situated in a valley, the deity is called as Kanive Maaramma. And vice versa also applies... since Maari shrine is present here, this valley is called Maari Kanive.

I parked my car under the Ficus, next to which are a row of shops and tourism department park. Both park gates were shut which was little disappointing. How would look for Krishna Ficus without entering the parks? Luckily the tourism department park has a side entrance which is always open. I explored the park completely, no sign of Krishna Ficus here. The forest department park didn't seem to have any other gate, I thought may be today's not the day. So I headed towards the dam.

There are two flights of steps on either end of the dam wall and on either ends of the walls are two pillared halls, they are the viewing galleries built when this dam was constructed. One of the stairs starts just behind Maari Devastana and ends at the top of the dam. There's a fence restricting people from venturing beyond the viewing gallery. However on the opposite site, the staircase continues beyond the gallery, the elevated views from that side are captivating. This view below is from the gallery level.

At the base of the dam is a board which describes the dam as below:
ವಾಣಿ ವಿಲಾಸ ಸಾಗರ (ಮಾರಿ ಕಣಿವೆ) : ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಪ್ರಸಿದ್ಧ ಪ್ರವಾಸಿ ತಾಣಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿರಿಯೂರು ತಾಲ್ಲೂಕಿನಲ್ಲಿರುವ ವಾಣಿವಿಲಾಸ ಸಾಗರವೂ ಒಂದು. ಮಾರಿಕಣಿವೆ ಎಂಬಲ್ಲಿ ವೇದಾವತಿ ನದಿಗೆ ಅಡ್ಡಲಾಗಿ, ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ಮಹಾರಾಜರು ಕಟ್ಟಿಸಿದ ಅಣೆಕಟ್ಟು ಇದು. ಇದು ಹಿರಿಯೂರಿನಿಂದ 20ಕಿ.ಮೀ ಹಾಗೂ ಚಿತ್ರದುರ್ಗದಿಂದ 60 ಕಿ.ಮೀ ದೂರದಲ್ಲಿದೆ. ಇದನ್ನು 1898 ರಿಂದ 1907 ಅವಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಎಚ್.ಡಿ.ರೈಸ್ ಮುಂತಾಗಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಇಂಜಿನಿಯರುಗಳು ಇದರ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣದಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಈ ವಿಶಾಲ ಜಲಾಶಯವು ಎತ್ತರದ ಒಂದು ಬದಿಯಿಂದ ನೋಡಿದಾಗ ಭಾರತ ಭೂಪಟವನ್ನು ಹೋಲುತ್ತದೆ. ಇದರ ಉದ್ದ 1330 ಅಡಿ ಎತ್ತರ 162 ಅಡಿ ಇದ್ದು, ಅದು 25,000ಕ್ಕೂ ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಎಕರೆ ಭೂಮಿಗೆ ನೀರುಣ್ಣಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾರಿಕಾಂಭಾ ಮತ್ತು ರಂಗನಾಥಸ್ವಾಮಿ ದೇವಾಲಯಗಳಿವೆ. ಅನೇಕ ಭಕ್ತರು ಇವಕ್ಕೆ ಬೇಟಿ ಕೊಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. -ಜಿಲ್ಲಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಹಾಗೂ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರು, ಜಿಲ್ಲಾ ಪ್ರವಾಸೋದ್ಯಮ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಸಮಿತಿ, ಚಿತ್ರದುರ್ಗ.
Vani Vilas Sagar (Maari Kanive):It is one of the famous tourist spots of the Chitradurga district, situated in Hiriyur taluk. This reservoir is built across the Vedavathi river by the Maharaja of Mysore. This is 20 kms away from Hiriyur and 60 kms from Chitradurga. This was built during 1898 to 1907. Mr. H.D. Rice and other engineers took part in constructing of this reservoir. The water looks like India map when it is viewed from the top of the hill on one side. The length of the dam is 1330 feet and height 162 feet. It feeds water to the land more than 25,000 acres. Here are two shrines of the deities Marikamba and Ranganathaswamy which attract so many devotees. - Deputy Commissioner and Chairman, District Tourism Development Committee

The description however doesn't mention that Rani Kempa Nanjammani Vani Vilasa Sannidhana, the widow of king Chamaraaja Wadiyar, was one of the promoters of this dam project. It is said that Mysore Kingdom royal family has financed such projects even to the extent of pledging their personal jewelry to borrow money. 

The still waters of Vani Vilas Sagar. The reservoir is 16 km & 7.5 km at its longest & widest, and its gross storage capacity is 30.4 TMC i.e. when the waters have reached a height of 130 feet. This reservoir has 3 canals namely left canal, right canal and high level canal. In the picture below, on the left-bottom corner is the roof of the gallery.

View of Maaramma Devastana, a community hall and forest department park. According to one of the locals, Krishna Ficus trees should be situated in this park.

The dam gates are situated close to the left bank, next to the right angle bend in the wall.

Around the dam are several pumping stations supplying water to the three canals. The white speck just above the water surface is one such station.

The staircase is an artistic creation. The retaining walls porous, holds the earth yet allows rainwater to seep through. Such a construction actually prevents landslides and are long lasting. Assuming this was constructed a few years after completing the dam, this is almost a century old.

With a partially shaded staircase, climbing wasn't tiring. Also flanking the stairs are small terraces where I could catch my breath as I admired the elevated views. In fact these little shaded terraces is a nice place for picnic.

The right bank staircase ends at a the PWD Guest House gate which is usually kept locked. With the dam gates shut, the water surface was almost still. Any unevenness seen is due to air movement. A pleasant breeze would blow over the water from time to time.

This is the path along the PWD Guest House wall. This stretch too offers nice views, especially early mornings & evenings. The guest house seems to be well maintained. Once could obtain permission for accommodation from the head office at Bangalore.

This is the left bank staircase as seen from ground level. The dam wall must be at least 100' at its base, of course the foundation would be much wider. Wish I could see construction time photographs.

The old Ficus, spreading its wide, providing more shade below and accommodating more birds on its branches. Ancient superstitions around trees like Ficus, Banyan, Tamarind were justified because they kept unwanted people away, which was conducive for the trees' growth.

This is the staircase to Maaramma Devastana, situated close to the right bank.

A heroine-stone next to a Neem tree near the temple stairs. Looks like this warrior lady was martyred while protecting this shrine or a village close by. It was a practice in olden times to honor warriors with such memorials.

Despite all the modern facilities, this shrine has still retained some of its ancient features. I believe an annual fair is held here which attracts thousands of people.

Lastly, the forest department park entrance. I wasn't ready to leave the place without finding the Krishna Ficus. On my way out, I stopped here to peep though the gate grills. First I noticed the gate slightly ajar, I went closer and confirmed it. Yes, the gate wasn't locked.

I explored the park, starting from the left hand side and lastly coming to the right side. This park, a few years ago was superbly maintained. At some point after 2018 the neglect had begun. I could still see boards of theme parks like Nandana Vana, Gulabi Tota, Japanese Udhyana Vana, Ashoka Vana, Shiva Panchaya Vana and Bruhat Panchavati Vana. This is on the same concept as Deve Deva Vana near Bidar. The board "Bruhat Panchavati Vana" gave me hope, and to my delight there were four Ficus Krishnae trees. The discovery was a bitter-sweet experience, happy to have seen the divine trees and sad to be seeing their plight. To see pictures of the Ficus Krishnae, read the article on Ficus Krishnae trees at Mari Kanive Park.

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