a taste of rural life at Bhogasandra part-2

...continued from a taste of rural life at Bhogasandra part-1b.

Three days after returning home from my second trip to Bhogasandra, I caught cold which became terrible very quickly. Surprisingly the recovery was also quick but I felt weak after the flu left. I felt so weak that I didn't go cycling. The entire month I'd done only seven rides. Meanwhile Sridhar's house finishing work was almost done by the end of Feb, and he had started preparing for Grihapravesha - house warming ceremony. Sridhar called to invite me for the ceremony, he made sure I agreed and my travel tickets travel tickets were booked.

Mar 2, 2023. The journey part was a replay of the previous trip... woke up at 3-00 AM, ready by 4-15 AM, left home by 4-25 AM, walked to the railway station and I was sitting in the train by 5-00 AM. Train departure was on time. Due to ongoing railway upgradation work between Hubballi and Haveri, the train was slower than its usual speed. The train's arrival at Tiptur was 45 minutes behind schedule. I walked down to the KSRTC bus-stand and boarded a Tumkur bound bus in minutes. About 10 km before my alighting point, a huge cloud of smoke was seen on the left hand side. The smoke was rising from a forest area. While forest fires happen naturally, it is an open secret that fires are started by humans, for different reasons. This photo was shot at Doddagoni village. Meanwhile, Sridhar was monitoring my journey on Google Maps as he waited at HAL bus-stop.

The bus ride was comfortable, hardly felt the journey as I alighted. Sridhar was waiting with his friend's moped. This was the second time I was riding a moped on a 6-lane highway, our destination Nandi Veg Hotel was a few kilometers away. We ate lightly and continued our journey to Bhogasandra. With hardly any traffic the journey was peaceful. The moped100cc moped was powerful enough to move 160 kg at 30 kmph. Whenever we ran over a ditch or a bump the rear shock-absorber would bottom out... thud! thud! As we touched Bhogasandra, I was happy to see the Aralikatte, the lake and Sri Siddalingeshwara Devastana on the lake bank. From the temple, Sridhar's farm is about 400m. The 15.5 km ride lasted about 40 minutes, the moped survived.

We rested until about 4-30 pm, had tea and did some work until sunset. We decided to go to Siddalingeshwara Devastana to attend Pooja-Prasada event. This temple was renovated recently. As a custom, apart from daily morning-evening rituals, a special evening pooje followed by prasada was held for 40 consecutive days. Every family of Bhogasandra took responsibility of shouldering the event for one evening, of course village folks joined hands with that family. For prasada, pulav, rice, mudde, sambar, vegetable curry, payasa, uppit, shira were popular items. Prasada for the day was payasa, ragi-mudde & vegetable sambar. As the pooje was taking place, a teams were busy preparing food. Watching the team making ragi-mudde was interesting. From the below frames of a video clip, you can see six people mixing ragi flour and boiling water using 6' wooden poles, the vessel is on a wood-fire stove. This job requires coordinated motions from four people rotating the poles around a central pole. The sixth person keeps adding flour to the mixture until the required consistency is achieved. Lastly butter or oil is added to the ragi-mudde so that making balls becomes easy.

The ragi-mudde & tarakari sambar combination was excellent. The experience of having dinner on a lake bank, under open sky, refreshing breeze ...a rare opportunity.

Mar 3rd. The following day we were busy cleaning the house and removing waste matter. Afternoon we focused on organizing stuff for weekend rituals with invaluable help from two local guys Harish and Shivappa. Village folks brought mango leaves, banana laves, coconuts and other stuff needed for the event. The coconuts had to be peeled, so Harish called a champ coconut peeler Raja. Harish said that Raja will peel these 40 odd coconuts in 5 minutes. It was hard to believe. Raja arrived with his two pointed spear, drove one end into the ground and started peeling. In the 30-sec clip, Raja had almost peeled 4 coconuts i.e. 8 seconds per coconut. Indeed as Harish said Raja did dehusk 40 coconuts in 5 minutes!

Meanwhile Shivappa and another person had erected a chappara at the house entrance. The chappara was a traditional type, made of wooden poles, coconut leaves, mango leaves and banana plants. The shamiyana guys arrived in a truck, delivered chairs, tables, vessels and erected tents. The tent was erected by a four man team. By watching the team I realized even shamiyana technology had evolved over the decades. No ropes, no pegs driven into the ground. The entire assembly was self-supporting, very impressive.

Mar 4th. The most important task of the day was to get food items. A grocer from Nittur delivered the items late morning. We unloaded the stuff and separated items needed for the priests and cooks. By noon Sridhar's family members arrived in a cab. Harish and I took the same cab to Nittur vegetable market and purchased the items as per the cook's list. On the way back we had lunch at Nandi Veg Restaurant and then went back to the farm house. The priests arrived around 4PM and we were expecting the cooks to arrive. The priests were a team of five. They freshened up and began preparing for the rituals. Going by the looks of the team this is going to be an elaborate affair. With a hundred little things to do, time flew by and soon it was dusk but the cooks hadn't arrived. Sridhar was trying to reach them on phone but they were not reachable. We started worrying... the cooks were supposed to dinner for 20+ people and then keep stuff ready for Sunday breakfast & lunch. Around 7PM we got them on the phone, they were somewhere between Bangalore and Tumkur. Finally they arrived at the farm around 8-15 and got to work immediately. Meanwhile the priests has completed evening rituals and ready for dinner.

Dinner was rice, sambar and vegetable curry. The next task was to make sleeping arrangements. The priests chose to sleep in the hall. The bedroom was reserved for Sridhar's parents. Sridhar's wife and two maids opted for the shed (our lodge). The remaining seven us including the four cooks will have to manage outside. Three of the cooks chopped vegetables and organised other stuff until about midnight and hit the sack by midnight. The fourth cook carried on working. Six of us slept in a row in the sit-out. Mar 5th. Night weather here is generally chilled. Sleeping on ceramic tiled floor was like surrendering to cold completely. It took about 45 minutes to fall asleep then suddenly a noise woke me up... one of the cooks was snoring away. Damn, that was the loudest snoring I'd ever heard. I don't remember when I fell asleep again. Around 5 or so I decided to get up, so did Sridhar.

That morning I went for a stroll into to the neighboring land. I spotted a fox, quite a big one it was. The fox too noticed me, moved away little and stood on a mound and started looking at me. It was still for about 30 seconds or so. What a lovely sight was! Then suddenly it descended and disappeared into some bushes. That was the best fox sighting in my life. That fox made my morning!

The house was like a beehive in the morning. People getting ready, priests preparing for pooje, cooks began cooking breakfast... somehow in the mele I too had bath and changed into fresh clothes. The priests were preparing for a Homa. A very detailed Rangoli was drawn, Kalashas were placed, offerings of flowers & fruits were made... these five priests were trained in Vedic rituals and each of them had a specific role. I'd not seen such an detailed homa / pooje. 

The overall rituals included Satyanarayana Pooje and Gau Pooje too. Part of Satyanarayana Pooje was to recite the story by one of the priests. The rituals were done by 1PM and lunch was ready. Village folks turnup was not as expected, the close ones were present. Lunch was first served to the priests and then we all had, including the cooks.

By 4PM, the priests and cooks left back to Bangalore. Then Shridhar's father and son left. After that we had to dispose leftover food, some of the items was sent to Shivappa's cattle and rice was put into the lake for fish to feed upon. One of the farmers, Indrakumar, told that cooked rice must never be fed to cows or buffaloes. When they ingest rice, their tummies bloat up and exert severe pressure on their respiratory system which can be fatal. That's the reason for dumping rice in Bhogasandra Kere, where fishes would feast upon it. Later in the evening, the shamiyana guys came to pickup their stuff. Every single item was accounted for and they left. Though the event was over, Sridhar's mother and wife had a load of tasks on hand. They had to pack up things brought from Bangalore and prepare tambola for the guests. We had a light dinner and hit the sack. I slept well.

Mar 6th. Time to leave, all of us would be heading back home.. Sridhar et al towards Bangalore and I to Dharwad. Anand the auto driver arrived around 11AM and dropped us Nittur bus-stand. It was an emotional bye, Sridhar's mother had shed tears of joy, happy that I'd come from Dharwad for the function. This trip would be memorable since so many aspects of it was new to me. Honesty speaking, our house-warming pooje was simple that I cannot compare it with Sridhar's farm house ceremony. And interactions with village folks is always educative.

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Baobab Bonsai, Shuka Vana, Mysuru

In the second week of May, I was checking Whatsapp status of a friend from Pune. This friend, Pramod is an avid traveler and an explorer of forts. His status had displayed a series of Baonsai trees, some 20+ plants. Out of curiosity I asked where the Bonsai garden was. It was Shuka Vana which is a part of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashrama, Mysuru. The collection was truly impressive and started the slideshow for the second time. I zoomed into one of them and to my surprise it was a Baobab! As it is Baobab is a uncommon tree in India. A Bonsai Baobab would be a rare thing. Of the 20+ trees, 3 were Baobabs and 7 or 8 were varieties of Ficus.

Of the three plants, two have name boards stating that these are Baobab trees. The scientific name is Adansonia Digitata. They have been planted during May 1942 the birth year of Sri Sri Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji. These little plants are 80 years old. Amazing! 

The first plant is bent and crooked. The lower part is a maze of roots and trunk. The upper half has recognizable as a Baobab. The main trunk is slanting so much that it's almost horizontal.
The second one is a perfect scale down model of a Baobab. Its branches have been restrained by threads. Probably this is a technique used to perfect a Bonsai.

The third one, according my understanding is a Baobab. The name plate seems to be on the opposite side. 

I would like to thank my friend Pramod for sharing hires pictures and allowing them to be posted here. Besides historical places we have other common interests- cycling and Hollywood movies :)
Having seen miniature Baobabs, you must see normal trees as well. These three Baobab trees are situated inside the premises of Dodda Hunashe Matha, Savanur. These pictures were shot 15th April 2023. They are bare at this time of the year. New leaves should start sprouting in the month of May.

One of my friends from Mysuru had given an open invitation to his place. He wanted me and another friend Sridhar to spend a couple of days there, we all cold see a few places in and around Mysuru. I recalled that Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Ashrama was one of the places. Well, the Baobab Bonsai has worked like a catalyst, I'll be deciding the dates of the trip soon.

While on the topic of Baobab, do check out the Baobab trees of Karnataka & Telangana.

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Jenukallu Ranganatha Swamy Betta near Ramgiri

The everchanging sights during a train journey is like no other mode of travel. The open lands, farm plots, plantations, hills, waterbodies, streams, villages, jungle, sky, sunrise, sunset, and what not. Besides nature, there's something else which are captivating: the zipping railway tracks, rising & dipping electric cables between poles, dancing shadow of the train when sun is low, and when the sky is dark, the interior lights create an illusion of falling & rising ground. With so much for the eyes to capture, there can't a boring moment.

I have traveled Dharwad-Bengaluru-Dharwad by train a number of times. I see the same sights, over the years, there have been little manmade changes here and there but the sights are enjoyable as before. Of all things, the most interesting are hills and rock formations. Dharwad-Bengluru route has two distinct parts, Dharwad-Harihar route traverses through black soil plains with gentle undulations, hardly any hills except a few between Byadgi and Harihar. Once across river Tungabhadra at Harihar, there's a notable change in the terrain. No more black soil fields, all we see is brown or red soil land littered with individual hills, ranges of hill and rock formations. Rocky outcrops are beautiful things. Some of them on farmer's plots and they are left they were.

About 40 km after Chikkajajur and 30 km before Hosadurga, is a place called Ramgiri. The train doesn't stop at Ramagiri station, it slows down a bit. As we pass the station this rocky hill comes into view. At the summit of the hill, is an historical temple and a large tree, probably a Ficus. As you see, the hill is long and towers over the surrounding. It seems to be of strategic importance. This hill, as per the entry on Google Maps is Jenukallu Betta and the ancient shrine on it is of Sri Ranganatha.

A slightly closer view of the hill. On the eastern slope of the hill is another temple, a sheltered staircase connects the temple to the ground below.

Going by the looks of the stone, it looks like granite. Those rocky slopes could be slippery even in dry conditions. At the summit is a mass of rocks, and a large standing amidst those rocks. As per photos on GMaps, Ranganatha Gudi is behind those rocks. I guess the path to that temple is on the other side i.e. the eastern face of the hill.

Since the train was moving, I could take just a few shots whenever the foreground was free from trees or bushes. The railway tracks kind of curved around the hill, of course at a good distance. As we pan across the hill, we find patches of dirt covering the rocks underneath.

The hill seems like an ideal spot for trekking and rock climbing. I think, this hill was covered by trees not long ago.

This is the last picture I could shoot. The rocks are actually jutting out of the dirt. The two peaks of the hill and part of the western slope are visible. The way these rocks are angled, it seems like the earth's crust rose, like a fold in a carpet, during tectonic shifts.

Not sure if I'll ever visit this place but the memories of seeing this will remain.

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model of a Baobab tree

This 2" tall model of a Baobab tree has been at my mother's place for many years. I think this was brought by my brother during his trip to Malawi, a landlocked African country.

A native of African soil, fully grown Baobab trees have a stout trunk and spindly branches. Baobabs can grow up to 25 meters and live hundreds of years. Baobabs can store huge amounts of water inside its trunk. They have dark green leaves, bear white flowers and produce a soft-shelled fruit. Baobab's leaves and fruits are edible, a variety of dishes are made out them by the African people. Baobabs are also found in Australia.

Baobabs made their way to the Indian subcontinent in the during the medieval times. The Sufi ascetics traveling from Africa to India carried fruits, seeds and saplings, they planted the saplings around their  camping sites. It is said that hundreds if not thousands of Baobabs were planted of which a few hundreds of them survived mainly along the western coastline of India in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and also in Madhya Pradesh. A few have survived in Goa, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

Below are the list of known sites of the rare Baobab trees in India-

1. Hilltop Nightclub, Vagator, Goa
2. Cabo Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, Goa
3. Quepem, Goa
4. Bamboo Motels, Goa
5. next to Yogapur mosque, Bijapur
6. Mahalakshmi Gudi premises, Martur, Kalburgi district
7. Dodda Hunashe Matha, Savanur, Karnataka
8. Near the aquarium in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bengaluru
9. Purana Qilla, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana
10. Attapur, Hyderabad
11. Vansthalipuram, Hyderabad, Telangana
12. near Chappel Road, Hyderabad, Telangana
13. Ranganath temple at Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, Telangana
14. Uppal in Chengicherla Reserve Forests, Hyderabad, Telangana
15. Nellore, Andhrapradesh
16. Theosophist Society Gardens, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
17. The American College campus, Madurai, TN
18. Chinmaya Vidyalaya's campus at Ilanthope, Rajapalayam, TN
19. Mangaliawas near Ajmer, Rajasthan
20. Vadodara, Gujarat
21. Dayapur, Gujarat
22. Kutch, Gujarat
23. Bhanagar, Gujarat
24. Baroda, Gujarat
25. Victoria Garden, Sukharamnagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
26. Mulund, Mumbai, Maharashtra
27. Byculla zoo, Mumbai, Maharashtra
28. Outside the Vasai fort, Maharashtra
29. Tilak road and Ghole road, Pune, Maharastra
30. near Aurangabad, Maharashtra
31. inside Shirala fort, Maharashtra
32. Nana Fadnavis Wada premises, Menawali, Maharashtra
33. Mandavgad or Mandu, Madhya Pradesh
34. near Sangam, left bank of the Ganga, Prayag, Uttar Pradesh 
35. Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Bihar

Talking of rare & endangered trees, you might want to take a look at Silk Cotton and Krishna Ficus trees in Karnataka.

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Kedareshwara and Chennakeshava temples, Nagalapura

Tumkur district has its share of Hoysala monuments situated in Turuvekere, Nagalapura, Aralaguppe and Vignasante. Most temples have been restored from their ruinous states, and currently they are protected monuments. These temples, dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva, follow traditional design rules, are different in looks and sizes. Ancient builders, made sure no two temples are identical. Having said that, lets narrow down to the two temples- Kedareshwara and Chennakesava -of Nagalapura, situated within 400 meters of each other. The two temples have been built around the same time i.e. sometime in XII or XIII Century. These temples are more or less same size but plans are slightly different. I felt comparing these two temples' similarities & differences would be an interesting study. Below is a table of comparison followed by a set of photos.

	Kedareshwara	Chennakesava
Type	Ekakuta	Ekakuta
No. of entrances	One	One
Entrance direction	south-facing	east-facing
Garbhagudi direction	east-facing	east-facing
Garbhagudi plan	star shaped	star shaped
Shikhara	absent	absent
State of work	incomplete	incomplete

In this series of collages, pictures on the left are that of Kedareshwara and on the right are Chennakeshava. Elevations are different but the Garbhagudi parts are similar in design. The external walls have three sections- lower, middle and upper. The lower section is further divided into five tiers, each with its own theme. The five themes are elephant (signifying strength to carry heavy load), horse, creepers, Yali and peacock.

Kedareshwara vs Chennakeshava

Inside, the Navaranga Mantapa and the pair of enclosed mantapas are similar at the first glance. There will be differences in finer details. Then the Chakra in the ceiling, same size but different pattern.

Coming to the sculptures on the external walls, the number of idols on both temples are more or less same. Ganesha is present in both temples on the left, the point from where 'Pradakshine' begins. At Kedareshwara it is Shiva in different forms and poses, and on Chennakeshava it is Vishnu. The poses shown are dancing, standing and sitting. Below are a six-armed Shiva and eight-armed Vishnu in identical dance pose.

Here are standing Shiva and Vishnu. Though the sculptures are incomplete, one can still see the similarities. 

Shiva-Parvati seated on Nandi's back, and Vishnu-Lakshmi sitting in Garuda's shoulders. The 'destroyer' and 'preserver' along with their consorts and mounts. Shiva is also shown dancing on Apasmara's head and slaying Gajasura. Also there  are sculptures of Bhringi the sage with three legs, Karthikeya and Mahisasuramardhini. On the Vishnu temple there are Ugra-Narasimha, Lakshmi-Narasimha, Goverdana Giridhari and possibly Hayagriva. There could be other forms of Vishnu which I might have missed.

Both temples have sculpture of Brahma the creator. Together these two temples have Trimurthy present.

Then have one sculpture of a pair holding an egg like object, possibly a Saligrama. Sculptures are incomplete but the one at Kedareshwara is closer to completion. The characters holding the object seem to have horses' heads.

Lastly, Vishnu and Lakshmi seated on Garuda's shoulder. The image seems to depict a Garuda trying to protect and move his lord to a safer place. Here Garuda is identifiable easily because of wings at the back, The similar sculpture at Kedareshwara must be depicting Shiva-Parvati on Nandi holding a sword.

That's it for this post. Below are the links to individual posts on these temples- Kedareshwara Devastana and Chennakesava Devastana.

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