shrine of Sri Rama's arrow, Shibirbandi

June 13, 2021

The second set of pictures from my friend Venkatesh Bappargi mid of June was a nice surprise. The accompanying message said that there's one shrine near Surpur where Sri Rama's arrow is kept. It is said that the arrow was found at a village called Shibirbandi near Surpur a few centuries ago. A shrine was built around for the arrow and kept there ever since its discovery. This is the small temple of Rama's arrow. The vertically placed object with a curved & pointed head is the arrow.

This is Venkatesh standing next to Sri Rama's arrow. I'm guessing the arrow is about 7 feet long and could be weighing anything between 15 to 20 kg. 

The shrine's well-wishers have planted a board so that people to create awareness however this shrine is was not known outside Yadgiri district.

The previous week's post was about a hill called sleeping lady hill which is also near Surpur. A group of history enthusiasts of Surpur, lead by a school teacher named Kanakappa Wagengera has connected the hill and Shibirbandi with a plan to name the hill after Lord Rama's wife Seeta. In the below collage are- 1. view of sleeping lady hill and 2. Venkatesh and Kanakappa with Rama's arrow.

Following is a writeup about the hill and arrow by Kanakappa.

ವೆಂಕಟಾಪುರದ ಬೆಟ್ಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಪ್ರಾಕೃತಿಕ ವಿಸ್ಮಯ: 'ಮಲಗಿರುವ ಮಹಿಳೆ

ಸಗರ ನಾಡು: ಕಷ್ಣಾ ಮತ್ತು ಭೀಮಾನದಿಗಳ ಮದ್ಯದ ಸುಂದರ ಸಂಪದ್ಭರಿತವಾದ ನಾಡನ್ನು ಸಗರನಾಡು ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆ,  ಸಗರ ಚಕ್ರವರ್ತಿಯು ಈ ನಾಡನ್ನು ಆಳಿದ್ದರಿಂದ ಈ ಹೆಸರು ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಐತಿಹಾಸಿಕವಾಗಿ, ಸಾಂಸ್ಕೃತಿಕವಾಗಿ, ಪೌರಾಣಿಕವಾಗಿ,ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯಿಕವಾಗಿ ಶ್ರೀಮಂತವಾದ ನಾಡಾಗಿದೆ. ಅಂತೆಯೇ ಈ ನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಶಾತವಾಹನರು, ಚಾಲುಕ್ಯರು, ರಾಷ್ಟಕೂಟರು,ಹೈಹರು, ಕಲಚೂರಿಗಳು, ಶಿಲಹಾರರು, ಮಾಸವಾಡಿಯ ಸೇವುಣರು, ಗೋಸಲ ವಂಶದ ಅರಸರು ಈ ನಾಡನ್ನು ಆಳ್ವಕೆಮಾಡಿ ಈ ಸಗರನಾಡಿನ ಹೆಸರನ್ನು ಅಮರಗೊಳಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಸೀಬಾರಬಂಡಿಯಪೌರಾಣಿಕ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆ :

ತ್ರೇತಾಯುಗದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಯೋದ್ಯೆಯ ಅರಸು ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರನು ಸೀತಾದೇವಿಯ ಶೋಧಾರ್ಥವಾಗಿ ದಕ್ಷಿಣಾಭಿಮುಖವಾಗಿ ಹೊರಟು ಹಲವಾರು ನದಿ, ಪರ್ವತ, ಕಮರಿ, ಕೊಳ್ಳ ನದಿಗಳನ್ನು ದಾಟಿ ಸಗರನಾಡಿನತ್ತ ಬರುತ್ತಾನೆ. ಸಗರನಾಡಿನ ಸುರಪುರ ಪ್ರದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಹಾದು ಹೋಗುವಾಗ, ಶ್ರೀ ರಾಮನು ಬಿಟ್ಟ ಬಾಣ ಸೀಬಾರಬಂಡಿ ಎನ್ನುವ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಿದ್ದಿತೆಂಬ ಪೌರಾಣಿಕ ಕಥೆ ಜನ ಮಾನಸದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಚ್ಚೋತ್ತಿದೆ.ಆ ಬಾಣವೂ ಇಂದಿಗೂ ರಾಮನ ಬಾಣವೆಂದು ಇದೇ ಊರಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಪೂಜಿತವಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ.

ಸೀಬಾರಬಂಡಿಯ ಬೆಟ್ಟದ ಆ ಬದಿಯಲ್ಲಿರುವ ರಂಗಂಪೇಠದ ವೀರಶೈವ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ ಮಂಟಪದ ಮುಂದಿರುವ ಬೆಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ 'ಸೀತೆಯ ಸೆರಗು' ಎಂಬ ಹೆಸರಿನಿಂದ ಕರೆಯಲ್ಪಡುವ ಕಪ್ಪುರೇಖೆಯಯೊಂದು ಗುಡ್ಡದುದ್ದಕ್ಕೂ ಹಾದು ಸೀಬಾರಬಂಡಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊನೆಗೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತದೆ. ಇವೆಲ್ಲ ಪುರಾಣಿಕ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆಗಳಿಗೆ ತಿಲಕವಿಟ್ಟಂತೆ ಈಗ ಮಹಿಳೆಯ ಮುಖ ಹೋಲವ ಬೆಟ್ಟವೊಂದುದು ಪತ್ತೆಯಾಗಿ ಸಗರನಾಡಿನ ಜನರನ್ನು ಬೆರಗುಗೊಳಿಸಿದೆ. ಈ ಮುಖವನ್ನು ಸೀತಾಮುಖವೆಂದು ಆ ಬೆಟ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ 'ಸೀತಾಬೆಟ್ಟ'ವೆಂದು  ಹೆಸರಿಡಲು ನಾಡಿನ ಜನರ ಒಕ್ಕೊರಲ ಅಭಿಪ್ರಾಯವಾಗಿದೆ.

-ಕನಕಪ್ಪ ವಾಗನಗೇರಿ

Rough translation:

Sri Ramachandra, the king of Ayodhya, in the Treta Yuga, went southwards in search of Sita Devi and crossed several rivers, mountains, gorges, and rivers. While passing through the Surapur area of ​​the Sagar Nadu, the legend that Lord Rama's arrow dropped into a place called Shibirbandi, is still worshiped in the same place as the arrow of Lord Rama.

On the hill in front of the Veerashaiva Kalyana Mantapa at Rangampetha village is a black band called 'Sita Seragu' which passes through the hill and ends at Shibirbandi. Given all these mythological backdrops, now with a hill resembling a woman's face has been discovered and amazed the people of this village. It is the opinion of the people of this region to name this hill as 'Sita Betta'.

-Kanakappa Wagengeri

This is a screenshot of Google Maps showing the area between Surpur and Shibirbandi. At the top is the southern edge of Surpur town and close to left-bottom is Shibirbandi. The terrain is hilly. Close to the edge of Surpur town is a black band marked in yellow. The black band is called as Seeteya Seragu. Seragu, or Pallu in Hindi, is the end part of a saree which is usually left hung over the left shoulder or draped around the shoulders.

Here's a closer look at Seeteya Seragu. The black band is some kind of geological formation, probably igneous rocks like dolerite. Such formations can be seen in some hills of Anantapur district. Black rocks dominate the ridges of hills. Another is dolerite dyke of Kappagallu near Bellary. Unlike the one at Surpur, dolerite dykes are not called as Seeteya Seragu.

Here's a Kannada poem titled 'Apoorva Belaku' dedicated to Seeteya Seragu and Shibirbandi by Srinivas Jalawadi of Surpur.

ಅಪೂರ್ವ ಬೆಳಕು

ಸೀತೆಯ ಸೆರಗು ಹರಡಿದೆ

ಸುರಗಿರಿಯ ಸುರ ಶೃಂಗದಲಿ

ರಾಮಬಾಣ ಬಿಟ್ಟರೇ ಅದು

ಎಂದಿಗೂ ತಪ್ಪದು ಕನಕವೇ!

ಸೀತೆಯ ಬೆಟ್ಟ ಅದು ಜನಕನ

ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಪುತ್ರಿಯ ಆಡುಂಬೋಲ

ರಾಮನು ಹಾದು ಹೋದಾ ಈ

ನೆಲ ಕ್ಷಾತ್ರ ತೇಜಸ್ಸಿನ ರಣದುಂಧುಬಿ 

ನೆಲದ ಋಣಕಾಗಿ ಮಡಿದವರ ನೆನೆ

ಭಾವೈಕ್ಯದ ಭಾವನೆಗಳನು ಸ್ಮರಿಸು

ಜೈಮಿನಿ ಭಾರತದ ದೇವಪುರದಲಿ

ಇರುವ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮೀಶನೇ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ನೋಡಿದಕೆ

ದಾಸಿಮಾರ್ಯರು ವಚನ ಜನಕರು

ಸೀತಾಫಲಗಳ ಮೆಚ್ಚಿದಳು ವೈದೇಹಿ

ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ಇದಕೆ ನೋಡಿ ವೇಣುಲೋಲ

ಸುರಗಿರಿ ರಾಮಾಯಣವಿದಲ್ಲವೆ ?

ವೈದೇಹಿ ರಾಮ ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮಣ ಹನುಮರು

ಹಾದು ಹೋಗಿರುವ ಶಿಬಾರ ಬಂಡಿ

ಬಾಣದ ಮೋಹಕೆ ಜನ ಮರುಳಾಗಿ

ಸಂಭ್ರಮಿಸಿದರು ಲಾವಣಿ ಹಾಡಿ!

ಹೊಸ ಇತಿಹಾಸ ನಿರ್ಮಿಸಿತಿಂದು

ವೆಂಕಟಾಪುರದ ಸೀತಾ ಸೆರಗು

ರಾಮನೇ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ ಬಾಣದ ಭಾರಕೆ

ಯುಗಧಮ೯ದ ಅಪೂರ್ವ ಬೆಳಕು

ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ ಜಾಲವಾದಿ, ಸುರಪುರ

This place is already on my list of places and a visit to Surpur is long due. I would like to feel the arrow with my hands once.

.........

sleeping lady hill near Surpur

Yadgiri is one place that has somehow resisted changes hence its still little rough, wild and beautiful. Yadgiri, though a part of the so called dry districts of Karnataka, is actually green. Yadgiri's terrain is a mix of plains, hills, rock formations, water bodies and river Bhima. Among the wide range of things to see in Yadgiri district, one of the natural formations is Sleeping Buddha Hill. The hill is on the outskirts of Shahapur town and Sannati-Kanaganahalli is about 28 km away. Sannati is important because of the ruins of Buddhist Stupa and discovery of Samrat Ashoka's major rock edict. Isn't that a coincidence that a man-made Stupa and a natural hill resembling Buddha's profile are so close by. People visiting Sannati usually visit Sleeping Buddha hill. When I saw the hill, I couldn;t imagine to be a sleeping man, it does seem like Buddha.

A few weeks ago my friend Venkatesh from Wagengera near Shahapur shared a few pictures captioned "sleeping lady hill." This hill is near Shahpur. Venkatesh and his friend Kanakappa, also from Wagengera, happened to discover it. When the duo spoke to villagers near the hill, they said they too saw a profile of a sleeping lady. Somehow the word never got until Kanakappa posted it on facebook.

Here's a closer look at the hill. The neck, chin, lips, nose, eye socket, forehead and long hair are quite clear. With a sharp nose, the lady seems to have European features.

Isn't it a wonderful illusion! Thanks to Venkatesh for sharing his pictures for this post.

Here's a snapshot of Kanakappa's fb post.

Venkatesh has shared information of two other historical places earlier- Sangameshwara Devastana, Yevor and Hosakere hunter's lodge. In fact Venkatesh's home Wagengera itself is a historical place. It was a prominent place during the days of Surpur kingdom which was ruled by the Nayakas. Wagengera fort was a formidable enclosure where Aurangzeb's soldiers were killed by Surpur Nayaka's men, thereby winning the battle. BTW, besides the Nayaka's palace and ancient temples, Surpur is also known for Taylor Manzil, the house of Meadows Taylor, an Anglo-Indian administrator stationed at Surpur.

Like I said, Yadgiri is a wonderful place, lots of interesting places. Do check out the post on what to see in Yadgiri.

.........

Alive is Awesome: Kemmangundi

Kemmangundi and Baba Budangiri range are seldom missed by adventure seekers of Karnataka. Baba Budangiri hills stretches between Chikmaglur and Tarikere, forming the border line between Western Ghats and the plains in this region. Kemmangundi is a Kannada word when split gives out three words Kempu Mannina Gundi which literally means Red Soil Pit. Kemmangundi was a iron ore mine back in 60s and early 70s. A rope-way system connected the mine to the steel mill at Badhravathi to supply iron ore. The rope-way it self was an attraction. Early 70s mining activities ceased and it became a became a tourist spot. Kemmangundi's climate generally varies from cool to cold, monsoons being the most damp months. Even during summers the air on the hills would be cool and refreshing. With a motorable road running through the hill range Kemmangundi is connected to Tarikere and Chikmaglur. Several smaller roads branched out into the hills leading to hamlets, view points or waterfalls. One such waterfall is Kalhatti Jalapatha. Water leaps down in two stages, at the middle is an ancient temple dedicated to Shiva, Halegannada inscriptions have been found on rocks close to the temple. The place is a beauty but beware of leeches. I had once picked up a leech which had grown real fat feasting on my blood!

My connection with Kemmangundi is a long one, since my childhood days at Badhravathi. Dad loved riding his 150cc Lambretta from Badhravathi to Kemmangundi via Tarikere and Lingadahalli. But when the group was large we went by bus or a hired car. The drive through the ghat section was always fun; steep green slopes rising up to meet the clouds and the same slopes formed deep valleys. Mist would appear suddenly adding a special quality to cool air, and vanish as quickly as it came. The road went across several streams of clear mountain water. The sight and sounds of water gushing down would mesmerize one and all. During scooter rides we would get a chance to play in the water and we always wished those moments lasted forever. Dad would dip his beer bottles in the water and wait patiently for them to chill. Most times mom would have packed lunch however, I do remember having lunch at the only hotel, a small place which offered home cooked food.

Horticulture department had few cottages spread out on the slopes and surrounded by a well maintained garden. Tourists could hire these cottages. There's another guest house at the summit of the hill usually occupied by government officers  or politicians. From this guest house is a footpath on the steep dirt and rock slope going to Z-Point. The path has a small narrow bridge across a rapidly flowing stream and then after a furlong or so is another waterfall, This is a wonderful spot for a bathing.. the water flows down from rocks and lands on a rocky bed. A bath here would be an awesome experience. This is as far as I have explored.

 Many years later.. After my final year engineering exams, I planned a road trip with my brother Deepak and a friend Anish. Unknowingly we were emulating dad's sense of adventure, we were riding bikes from Bangalore to Kemmangundi. We chose to ride via Hassan visiting Belur and Halebeedu. It was quite late when we reached Chikmaglur and it was raining there! We weren't prepared for wet weather. Chikmaglur to Kemmangundi was connected by a 40km lonely narrow ghat section road. Nature decided to have fun with us; we were riding through a cold-dark-windy-misty-rainy night. The ride was a battle of sorts with avatars of nature. To add to our trouble were stretches of road littered with wet masses of decaying leaves; we had tough time controlling fish tailing rear wheels. Wet and cold, we longed for a hot drink. To our luck a tea shop was open. The tea break charged us up, ready to face the crazy weather on Baba Budangiri. We made it to Kemmangundi. We were the only tourists :) We got a cottage, parked our bikes, dried and changed into dry clothes and the booze session began..

Morning, water was freezing, can't remember if we got hot water for bath. We had tea and breakfast. Deepak's bike had a flat tyre. We rode down to Lingadahalli to get it fixed. On the way we stopped at a stream. The water was cold, yet it was fun to clamber up those slippery rocks.

Later around 11 we planned a trek to Z-Point. We rode till the wooden bridge, debated if we should take our bikes across, the verdict was no, a wise decision it was, the bridge might have given up under our weight. Our trek began, the path narrowed down to a couple of feet wide, one wrong step the slide down the vegetation covered slope would be a long one. This tree is a landmark on the Z-Point trial.

A short distance from this tree is a the waterfall. Fresh mountain water roaring down the slopes. We moved on.. As we deeper into the trial, the path got even narrower and we noticed some inch long black creatures on the ground and also on grass flanking the footpath. Must be some kind of earthworms. We went on happily, with every step we saw more of these somersaulting black creatures. Suddenly it dawned- LEECHES!! We turned back and ran, past the waterfall some where near the horizontal tree we searched ourselves- we had picked up a dozen each on the outside. It's almost impossible to get rid of leeches with fingers because they would stick to fingers! We had to become use Stoneage methods- scrape them off with sharp edge stones. Deepak tried burning but that was difficult because of the damp conditions. We had to strip down to undies and inspect each other. Man, what an experience. Those tiny creatures scared the living daylights out of us.. We head back to the cottage, changed and made sure we had none of those slimy creatures in there. Any sensation would feel like a leech... Our trip got cut in short and we decided we leave.

One day I want to go back to Kemmangundi and trek right upto Z-Point. On the way back I want to bathe under the waterfall enjoying the sights of Kemmangundi hills. Surely the cool mountain water would be a great feeling on the skin, awakens the spirits within, and creates an awesome.feeling ...alive is awesome. The other dream is to explore Kemmangundi and Baba Budangiri hills on a bicycle. I believe if one wants really feel nature its on foot or the next best way to ride around. Hope my dreams become real..

.........

Skandagiri

I read about Kalavarabetta, also known as Skandagiri, in a blog. The only picture on the post was impressive; the person in the picture was above thick white clouds. But I was skeptical about the real beauty of the hill since the place is close to Chikkballapur. We decided to take a chance. We left home around 5AM, had tea at Chikkballapur and drove through it's narrow streets and by 7AM we were at a temple close to the foot of the hill. I was surprised to see the number of bikes and cars parked. It seems most people visiting this place climb during the night and stay back till sunrise and then descend. The parking attendant said at least 150 people on the hill at the moment. One hell of a crowd!

Let me caution new visitors. Beware of local people here. All they do is rob people in the name of vehicle parking charges or guide you the way up the hill. A guide ripped us of Rs.200 to show us the path to the hill from the temple which was hardly a kilometer. These guys can beat any marketing guy in conning.

This is supposed to be a warning to visitors.


FOREST DEPARTMENT
SMOKING ALKOHAL
DRINKS OR PLASTIC DO
NOT ALLOWED IF USED
RS.500=00 WILL
BE FINE C.B.PUR


Durga and me walked ahead for some distance and waited for Deepak and Gulli to catch up. Once they caught up, I moved ahead faster and climbed alone till the summit.


I passed by people descending. These guys had spent the night on the hill. Some careless youngster had injured his leg and was riding piggy ...I saw his ankle was swollen badly. The terrain is rough and slippery with little pebbles. Deepak said that Savandurga has spoiled us with it's smooth open surface.


That's Skandagiri's shadow stretching over few kilometers.




Mist closed in as I neared the summit.


A lonely Basavanna.


The summit is littered with plastic bottles, plates, cups and all kind of trash. One sad place this is. Somehow I ignored the mess and tried to look at the good things around. Few guys from Kalavara village have set up a fast food joint here. Menu is soft drinks, omelette and Maggi noodles. I bet half the mess out here is these guys work.


Of the three peaks, one on the extreme left is Nandi Hills.


I waited for almost 45 minutes for the trio before I headed back thinking if they gave up the climb midway. I had climbed down till the point where I shot the sun through the mist ...we were united and reached the summit. We had sandwiches and water.


It was getting warmer with every passing minute, decided it's time we head back.


Durga called this rock as an egg.



Half way down the hill we rested for a while in the cool shade of a rock which almost formed a cave. I washed my feet and felt good. From here I went down faster leaving the trio behind. At the base, near the painted rock, I stopped at a cucumber shop and waited for the trio. While I waited I chatted with owner, an old man who talked non-stop. I bought some cucumbers and had couple of them ...very refreshing under the hot sun.

One visit is enough to this place. I never ever want to set my foot here again.

.........

Few pictures of Manmad Hills

This hill, to my eyes, looked like a camel's back. Below picture is the other side of the hill.



This one looks as though the rock has risen out of the ground. I like such hills. One of the hills in Devarayanadurga is some what similar.


That's the facmous "Thumsup Rock" of Manmad.

And one valley; looks as thought a river flowed here thousands or years ago.



.........

Shivagange

Shivagange looks like a 'Shiva Linga' as seen from the NH4 (before Dobbaspete). I've heard it also looks like a bull's profile from another angle. When it's cloudy the top part of the hill is covered in clouds giving it a heavenly look.

The first time I had been was with Anish and Praveen but we stopped half way up since it was getting dark. The next visit was with Gulveer and we were determined to reach the top. The climb is not really tough. It took us some 90 minutes. On the third or fourth climb we made it to the top in 45 minutes.
The climb is a mix of both dirt and rocky surface unlike Savandurga which is all rock surface. As we pass the half way mark, the climb gets steeper with hardly anything to hold on. This part can be dicey during rains. Grass and small shrubs are the only plant life... no trees on this hill.

Just before we reach the top, we get to see Nandi statue on our left. It's perched on a small rock which acts like a private pedestal for Nandi. Once on the top, you can see a small temple and a shop, managed by the Swami and his son.

The Swami's been living there for more than 20 years. What a life! On top a hill breathing fresh air and seeing the sights we rarely get to see.

The summit is a small area with steep faces on three sides. We have to watch where we step. One wrong step... let me not imagine further.

One of the faces is a suicide spot... straight down several hundreds of feet. This is where queen Shantala, Hoysala king Vishuvardana's wife, ended her life by falling here. I stood two feet from the edge and took this picture.

When we looked around, we could see lot of smaller hills spread around. Many of them with little forts or watch houses on top. Palegars used these hills to keep watch over their territory and also as hideouts during wars. This whole area is one destination for nature lovers, adventure seekers and wild life enthusiasts but it's changing fast with the so called 'development activities'.

For people coming from Bangalore, there are two routes to reach Shivagange. The most travelled route is the one from Dobbaspet. the other one is from Bangalore-Hassan road which is less crowded. We always took this road which passed through country road. During one of the visits, on the way back, we saw a flock of vultures. This was the only time I ever saw vultures so closely. Huge and ugly and scary. The flock was a mix os all sizes and ages.  They were busy feeding on a carcass... may be a cow or a buffalo. At first they did not notice us. I took out my aim-n-shoot Yashica and slowly went towards the flock... scared where they might attack me with their claws and beaks. But they were suddenly alert. They saw me and started leaving moving me away from me. I interrupted their party. Sorry guys. The next scene was some thing I'd never seen. The vultures started running picking speed, flapping their massive wings trying to lift their mass of the ground and then slowly took off the ground... like jumbo jets. I don't think I'll ever get to such a scene ever again.

Shivagange is a home to several temples. One of the temples is popular for it's underground spring. People throng here to touch the water which is supposed to be holy.

I've heard that a tunnel existed long time back which connected to Kashi. Hard to believe. I've also heard that another tunnel connected Shivagange to Gavigangadhareshwara Devastana, one of the cave temples in & around Bangalore. I've seen the tunnel's entrance which is just behind the Garbhagudi. It was blocked after few treasure seekers died of suffocation in the tunnel. Gavigangadhareshwara Gudi is worth a visit.

If you ever happen to visit Shivagange, make sure you carry sticks to scare the red-faced monkeys. They are rude. Last when I went, some time 1993, they ruled the place.

.........

Thenginkal Betta

Sometime Dec 2002. Amma gave me a Prajavani newspaper cutting about Thenginakallu Betta. The article inspired me to plan a trip to this remote hill. I asked two of my office colleagues Girish and Rajesh to join me, they happily tagged along. We left Bangalore early, stopped at Sri Revana Siddeshwara Kshetra for a quick breakfast at a local eatery serving steaming hot tatte idli & sambar. Sri Revana Siddeshwara Kshetra is also known as SRS Betta because of the monolithic hill here. SRS Betta to Thenginkalbetta distance is about 2 km, a narrow rural road flanked by fields and plantations.

Before we explore the hill, let's take a look at it's name. Thenginakallu can be split into Thenginkayi & Kallu which means coconut & stone. There must be some historical connection to this name which I'm unaware of. Betta means a hill or a mountain.

One long look at the hill we couldn't figure out where to start the climb. So we decided to seek help. At the entrance of the village, on the right hand side was a house, we stopped to inquire. The house owner's name was Chandrashekhar, he seemed to be the village headman. He was kind enough to talk to a villager and appoint him as our guide. We were very happy that a local person would be leading / guiding us here.

Thenginkalbetta is a merger of two hills into one. Meaning on a long base are two granite mounds. That's our guide leading us, Girish behind him and Rajesh was behind me.

Thenginkalbetta is peaceful and hardly touched by mankind, something rare in these times. Bottom half of the hill is green with lot of plant life. We had walk over rocks, through creepers and thorny bushes. It was one hell of an adventure. Without our guide, we would not have found the way to the top. By the time we reached the half way up, my exposed skin was covered with cuts. Our guide told us that there are leopards, bears, wolves and a host of wildlife in & around this hill. He told us that any wild animal coming from the side or diagonal generally do not attack, if we remain calm they might just go away. however, if you see it head on, it could spell trouble. Apparently when you face any wild animal head on they feel challenged or threatened and they tend to attack. As a precaution our guide had a well sharpened sickle in his hand. A sickle is a handy thing in a jungle trek, helps clear thorny limbs in the way.

Our guide, I think his name was Manjunath, showed us a dolmen concealed under a shrub. He told that Palegar soldiers hid weapons under the slabs for emergency use. That's Rajesh inspecting the secret spot. He's holding a small machete in his hand, so amongst the four of us there were two weapons.

A few minutes away from the dolmen were these memorial stones. As you see the bottom panels show battle scenes in which warriors were martyred and the upper panels show them merging with Paramaatma. Those days I used a Yashica film roll camera, so shooting pictures was always constrained hence no close ups.

This is the larger rock-hill to our right.

..and the the smaller hill to our left. We were heading into the valley between the hills.

Thenginkalbetta has played a role in history. It's natural caves were used as hideouts by Palaegars (local chieftains) during wars. Manjunath showed us one of the caves high up in the rocks. Bamboo ladders were used to climb and pulled up into the cave. It seems the cave can accommodate up to 60 people and has a source of fresh water as well.

Apart from the large cave, there are a few more smaller caves here. Clambering over the unstable stack of stones was a risky adventure but our Manjunath was very encouraging. This cave was large enough to accommodate a dozen adults.

Due to frequent thunderstorms, the cave's floor was water logged. That's Girish standing in cold water. Climbing down the stacked stone was even more scary but all of us descended safely.

This is another cave which doesn't have waterlogging issues. Here we had to negotiate the slope without steps.

Our guide mentioned that fugitives use these caves to avoid police. Even hunters use these shelters while waiting for a prey to get ensnared.

Now we are atop the smaller peak. The rock surface is not very smooth... it gave us good grip and we felt confident even on steep faces.

May be not long back the place would've been covered by thick forest.

Every step we could see something unique; here we have a T-shaped gap. A large boulder has split into three, a natural phenomena of disintegration.

A pool of rain water, still fresh & clear. A face-wash of this cool water refreshed us. Manjuntah on my right, and Girish on the left. From this spot, we caught a glimpse of three bears trying to get under cover... they are way down the hill.

We are standing in the valley of the two peaks.

This creeper born in the tiny gap! Look how it's clinging close to the rock.

More water... we reach a fresh water pond. This looked like a man made one, meaning a small has been built to harvest rain water. If you look carefully, you can see a stone pitching over the surface of the water.

A trisected rock still standing as one. I wonder how it was formed.

As we climbed further upto towards the bigger peak, entered a small wood of Neralaemara. A carpet of green grass and fruit bearing trees. I felt I was looking a paradise. My pictures hardly say anything. One should be in the place and feel it.

The shape of the rock is the effect of soldiers sharpening their swords. They would lie below the rock and rub their sword-edge against the rock's surface. I remember seeing similar stones at Chikkasiddarabetta fort.

Another grinding spot.

We had a wonderful time on the top. We climbed down the other face of the larger peak. It was quite steep but the surface gave us great grip.

Even nature draws and paints... see this painting created by flow of water. Such contrasting colors!

Once back down, Manjunath took us home, introduced his mother and wife. This simple mud & wood house has sheltered four generations. While we chatted away the ladies prepared coffee for us. It was the first time I had Bella-Coffee ~ jaggery sweetened coffee and loved it. We Thanked our host for their warm hospitality and said bye.

On the way back, we stopped at Sri Chandrashekhar's house, thanked him too and left.
Thenginkalbetta has been one of the most serene places I had ever been to.

.........