“Dharmasthala - a place on earth where Dharma is
practiced, experienced and propagated. To be in Dharmasthala would make one
feel being in heaven, factually. I had heard my parents telling that Dharmasthala
is a spiritual “must-go” place at least once in a lifetime, also for its
unique style of Annadhanam provided.
I had been planning to visit Dharmasthala for quite a while,
but things anyhow didn’t materialize as planned. My 4 best friends (Kumaran,
Diwakar, Balaji and Giri) from my Apollo days, decided to go on a road-trip for
the week-ending 22th July. We had got two options, either Dharmasthala or
Tirupathi and zeroed on Dharmasthala. Neither of us had visited nor had any
clue about the whereabouts of the place. We decided to travel in Kumaran’ s
Scorpio, a perfect choice for a long drive. We had only two skilled drivers in
Kumaran and Balaji, though Giri and Diwakar can manage to drive short
distances. I didn’t test my driving skills L
We planned to start our trip on 20th July from
Balaji’ s house, which is relatively closer to the Chennai – Bangalore National
highway 4. Our initial plan was to start around 8 p.m. and reach Dharmasthala
via Bangalore, Hassan and Sakleshpur. The plan looked so simple and easy
on papers but the hardships we faced during the travel were totally
unpredictable. Dear Readers, Let’s start our journey. Fasten your seat beats,
the wild beast on the road, Scorpio is ready to roar.
We all assembled around 9 p.m. and I have to admit that I
was late by at least an hour L We
had delicious dinner at Balaji’ s house and hit the road by 9.30 p.m. I was not
in the pink of health, with temperature at 99.7, though managed to travel with
the help of antibiotics L
We stopped by near Shri Krishna sweets, near Queensland and
Giri picked up lots of sweets and savories to beat the boredom during the
journey. Kumaran drove the car and we all started cracking jokes and pulling
others’ legs, not definitely the drivers’ J
We were nearing Ambur around 1.30 a.m. , which is around 186 kms from Chennai,
famous for its yummy Biriyani. Blame the mid-night, no shops were kept open. We
spent at least 20% of our total expenses towards paying the toll-charges and
roads were in tolerable condition. Balaji was driving car while we crossed the
TamilNadu border and entered Karnataka. It was 3 in the morning and stopped for
a nap, were awfully tired. Screeching noises of tyres and honking horns didn’t
allow us to sleep. We once again started our journey and reached Bangalore at
3.30.
The climate was so soothing, gentle wind blowing across and
everyone had a sleepy morning L.
Kumaran once again started driving and we took the Nice road to Neelamangala.
The toll collected in Nice road for 30 kilometers travel was Rs.140, which was
too costly and didn’t have any options left as this is the only road that can
get us to Neelamangala without entering the Bangalore city. We stopped well
before Neelamangala toll-gate for tea. We picked up TOI newspaper, the only available
English newspaper (which I don’t personally recommend for the readers) and
started our engine once again. It is National Highway 48 connecting Bangalore
and Mangalore. Kumaran was driving the car and I was sitting next to the
driver’s seat and the rest fell asleep. We stopped the car near a river for
half an hour quick nap and we took some snaps before we could start. Balaji in
driver’s seat now. I missed my jacket there and we crossed almost 20 kms before
I could realize that I had missed it. People had different opinions that it
could have flown away with the wind but I decided to return and fetch that
back. Luckily someone had picked it and kept the jacket carefully on the road
divider, making sure it doesn’t fly away with the wind. Thanks to that unknown
face J. Was this the reason why it
rained J, yes it was drizzling then.
Reached channarayapatna, a relatively big town at around 8
a.m. Had breakfast at Hotel Krithika on Hassan Road. The hotel could only
accommodate 12 at a time and the varieties the hotel offered was amazing. They
had conventional south Indian breakfast varieties and Uppittu (upma in Tamil)
and BesiBeleBath (hot sambar rice with dal), a traditional food in Karnataka.
We all had till our neck and the bill was only Rs.170/-. I just imagined for a
second as to how much our so called “High Class vegetarian” hotels in Chennai
would charge for the same. The next objective for us was to reach Hassan at the
earliest. It was drizzling and road was not so good. Vehicles were allowed to travel
in one side of the road due to road maintenance. It was 11 when we reached the
outskirts of Hassan and were awfully tired. Didn’t even know how much should we
travel more and everyone we inquired gave us a different number. Time to fill
the stomach of the beast, Scorpio. A whopping 180 kms to be travelled more is
the information we gathered in the petrol station. We were totally demotivated
as this could take another 2 hours of travel to reach the temple. Our next
objective was to reach Sakleshpur which was a 30 kms drive from Hassan. The
road from Channarayapatna to Hassan was a straight one and full of ups and
downs. We could even see a vehicle coming 3 kms away from us. Wind mills
welcome us en-route to Hassan.
Reached Sakleshpur. It was 12 p.m. and all we were about to
climb up the WESTERN GHATS(WG). Kumaran is an expert driving in GHAT sections,
thanks to his previous driving experience in Coorg. It was raining Cats
and Dogs in the WG. Driving was so difficult and visibility was close to
zero. The streams were gushing with water and we had to see and enjoy from the
car only as we were unable to get down. Need to mention, the NH 48 always has
heavy lorry traffic, predominantly Oil carriers, thanks to refineries in
Mangalore. NH 48 is the only highway to connect Mangalore with Bangalore.
During the monsoon season, the drivers avoid this highway and go around mysore,
though it is a circular route. We stopped for a hot tea. This time we managed
to walk down to the shop from the car as rain had slowed down. Got to know that
the temple is only 35 kms away. It was 12.30 p.m. already. A small road
deviated from the NH48 for Dharmasthala. We could see lots of fruit and
vegetable sellers on the road sides. Ultimately we reached Dharmasthala at 1.00
p.m.
It is a beautiful, spiritual, clean and cool town. I was
under the impression that this might be a very small town but amazed to know
the history, facilities and culture of the town. “Dharmasthala Temple is an
800-year-old religious institution in the temple town of Dharmasthala.
The deities of the temple are Shiva who is referred to as Manjunatha, Ammanavaru, Chandranath and the Dharma Daivas (guardian spirits of Dharma) namely
Kalarahu, Kalarkayi, Kumaraswamy and Kanyakumari. The temple is considered
unique since it belongs to the Shaivite sect of Hinduism. The priests are Shivalli Brahmins who belong to the Vaishnava
sect of Hinduism and the administration is run by a Jain Bunt
family called the Pergades.
(The lodge complex in Dharmasthala)
The most important thing now was to book a room. There are
many lodges in Dharmasthala like Vaishali, Nethravathi,
Gangotri, Saketha, Gayatri etc. all of them being rivers of India. We managed
to get a room in Gayatri for all the 5 of us. The room was so spacious, it had
two beds with cots, 5 pillows and mats with a pretty clean bathroom. Hold your
breath, the rent was only 100. We were so tired due to 15 hours travel and were
told that the Annadhanam was being provided in the temple premises. The temple
was closed for darshan and were told that it would be opened only at 7. We went
to the Annadhanam hall and surprised to see such a big hall which could
accommodate no less than 2000 people at a time. Chairs and tables were provided
for aged and physically challenged. The Annadhanam was provided in such a
sophisticated manner and their approach was so professional. The plates were
brought in a trolley and we had to pick our plates. The plates were now filled
to rice, the pleasant smell of the rice is a treat to our nostril. In
Dharmasthala, Rasam is always served first, sambar next and the curd at the
last. The food was so delicious and I have never had such a meal before in any
of the temples. The time they take to serve a batch (which consists of no less
than 500 people) is only 15 minutes and immediately the next batch starts. The
cleaning of the floor is done is less than a minute. It was a treat not only
for our taste buds but also for the eyes.
(Dharmasthala temple)
Thanks to the heavy lunch, desperately we
needed sleep and slept till 6 in the evening. We all took bath and left for the
temple. It was not so heavily crowded and we took tickets for a special
darshan, Rs.100 per person. Gents are not allowed with shirts and banians. We
first worshipped Lord Ganapathy in the praharam and entered the temple. The
queue was moving decently and the wood work on the doors and the ceiling of the
temple were amazing.
The architecture outside the temple is more
of a Kerala + Karnataka style and the architecture near the sanctum sanctorum
reminded me of the Great Chola sculptures. The sculptures, pillars and the
gopuram are more of typical south Indian style. The Lord Manjunatha was
fully decorated with flowers and the darshan was most satisfying. We then moved
on to worship Ammanavaru (Amman) and the darshan was a feast to our eyes. We
got the pradasam from the stall, a typical kannadiga sweet item. Our next
target was once again to attack the dining hall for the mouth-watering dinner.
It was heavily crowded this time, thanks to the crowd inflow as the next day
being the Sunday. For dinner we were given leaf instead of plates. The meal was
once again fabulous. Giri had forgone his dinner due to the heavy lunch. It was
shopping time for us and purchased swami photos and other Pooja items. It was
raining heavily and the climate was so soothing. Came back to room at 9
and we could only hear, nothing but snore. J
The plans on cards for the next day was to
get up at 6 and proceed to Kukke Subramanya temple. We had to travel 22kms to
reach NH 48, travel another 15 kms on the NH and deviate to the opposite
direction of the NH, travel for 18 kms more to reach Kukke. We started from
Dharmasthala at 8 a.m. We initially thought we could make this distance easily
in 1 hour, never knowing what was waiting ahead for us on the road. On reaching
the NH, we were struck in heavy traffic, the vehicles queuing up. Giri walked
down for 1 km and came with the news that 3 gigantic trees fell down on the
road, blocking the traffic. The local people didn’t wait for the fire and
rescue team to reach, they themselves acted upon the situation. In the
meantime, the vehicles queued up to 8 kms. Fortunately, the traffic got cleared
and we reached the temple at 12.30. It was once again raining. We got tickets
for darshan and worshipped Lord Subramanya. Kukke is a relatively bigger
town than Dharmasthala.
The temple is situated in the heart of the village.
Subramanya used to be called as Kukke Pattana (town) in the past. In the
“Shankara Vijaya” Anandagiri observes that Sri Shankaracharya camped here for a
few days during his religious expedition. Shankaracharya referred to this place
as 'Bhaje Kukke Lingam'
in his “Subrahmanya Bhujangaprayata Stotram”. We took tickets for Special
darshan and worshipped the almighty and got Laddu as Prasadam. It was raining
continuously. We had our lunch in “Hotel Kumara” in Kukke. The hot sambar and
Rasam was very gentle on our throat, as it the climate was very cold. Otherwise
the meal was disgusting except for the payasam L
We got drenched before we reached the car parking. We started from Kukke. We
missed many temples in and around Kukke, blaming the heavy rain. We stopped
near a small stream and took snaps and we knew that we were going behind the
schedule. We took the same way and reached Sakleshpur. We stopped near a coffee
shop for half an hour. Balaji took the baton now from Kumaran and we were
heading towards “SravanaBelgola”
SravanaBelgola, meaning “White Pond of the Shravana"
is named with reference to the colossal image of Gommaṭa. More than 800
inscriptions have been found at SravanaBelgola, dating to various times from
600 to 1830. The status is 17 m. (55 feet) high and is visible from a
distance of 30 km. There were more than 600 steps to reach the temple. The
temple used to get closed at 6.30 daily and we started climbing at 6 and
managed to make it J It was
drizzling once again and we came down immediately and did shopping in the
nearby shops, where we got handmade articles. Diwakar tried his driving skills
and he drove till Neelamangala. We were busy playing games in mobile and
chatting. We reached Neelamangala at 9 and took the Nice road once again to
reach Bangalore. We had our dinner in a hotel near Electronic City and the food
was so devastating, sorry to forget the name. We started at 11 and crossed the
Karnataka border. Reached Chennai at 3.30 and rested in Balaji’ s house.
We started dissipating from his house at 5.
It was a wonderful, fun filled, spiritual trip with my best
friends. I hope this travelogue will inspire you to pay a visit to these
temples and get the blessings of the almighty. Thanks to all. Special thanks to
Kumaran, Balaji and Diwakar for driving us safe to home and Me and Giri for not
disturbing them J Last but not
least, our thanks to the Scorpio, proved its mettle on the road J Will meet you all with another
travelogue soon.
Note: Please also pay a visit to Belur and Halebedu near
Hassan, which is of historical importance.
