Heritage of Karnataka....PART I

Since 2009, Youth Hostels Association of India, Mumbai Unit had started a new intiative of arranging a trip to some historic destinations or destination which are not typical which the tour operators arrange. Last year it was the Lonar, Ajanta & Verul (Ellora). This year we all were eager to know where is Youth Hostel’s Mumbai Unit taking us.

When the program was announced during early June, we saw the last program in October, 2010 as ‘Heritage of Karnataka’. The program didn’t give much idea as to what was in store for us during the 10 days of program starting from 2^nd Oct to 10^th Oct.

Mr. Sanjay Ghosh who manages the program then gave us a fair idea of the Heritage of Karnataka program. In Karnataka there are two World Heritage Sites FIRST being HAMPI and SECOND being at PATTADAKKAL. Apart from these two sites we will be visiting other important sites in Karnataka which will give us an overview of the culture, Architecture, dynasties of Karnataka.

Our first halt was in Bangalore. Bangalore is anglicized version of Bengaluru, which is the name of the town in Kannada language. The city was formed around 1000 years back. There is a inscription found which refers about the battle fought in Bengaluru in 890. We paid our respects to the Bull temple in Bangalore and moved towards the next destination.

Our next destination was Hasan which was around 186 Kms from Bangalore. Hasan proved to be the centre point from where we were going to visit some of the important places such as Shravanbelagola, Belur and Halebidu, in South Karnataka.

In ancient times when Hindus ruled India before the Muslims or even the Christens set foot on to the soil, the Kings followed two sects Vaishnav and Shaiva. Vaishnav stands for followers of Vishnu and Shaiva stands for followers of Shiva. All the carvings, temples in Karnataka are based on what sect the rulers followed during those days. Sometimes there is a mixture of both the sects as well as influence of Jainism in the carvings.

We kicked off the trip from Hasan to visit Shravanbelagola first, which is the pilgrimage place for Jains. Shravanbelagola is famous for 57 feet monolithic statue of Bhagwan Gomateshwara Bahubali. It is considered to be the world’s largest Monolithic statue.

The Monolithinc structure of Lord Gomateshwara and the View of pond and Chandragiri taken from Vindhyagiri

The carvings around the Statue

The town gets its name from the white pond of Sravana or the Jain Monk. The derivation of the word 'Belagola' appears to have been from the two Kannada words Bel (white) and Kola (pond) in allusion to the beautiful pond in the middle of the town.

The Town is situated in between 2 hills:

Chandragiri: The last shruta-kevali, Bhadrabahu Swami, and his pupil, Chandragupta Maurya (formerly the King), is believed to have meditated there. Emperor Ashok, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya is said to have originally built the Chandragupta basadi in 3^rd Century.

Vindyagiri: This hill has the monolithic statue of Bhagwan Gometeshwara Bahubali. This large structure is said to have been constructed by Chamundaraya, a general of King Gangaraya. The base of the statue has various inscriptions in Kannada, Tamil and Marathi.

The stepped climb the hill takes you to the monolithic statue of Lord Gomateshwar. There are few carvings on the pillars and rock around in Shravanbelagola. The Carvings depict the nature which the artists saw around the hill in those times.

After spending nearly half a day at Shravanbelagola we moved towards Belur. Belur was the early capital of Hoysala Empire.

We reached Belur around 1.30 p.m. and we were amazed to see the huge gopuram (entrance). As we entered the temple Complex the guide told us to first enter the temple pay respects to Lord Chinnakeshava (Handsome Vishnu) as after 2 p.m. the doors of inner sanctum shall close of devotes.

The Gopuram, the temple premises and Lord Chinnakeshava

The main attraction is the Lord Chinnakeshava Temple(built by King Vishnuvardhana) at the centre of the complex and there are two more shrines and a stepped pushkarni on the right hand side of the entrance. The temple is an example of Hoysala Architecture and is a surprise not to have been destroyed by the Muslim Rulers.

The temple is built in Soap Stone that the reason for some excellent carvings which give a 3 Dimensional effect.

The carvings of the temple have different layers of carvings. The first layer at the bottom shows elephants for strength, the second layer of carvings show the lions signifying courage, the third layer of horses signifying agility.

The carvings around the temple depict mythological epics and dancers, queens and their maids, etc. Inside the temple are a number of ornate pillars. Darpana Sundari (Lady with the mirror) carved on walls of Belur Temple is one of major attractions in the complex.

The Guide after showing us the trailer of the carvings around the temple and left us photograph the temple and the carvings.

We proceeded to Halebidu, the other most important site in Hasan District. Halebidu means the ruined city. Originally known as Dwarasamudra (door of the ocean) was the capital of Hoysala Empire in the 12^th Century. The City was destroyed twice by Bahamani Sultans. The complex boosts of two temples Hoysaleshwara and Kedareshwara temples. Halebidu can be considered as the university of Hoysala Architecture.

The Monolithic structure of Nandi on the side of Hoysaleshwara temple is attractive piece of carving. The Halebidu temple has 11 layers of carvings compared to 7 layers in Belur. The temple in Halebidu has some of the kamasutra poses also similar to the ones of Khajurao.

The carvings in Halebidu have more mythological epic stories from Mahabharat, Shiva, Vishnu, etc.

As the day turned into evening, we with a heavy heart returned to our hotel in Haasan. In Haasan we found out that there is more cheaper place to stay, the newly started Youth Hostel with its brand new building. The Hostel Building is little far from the main town but a decent place for bag-packers like me.

The Group then started thinking of the more awaited Hampi or the Vijayanagara. ................Contd.

RATANGAD, A STAY IN THE CLOUDS WITH A GROUP THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE

Ratan(diamond) gad(fort)[4255 feet], the name as it suggests means the Diamond Fort. I first happened to visit the fort 3 years back that time with Youth Hostels’ Mumbai Unit. Our leader, Umesh Lotlikar, is a veteran in leading treks around Sahyadris. After 3 years when the job of leading the trek to Ratangad fell upon me and Milind.
As the figure of participants was being finalized, we started the preparations for the trek, the dinner and breakfast at the fort and other necessary things to carry. The group was small and just enough for both of us to manage. On the day of the trek we were a group 19 trekkers, few of us we trekking the Sahaydris for quite a long time and the rest were new comers. We had the advantage of 2 NIM certified trekkers amongst us, Milind and his sister Archana. We started on our journey on 28th August, 2010 early morning at 600 hrs. The group dozed of immediately after boarding the bus. At Bhandardara everyone got refreshed by the scenic view of the dam and the fog surrounding the mountains.

Bhandardara from the top

The journey from Bhandardara to Ratanwadi (base village for Ratangad) was around 45 minutes.

Another Jewel awaited the group at Ratanwadi. The 1000 years old Amruteshwar Mandir built by Hemadpant, a minister in the court of Yadav Kings. The carvings and the construction of the Temple are spellbound. Hats off to the people at Ratanwadi who have maintained the temple over all these years.

Our Group At Amruteshwar Mandir Ratanwadi and Amruteshwar Mandir

After having a quick bite at Ratanwadi, we moved on towards Ratangad. We were to follow a stream till we reach the base of the hill, thereafter the upward climb to the fort begins.

On route to Ratangad

After a climb of around 1 ½ to 2 hours you reach the ladders. The ladders are shaky and the trekkers need to be careful while climbing to or getting down from the fort. Near the second ladder we saw a few broken steps, from those broken steps we understood that during the time when the fort was fully operational the rock cut steps were fully operational and in good condition and used by the residents of the fort to climb up to the fort. The steps were destroyed by the Britishers. The present ladders are built by the enthusiastic trekkers who visited the fort. After climbing the 2 exciting ladders one has to be careful with rock climb which leads into the Ganesh Darwaja. As we started the climb up the ladders and rock patch, the rains started pouring in and it made it difficult for us along the rock patch. But we negotiated the rock patch very well. After the thrilling climb to the fort, then the trekers have to get geared up for another walk up the rocky stairs. The stairs were also exciting as the water flowed over the stairs making it slippery to climb in Monsoons.

After a walk of 3 ½ hours we reached the caves in the fort. On reaching the fort we took stock of surroundings. First we thought that there is a need to clean up the caves as the caves are always in a bad condition. It’s a sad thing that the trekkers or villagers who visit the fort take pain to clean up the fort when they leave. We saw many paper dishes thrown around the caves. Milind had thought about it and had brought a ‘kersuni’/mop. The cave was small and would occupy around 12-13 of us.

Dinner Time: Milind, Mangya and Archana

After cleaning up the cave, we prepared the soup and dinner. For dinner we had got a stove with the cubes which on burning produced a flame. However the flame took a lot of time in heating up things. Another good thing that we had bought ready to eat food which saved the day for us.

After a delicious tomato soup and dinner, some of us played UNO, the card game and were awake till around 11.30.

At the first break of dawn, I, Milind, Mangya and Sanjay woke up. The rain had stopped but the visibility around the fort was very less. We could manage to see around 10 feet only. All the other participants slowly woke up after us. After everyone woke up, we all sat for the breakfast in a circle. The Breakfast session lasted for an hour most of time was consumed in preparing tea. Around 8-8.15 a.m. we all decided to pack up and see the fort as much as we can.

In the Gol Buruj

Some carvings around the fort

After inspecting the gol buruj and a few fortifications above the caves, we decided to climb down the fort. This time around again I missed out on needhe and I shared my thoughts to visit the fort in winter to which Milind and Mangya immediately agreed as they want to see the needhe.

Now to the climbing down part, the new participants were nervous while climbing down and it was the time Milind, myself and Sanjay Modi had to prepare all the new participants for climbing down the rock patch. Milind started to work with the rope and the equipment stuff for the safety of the participants.

He tied the rope to the rock which operated as the Hinge for the Door in the ancient days(as seen above). The other end of the rope was tied to the participants. After the safe landing of the regular participants, the newcomers too gathered the courage climb down. During this time also it started raining again and we had to climb down when the water was falling on our head. The monkeys also added to our woes when the came near the ladder and we had to move fast across the ladder. After climbing down the ladder, the major and risky part of the trek was over, now was left was just to walk down to Ratanwadi village. I alongwith Archana, Mangesh, Milind, Madhavi did another job of being the clean up marshal and picking up all the plastic on route to Ratanwadi. Archana and Madhavi did the job of carrying the garbage.

On the way to Ratanwadi we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest in the stream. The water was cold and free flowing. We had to be careful not to lose balance or else we would have been drifting along with the water. The group had a gala time in the waterfalls. I think the waterfall was the highlight of the Ratangad trek. It was a PAISA VASUL time of all of us.

On reaching Ratanwadi we got some scenic moments to capture. The best part of this trek was the group though new we all gelled together and everyone enjoyed the trek to the fullest. It was a trek which none of us could forget.

Rajgad (the King of Forts), 1394 Mts. ASL, Torna (1405 Mts. ASL) & the Walk on the Ridge

This Trek had been haunting me for last 5 years. Somehow or the other reason I missed this Trek for quite a many years. In trekking fraternity especially in Maharashtra, visiting Rajgad is like visiting a pilgrimage spot or like having a dip in Holy Ganges. Rajgad had been the capital of Swarajya for 25 years. This was the fort on which Shivaji Maharaj spent major span of his life.

I and Mangesh Dhaimade alongwith our trekker friend Milind Thakur started to plan for Rajgad initially. But we altered the plan to include Torna also thanks to Mehboob. The days for the trek were fixed, 5-7th March, 2010.

But the information we had was too less compared to the glorious past of these forts, so we started our search for more information.

Torna as we all know was the first fort captured by Shivaji Maharaj. Immediately after capturing the fort he took over the hill besides Torna which was know as Murumbdevacha Dongar. The Murumbdevcha Dongar was used as check point or as check tower during the period from Bahamani Kings to Adilshah, who was the last King before Shivaji Maharaj took control over the area. Sometime during 1645, Shivaji Maharaj conquered this fort along with Torna. He undertook major reconstruction work of the fort. It included construction of curtain wall for the three machis and later named them as Suvela, Sanjivani and Padmavati; construction of a building on the main fort and later renaming it as Rajgad. Shivaji Maharaj stayed on this fort for 25 years and this fort witnessed many historical events.

After the demise of Shivaji Maharaj, Sambhaji Raje took over the reins of the Swarjaya. In the year 1689, he was captured and killed by Aurangzeb. Mughals captured many forts and Rajgad was one amongst them. But Marathas immediately snatched it back from the Mughals.

During the year 1703-04, Aurangzeb led the task of capturing Rajgad. After clearing the roads and paths he reached Rajgad. In the battle that fought for 2 months, Aurangzeb managed to capture the fort. But it was later recaptured by Marathas in 1707. Thereafter the fort was in the possession of Marathas till British took over.

Our Group

Coming back to our trek, on the day of the trek, we were 10 of us. On Friday night all the trekking enthusiasts headed to Velhe (the base village for Torna). Some of us were fast asleep immediately as the car took off, while some of us kept on chatting. We drove past Pune and then took a right turn to Velhe. Due to the night we first reached Gunjavane then Pali and atlast circled our way to Velhe. It was around 0545 hours on Saturday morning when we reached Velhe. After catching a few winks, our primary objective was to have breakfast. And to our luck a small road side hotel opened and we immediately filled in our stomachs with some delicious missal, pohe and tea.

Torna In the morning

From Velhe, Torna was clearly visible and we captured the fort in our cameras with the morning rays lighting up the fort. Around 0830 hours we began our trek to Torna. It was bit late, we should have started the trek around 0700 hours. The climb tested our stamina and with the summers nearing, the climb was becoming more and more exhausting.

Torna half way thru

At some point of time the climb had a gradient of 70 Degree. The railings on the climb helped to us in climbing such gradient. On our way to the Fort we passed through the Binni Darwaja and Kothidarwaja. (below is the picture of how the Darwajas are. They are called as Gomukhi Darwaja. Kothidarwaja is next pic.)We reached Torna around 1145 Hours. We rested for some time and after having our lunch we decided to explore the fort within the time left at our disposal. We were also lucky to capture some of the acrobatics of the monkeys on the fort. The fortifications were still intact compared to the other forts in Maharastra. The Zunjar Machi was simply fabulous to watch. I just wished we had some time to climb down to get a closer view of the Machi.

Torna

Rajgad and the Ridge

But Rajgad was more important for all of us and so we moved from the Balle-Killa towards the ridge which connects both these forts. As we walked towards the ridge, we passed by Darukhana and few other temples but we could hardly stop at any of these structures as we were already behind schedule.

Reaching the ridge was equally difficult. The route was narrow and facing the valley, the scree and rock patches making it difficult for us to climb down to the ridge. After taking pains to cross the rock Patch, we safely made our way to the ridge. It was 1600 hours when we decided to take last halt before we walk the ridge.

The ridge is a route over the hills. It is an up and down route over the number of hills and with no trees or shade, the walk on the ridge was even more tiresome than we thought. At that point we felt that it was a never ending trek. The distance between Rajgad and Torna never seemed to be reducing. Infact we lost our way and climbed down to the ridge towards the Pali Village however thanx to the villagers who helped us get back on the track. From the Ridge we could see both the forts but Rajgad being the destination seemed too far away for us to reach on Saturday. But After a walk of 2 ½ hours, we decided to take a halt in Dhangar wadi before the Khind (Pass). We all prepared some Khichdi and asked our host to prepare some bhakri and bhaji.

The meal was simple but delicious. After a days’ long walk anything would taste delicious. The sleep was just waiting for us to lie down and we were snoring the moment our backs touched the matt.

At night Mehboob repeatedly reminded us that we need to start the trek at 0700 hours, we manged to woke up at 0600 hours and then it was not possible for all of us to leave at 0700 hours. After getting ourselves refreshed next day we started around 0815 hours back on our quest to reach Rajgad.

Torna & the Ridge

We took our first halt at base of Rajgad in the open space below Sanjeevani Machi.

Rajgad

When we reached the open space below the fort, it was like a dream come true. The fort which eluded me for last so many years was about to be explored by me.

We all were astonished to see the fortifications and the quality of construction. On reaching the fort we could not believe what we saw. The Sanjeevani Machi had 2 walls and even a protective covers at some points. This Chilkati (armor) walls were simply fabulous. What was more surprising was that at the tender age of 16 years, how did Shivaji Maharaj plan the design of the Fort keeping in mind reactions/attacks of the enemies.

On our way to Rajgad, we drank the Tak which the locals carried for sale on the fort. Tak (Marathi name for Lassi/buttermilk) is the best drink this season.

We entered the fort through the Alu Darwaja. We spent nearly an hour exploring Sanjeevani Machi(though it was very less). The Dual walls, the chilkhati Buruj, doors to reach the Chilkhati Buruj and the view around Sanjeevani Machi all was mesmerizing. One thing we couldn’t miss was the Torna Fort and the ridge which could be easily seen from this Machi. From Sanjeevani Machi we managed to catch the glimpse of Raigad and Lingana on the west. We hoped that the sky would be more clear so as we would be able to see the other forts too. Rajgad is surrounded by lot of forts and was perfect capital for swarajya. On east we saw Sinhagad, further towards the north-east direction there are the ranges of forts Lohagad, Visapur, Tikona and Tung. Towards the south are the Pratapgad, Kamalgad. Apart from these forts the river beds of Velvandi, Kanandi and Gunjavane Rivers provided the perfect protection to this fort from the enemies. Besides the fort as such is difficult to capture as the circumference of the fort runs around 25-30 miles which is very difficult for any enemy to lay a siege.

Sanjeevani Machi

We could have lingered even more on Sanjeevani Machi but due to paucity of time we had to move on to Padmavati Machi. By now it was clear that we were to miss the Balle-killa. So we decided to explore all the Machis and come back for viewing the fort as a whole again.

The Padmavati Machi has few structures such as the temple of Padmavati Devi, Rameshwar Temple, Padmavati Talao, Sadar, Ambarkhana. On reaching Padmavati Machi we quenched our thirst with the sweet water from the tank. We then proceeded to Suvela Machi to check out the Hatti Dagad and the Needhe.

It took us nearly half an hour to reach Suvela Machi. On the way we passed by Balle-Killa. We could see the fortifications but didn’t had the time to visit it.

The fortifications around Suvela Machi were quiet intact and very less destroyed by the British. We climbed the Hatti Dagad and sat in the needhe for around 15 minutes. The view from the Needhe was simply superb. We could see Sinhagad at a distance, the Ghatghar Dam, the valleys of Nere, Velvandi, Kanandi and Gunjavane Rivers.

Pintya enjoying the view from needhe

By now it was clear that we had to move on back to Padmavati machi for our Lunch which was waiting for us. After the delicious Lunch of Zhunka Bhakar & Curds, we quickly collected our belongings to move towards Pali Village where our car was waiting for us.

This was the only trek during which I could not see the fort at leisure. I also missed the Balle Killa (where Shivaji Maharaj stayed). We all wished to stay for 2 more days to see the fort again but we all knew we had to go back to Mumbai. The trio, Milind, Mangesh and Me then immediately planned our second visit to Rajgad in winters of 2010.

SIDDHAGAD (3223 FT ASL)

After Kulang, it was time to celebrate the New Year and there were no treks for 2 weeks. So I was more excited to visit the fort. The google searches didn’t reveal much except for the route.

Around a year back when I visited Gorakhgad in February, 2009, I got to see Siddhagad from a distance. The fort was in my bucket list so I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to visit the fort.

We started on Saturday, January 16, 2010. The Venue was Kalyan ST Stand. Around 2 p.m. the group gathered to proceed to Murbad. The group was of around 10 of us, again a mixture of regulars and freshers. We immediately hopped in a taxi waiting near Kalyan Station. In an hour’s time we reached Murbad to change our transport for Narivali.

We reached our destination around 4.00 p.m. A 5 minutes walk through the Narivali village and we were out of the village for an introduction round. After taking a break, we proceeded with our journey to Siddhagad. Our leader Raghuveer Lotlikar showed us all the forts around the place. On our left hand side we could see Gorakhgad and Machindragad watching us on our route to Siddhagad.

Gorakhgad

A little further from Gorakhgad was Ahupe Ghat. Then was Siddhagad and far beyond in the midst of the clouds we could manage to see Bhimashankar.

Siddhagad

On the way we passed through another small village Thalewadi. We also met a lonely villager who had built his hut on the way to Siddhagadwadi. We passed a pinnacle named Zhavdyacha lingi.

Zhavdyacha lingi

Taking halts on the way we reached Siddhagadwadi by 7 p.m. just in time before the dark. The main entrance to the fort was before Siddhagad wadi. Though the fortifications have fallen as the British destroyed the Fort in 1818, the Main gate was still intact and analyzing the construction of ancient times we all wished that the remains would stand for another 100 years.

The Main Gate

Preparing Dinner

The walk to Siddhagadwadi was exhausting and after having some Khichdi and soup for dinner we dozed off to be awakened in morning at 7 a.m. Now we were able to view the whole of the surroundings from Siddhagadwadi. In the North direction we could see Gorakhgad, on the East was Ahupe Ghat and behind in southern direction was Siddhagad waiting to be explored by us.

We were more excited to climb the fort which looked pretty dangerous and steep. We had a nice walk till the Cave where an old villager lived. We could hear Commentary of Cricket Match between India and Bangladesh. We interacted with him, his name was Patil and used to work in some factory in Kalyan after retirement he spends his time practicing yoga in midst of Sahyadris. He noted all our names in his diary. Thereafter we proceeded on our way to the fort. The climb by no was getting steeper and dangerous. One of our fellow trekkers aptly said one side is the WALL the other side is the FALL.

After a climb of 1 ½ hours we reached the fort at 11.30 a.m. A cool breeze welcomed us as we reached the fort and inspite of the time we wandered around the fort. Though there was nothing much left on the fort except the 3-4 water tanks and few fortifications. The water in the tanks was not potable and hence its necessary to carry water from the village or from Patil babas' tank.

Few Structures left on the fort

The fort was standing tall in east-west direction. On the southern side we could see Bhimashankar. This fort covered a vast area on both sides and well protected from the northern side by Gorakhgad, Machindragad, Durg Killa, Jivdhan, Bhairavgad, etc. Just as climbing up the fort was exciting, climbing down was equally thrilling. (check the picture below)

Gorakhgad

We had to watch each and every step. The patch was full of dry grass, rock and dry earth(sand) making things difficult for us to climb down. To add to our woes a group of 2-3 trekkers were climbing the narrow path up the fort. The rocks were pretty comfortable to walk but when we reach the patch of dry grass/sand, we had to be very careful. After a careful climb down we reached the cave of Patil baba all safe and sound.

Patil Baba's Cave

There after we visited the temple of which was near to the main entrance at Siddhagadwadi. We met some of the villagers who informed us that at 5 minutes distance there is a Canon and we decided to check out the canon. The Place where the broken canon was kept was right below the eastern side fortifications of the fort. The only question which came to our minds why is the canon lying below the fort. It could be possible that the British with intention to destroy the fort brought the canon there destroyed the fort and left leaving the broken canon behind.

By now it was getting late. It was 2.00 p.m. and we were left with very less time to reach Narivali village. We traced our steps as fast as we could to the village. But we didn’t miss to have a nice refreshing bath at the small rivulet below the fort, just in time to catch the 5.30 p.m. bus to Murbad.

During this year I have completed two of the most exciting forts in Malshej Region, Gorakhgad and Siddhagad. In the coming year, I hope to complete Jivdhan, Bhairavgad and few other forts in this area. So that I could delete these forts from my bucket (bhatkanti) List. But the top most in my bucket list still remains Ladakh and I hope to visit it this year.