Bangalore Diaries

After Makara Sankranthi, in Kerala, a festive vibe erupts in the form of Purams or annual temple festivals. It is also interesting to note that this is not limited to the Hindu temples, but also quite a few churches that celebrate their Pirannal or birthdays. Driving through the side-roads is an experience to celebrate the vibrant decorations, the DJ powered music (this too exists), Chenda Melam & of course, panchavaadhyam.  This time of the year also happens to be the time of Bharani or Puram of Bhagwathis, one of which is close to my paternal ancestral home. When the date was decided to be January 26, I planned to make the most of the opportunity by travelling early and trying to discover and understand the antiquity of some of these kshetrams. As a new found self-motivated objective, I wish to travel and discover these Divya Deshams and Padal Petra Sthalams across the country or beyond. As part of this endeavour, I zeroed in a few kshetras that are relatively near-by to my a...

One entire day soaked in the richness of our ancestors and the divinity and antiquity of some of the holiest places in the neighbourhood was just what I required on a Saturday. Originally planned for Wednesday, some unforeseen exigencies meant that the plan was pushed to Saturday. What a day it was !!!  Route Map The overall route-map for the trip is as below: We started from Bengaluru around 6.15 and reached Hoskote in decent time. After Hoskote, we faced severe fog which hampered visibility and meant that we had to travel at 10 kmph. The first destination of DoddaShivara meant that we took the newly constructed highway, which was a dream to drive on.  DoddaShivara A beautiful kshetra nestled amidst vast lands of a village, DoddaShivara is the abode for Gangadhareshwara Swami as well as some Veeragallus (Hero Stones) hosted in the vicinity of the temple. In fact, I learnt about this place from a post from my good friend, Sri Swaminathan Natarajan , who is actively contributi...