Travel - A pilgrimage.... Part 3 (Agumbe-Sringeri-Horanadu-Vittal)

I was really looking forward to a beautiful mountain trek and I was not disappointed when I set off from Agumbe to Sringeri. The weather was always good and beautiful.

The road from Agumbe to Sringeri was very beautiful and interesting winding through the Ghats. He covered 30 km in 45 minutes. A big stop awaited us at Sringera. Many devotees of Lord Ayyappa were on pilgrimage in vehicles of various sizes. They are all dressed in black and their carts are decorated with garlands so that they are easily recognized. Uday Shankara, leading exponent of Advaita (non-duality). The Lord of Knowledge erected by Sri Adi Shankara at Sringeri is worshiped in the Sharada Peetha as the main deity. According to legend, Adi Shankaracharya chose the place to rest and teach his students because he was walking along the banks of the Tenga River and saw a cobra hiding from the scorching sun. It is necessary to control the place where frogs breed. He stayed here for twelve years, marveling at the place where the enemies of nature had broken their will.

Dedicated to the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, the Sharada temple dates back to the Adi Shankaracharya period from a simple temple. Vidanya is said to have replaced the old sandalwood image with stone and gold images in the 14th century. The structure of the temple remained intact until the beginning of the 20th century. After an unexpected fire destroyed the building, the current structure was built in the traditional style of South Indian ( Dravidian ) temple architecture. The Vidyashankara Temple was built in 1357-58 AD in memory of Harihara's patron bishop Vidyashankara Vidyarana and brothers Buka who founded the Vijayanagara kingdom . The pillars of the temple have a number of carvings related to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain mythology. The temple combines Hoysala and Vijayanagara architectural features. This temple also has 61 bas-relief carvings of various Puranic scenes.

Here the Buddha is depicted as one of the incarnations of Vishnu. The main hall of the temple has 12 pillars designed for the 12 zodiac signs, and windows and doors are located in the walls of the temple to allow the sun's rays to fall on each one. They are in the sequence of solar months. A linga called Vidyashankara has been installed in Garbha Griha in memory of Guru Vidyathirtha.

At the entrance of the temple, on the left, there is a beautiful wooden structure. The board has detailed information about the "Father's Temple".

The temple management built guest houses for believers who wanted to stay. There are also several hostels nearby. We had a few kilometers to go and Garonado went to visit; So we walked along a beautiful road with tea and coffee stands on both sides till we reached Harnada.

It took us around 2 hours to complete the 80 km trek as we stopped several times along the way to enjoy and capture the beautiful scenery. Sri Annapurneshwari Temple is an ancient and venerable temple located in the beautiful Garanadu area. Vegetarian food is served to all who visit the Khuranadu-Annapurna temple, irrespective of their religion, caste or creed. Before entering the temple to pay homage to the deity, the temple authorities urge you to have lunch! But as there were not many people in the queue for darshan, we decided to skip lunch and visit the deity first. Men visiting the temple should remove their shirts and cover their shoulders with a shawl or handkerchief as a sign of respect and modesty. The main deity of Annapurna is made of gold and looks beautiful. They say that a person who prays for God's blessings will never lack food in his life. It is also believed that Lord Shiva was cursed and this curse was lifted when he visited Lord Annapurna and received his blessings. at night in our house. On the way, we pass through Kadrimok, a city of blacksmiths. So we swam in the chilly weather through the detours of the Western Ghats at Caracalla and Modbury, covering 140km in three hours, reaching Vitaly at 5pm. Vithal is a small town in Puttur taluka of Kanara district in south Karnataka. There is a beautiful temple dedicated to Lord Anakhvar where people come from far and near to seek blessings. There is also a 'Naag Katte' outside the temple which is worshiped daily. Our stay at Vitthal was blessed with beautiful weather and scenery so beautiful that words cannot describe it.

While in Vitali, I fulfilled my long-time dream - to visit the village of "Amimbal", where we got our father's surname.

It is a very small place, about 4 square kilometers. I visited the local Somnateshwar temple but could not enter as it was closed for darshan. Days passed and we again had to move towards Hasan and Bangalore via Shirvan Belagula, Belur and Halpid.

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