Varadamoola

Varadamoola as the name suggests it the birth place of river Varada. This is about 6 km from Sagara, on the same road which leads to Ikkeri and Sigandur. River Varada joins Tungabhadra. This place has a temple in which a lady performs the pooja. I felt the silence of nature at Varadamoola to be a little strange. Though this place is covered by Areca nut farm and lots of fresh greens some who its silence did not attract me rather it was slightly on scary side am yet to figure out why so. Apart from there is a resident vaidya who treats people for bone related problems.

Keladi Temple

Keladi is approx of 6-7 km from Sagara. On Soraba road one need to take a diversion to reach Keladi. Am not sure of bus frequency as I went by an auto which cost around 100 for a round trip. Also I did not see any bus on my either way. Keladi was capital of Keladi Nayakas. Here one can find temples of Veerabhadra, Rameshwara and Parvathi. These are built in combination of Hoysala and Dravidian style. There is also a well maintained Keladi Museum, which has a collection of copper inscriptions, palm leaves and coins from Nayaka's period. When I had been to this place in Jan 2010 the museum was closed for renovation. Apart from this it also has a very old chariot in a very fragile condition.

Tyavarekoppa Lion and Tiger Safar

Tyavarekoppa is located 10 km away from Shimoga and approx of45- 50 kms from Sagara. I had been to this place from Sagara, my usual destination. Buses are frequent on this route and one needs to ask for Tyavarekoppa stop else they do not stop. The safari is stretch around an area of 200 Hectares of forest. Had been to lion safari a half an hr to 45 mins rides inside the forest by forest dept bus (Swaraj Mazda). Drivers are very well versed with routes and they drive in the same route where Lions and other animals will be resting. Tigers, cheetahs, bears and other wild life animals roam around in the forests freely. For me it looked like more a reserve forest as against deep dense forest claimed by many people. Disappointing fact for me was that none of the animals had the usual glow, roaring in their body language which is found in most of the animals in forest. They more or less looked like animals in zoo. Though Shimoga is well known for surrounding somehow the feel of forest, fresh green was missing. This safari will be open from 9 AM to 5 PM every day except Tuesday (weekly holiday).Everyone needs to buy tickets at the entrance. For camera it’s optional if you are taking a safari then you need to compulsorily pick up the ticket or else if you plan just to go around the cages then no need to. Also there is a small place for refreshments, I could decent tea, some snacks etc. Apart from this there is a play area for children.

Nadakalsi Kalasi

The purohit at Ikkeri had mentioned about Nadakalsi a temple dedicate to Lord Shiva. Nadakalsi, Ikkeri and Keladi played an important role during Keladi Nayaka’s dynasty. As each time they had a won a war or before going to any war they used visit these temple. It is also considered as good practice to visit all the three temples in one stretch as one would do in case of panchalinga darshana. One need to travel on Soraba road and take a diversion to right hand side after traveling around 6 kms and from this diversion another 2 kms is the temple. Nadakalsi also has many idols/ statues of “Nagaraja”. And couple of huge black stoned with “lipi” (olden day script).Though I could not see any visitors or purohit at the temple it looked like pooja was offered to god that day morning. And the garbagudi has no doors, so any time god can be seen. There is a small pond adjacent to the temple and there was no one available so that I could check on the importance of the pond in the premises. Also this place is under ASI, except for ASI standard board there is no history/ importance of this place mentioned.

Ikkeri

Since I visit Sagar (Shimoga) almost every month I plan to cover as much as place as possible. The main reason being Keladi Nayaka's, though having little knowledge about them I like their way of architecture and each temple is having its own history behind it. So here comes Ikkeri.

Ikkeri is around 3-4 kms from Sagar with lots of bus and auto's plying in between (auto would cost anything between Rs 50-100 depending on you). Ikkeri is on the same road which leads to Varadamula and Sigandor. Also it’s a good idea to walk from Sagar to Ikkeri if one likes roads completely covered plants and flowers on both the edges of road or if there is good company. Keladi Nayaka's had built 3 main temples during their rule. Out of 3 I only remember 2 Keladi and Ikkeri. At Ikkeri a beautiful temple for Lord Shiva is built. Lord is known as Agoreshwara and is in human form. Alongside the main temple a small temple for goddess Parwathi is found. This specialty of this temple was that the statue of Lord Shiva in Human form was built in single black stone which measured around 24 feet. The pujari of the temple mentioned that it was destroyed by the Moghul after they conquered. For such huge Lord Shiva his vehicle Nandi is also huge. Reason behind such huge Nandi is that, the temple from main entrance till the statue had approx of 8 doors and the placement of nandi in elevated position is that he could see his lord always.
Not to miss there – Ask the pujari/purohit to tell you the story of the temple, he is all enthu to tell the story about the rulers and temple. As you enter to the temple the moment you see nandi take a left turn towards the edge of the wall, there on the corner 2 lizards facing each other and a line is drawn in between. It’s believed that these 2 lizards kept coming closer to each other and once these 2 lizards meet - it's the end of earth and hence the line is drawn in between so that they do not meet each other.
The temple and its premises are well maintained and there are couple of local folks who can take you around to explain you in details about the importance, history of the temple. Just outside the temple is a small pond with lots of Lotus and also has a small place to sit and enjoy the beauty of nature.


Only one photograph attached as I want to finish writing about maximum possible places in next few days. And again if you want more details or photographs let me know via email or comment.