Tumakuru is a place, in Karnataka located very close to Bangalore, which boasts of various tourist attractions. The land of Tumakuru has many temples with beautiful scenic views around it. This time , we decided to explore this land as much as possible in a days time. Though I had been to many of these places long back, I still thought that the time has come to cherish those memories and revisit a few of the earlier visited places.
Recently I had come across this place called Madhugiri Fort near Tumakuru. Madhugiri had been in my TODO list for a long time, somehow, this time, it was turn for this place.
So, the plan was to leave from Bangalore in the morning and reach back home by night as its just 3 hours drive from here. Since Devarayanadurga was on the way, we decided to give it a visit too.
So, we left from Bangalore at 09:30 in the morning. Headed straight to Devarayanadurga. Devarayanadurga is a hill top located in Tumakuru and has 2 famous temples located : Yoganarasimha & Boghanarasimha temple. Boghanarasimha temple is located at the bottom of the hill whereas Yoganarsimha temple is located on the top of the hill, and also provides a splendid view of the surrounding atmosphere !
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| Stairways leading to the temple |
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| Stone Entrance at the walking path leading to temple |
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| View from the top of the hill near Devarayana Durga |
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| A monkey posing ! |
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| A good sleep ! |
From Devarayanadurga, there is a place called Namada Chilume, which is located very close to it. This place is famous for the water spring that springs up from the rocks. The legend has it that Lord Rama , during his days of exile had come to this place. And he needed water to apply nama on his forehead. But seeing no source of water here, he shot an arrow at a rock and water started to come up from it like a spring water .Its said the water never stops coming from this place.
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| Deer at Namada Chelume |
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| Small deer park at Namada Chelume |
After Namada Chilume, we were originally headed towards Madhugiri fort. But on the way , we met a person , who suggested that we visit Siddarabetta as its a very good place for rock climbing and also provides a panoramic good view. Since Siddarabetta falls in the way from Namada Chilume and Madhugiri fort , we routed towards Siddarabetta.
Siddarabetta is a less-known temple located on top of a hill inside a cave . One has to climb the rocks for around 3-4kms from the bottom of the hill to reach the top .Upon reaching the top , the priests pour water upon your head so that all your bad-deeds are washed away . Then , one can have a Darshana of lord Shiva , located inside the cave . People who like adventure , must visit this place .
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| Siddarabetta temple entrance |
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| Siddarabetta temple entrance |
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| Siddarabetta temple entrance |
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| View from the top of the Siddarabetta hill |
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| View from the top of the Siddarabetta hill |
After Siddarabetta we headed towards our last destination of the day, our main reason of the trip, Madhugiri Fort. Madhugiri fort is another half an hour drive from Siddarabetta. The fort is constructed layer by layer, totalling up to 7 layers, and from the bottom, one can see all the 7 layers of the fort. Madhugiri fort is a very huge fort and it takes a lot to climb to the top. Though there are steps carved on the rock, at one point, there is no railing for protection and it really tests ones determination for reaching the top. Once reaching the top, one has a beautiful view of the surrounding nature which is breathe-taking. Madhugiri Fort marked the end of our trip, and we headed back to Bangalore to resume our usual life !
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| Pillar formation @ Madhugiri fort |
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| Madhugiri Fort as seen from the bottom of the fort |
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| Beautiful watchtower of Madhugiri Fort |
Tumakuru is a beautiful tourist attraction and boasts of a variety of places & natural scenery ! So unleash the traveller in you and start exploring !
