Trip to Kolar on 12-Nov-2012

We left Bangalore by car at 9.30 a.m in the morning and reached Kolar at 11 am. Our first stop was Anthargange. We had to climb a few steps and there is a temple on top of a small hillock. The speciality of this place is that ground water keeps pouring out of the hillock through the mouth of a bull idol (Nandi) all through the year.  There were a lot of monkeys in that area. There are lot of rocks, boulders and thick vegetation on this hill and it is a good place for trekking, but of course with local help.

            Next we went to  Kotilingeswara temple where they say there are 1 crore lingas over there. There is a huge lingas in a courtyard surrounded by many mini lingas spread over 15 acres.

            We went to visit Kolar Gold Fields but unfortunately it is closed down now and not open to public. But on the way we passed through BEML Nagar.

            Our next destination was Bangaru Tirupathi, about 10 Kms from Kotilingeshwara. Here the temple premises is very big and the main diety Venkatesha is on top of a huge boulder and has to be seen through 6 peep holes. The place was very quiet and peaceful as there were not many people.

            We then started to Avani which is also about 10 kms from Bangaru Tirupathi. The drive through the villages and field was very beautiful. Avani has many lingas  in a huge temple premises and is very well maintained by the Archaeological Society of India. The temple is similar to that of Belur and Halebidu with a lot of carvings, inscriptions on stones. The lingas are said to be installed by the 4 brothers of Ramayana namely, Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Shatrughna. Right  next to the temple is a Shankaracharya Math with a temple of godess Sharada. In the backdrop is a huge hill with big rocks with big lingas on them. It is said that Sita stayed here with Luva and Kusha alongwith Sage Valmiki. There are steps leading on top of the hill and it is a very beautiful view from the top. This was my best experience.

            Then around 7 pm we started our journey back to Bangalore, had dinner at Woody's on NH-4 and headed home.