Time Passages - Meanderings around Banavasi

Man's yesterday may ne'er be like his morrow;Nought may endure but Mutability.~Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Mutability"

Monsoons can be a treacherous time to travel and the reputation is well earned. For a usually lazy couch potato , reading a book on the verandah with a cup of tea is largely more enticing than stomping around greenery abound with leeches. But a long weekend lazing on the verandah seems a stretch and the Independence day weekend offered an opportunity to step out. The trip that we finally took wasn't quite planned , rather it came through via Meera's contacts. Sketchily described to me as a trip into rural Karnataka with a strong historical backdrop. Chose not to read up much and keep expectations to a minimum.

We boarded a minivan close to Cubbon park and dutifully set off at the proposed 5 pm time. Our progress to Banavasi was slow and steady and we reached Banavasi @ 2:30 AM. We were put up at a rest house , with limited but apt facilities and the sound of a drizzle on the roof is all I could register before I dozed off.

We had an early start in the morning , and the weather was overcast lending a stupendous lush hue to the surroundings. I barely registered where we were supposed to head to, but the first surprise of the day was where we were supposed to have breakfast. We were driven to a villager's house - a Khanavadi, where the food was delicious - fresh fly fried Padoos and Idly along with chutney and an onion dip. We headed to the first temple, which was the Dakshina Kedareshwara temple at Balligavi. The route was through villages and there were school children being packed off from their homes, some schools had a practice parade on in the grounds , paddy fields had farmers sowing the crop, dilapidated local buses trundled past the narrow streets and suddenly the destination was on us. The Dakshina Kedareshwara temple was a substitute for southerners to the trip to Kashi. Kashi for a person in these parts would take a year of travel on foot with no guarantee of a safe return. The temple was built by the Western Chalukyas with modifications done by the Hoysalas and their style is quite clearly visible. The temple is dedicated to Siva and has a large Nandi baring its teeth.

Balligavi was a notable town in the Chalukya kingdom and boasted of a university and multiple monasteries in its heyday around the 10th and 11th century. We were running a bit off schedule and managed to cover another temple which unfortunately had closed the inner shrine - again a reflection of Hoysala embellishment. Lunch was at a home stay which was run by a pleasant family. The home stay boasted a plantation of 40 acres covered with areca nut trees. The land seemed to sprout vegetation at ease, flowers and fruit bearing trees offered a shock of color. Lunch boasted some delicious mango curries and absolutely delectable banana chips. Time seemed to have stopped (or rather the soporific influence of a full belly). We were close to the outskirts of a bird sanctuary and barely managed to scrape in before it closed down. The bird sanctuary is rather small and boasts an area less than a square kilometer and contains the Gudavi Lake , but just for the sheer density of birds this is a spectacular place to visit. Thankfully we weren't greeted by the sight of plastic wrappers thrown all over and the place did offer some reasonable conveniences to the avid birdwatcher.

The lake was ring fenced and there was a walkway which led into the lake virtually bringing us close up with the birds. The lake stank, but the sight of soaring Ibises, Spoonbills, Darters left me in awe. I hadn't even heard about this place till date and I was staring at a gadzillion birds in command of their environment. Dusk and we headed back to the villagers house to grab dinner(Thin rotis with some cooked gram and beetroot - great stuff) before we crashed for the day

Banavasi was the centre of the Kadamba dynasty - purportedly established by a Brahmin , it is one of the oldest towns in Karnataka. The Kadambas established the town between the fourth and the sixth century and had Banavasi as their capital. Myths prevail about the founding and the origin, but the emphasis on Kannada as the official language and the presence of the poet Pampa during the Chalukya era, places Banavasi at the epicenter of Kannada culture. The river Varadha meanders through the town and being located deep in the Western ghats, the agricultural produce is profuse.

I walked across to the main road from the rest house to the watch the splendid verdant paddy fields next door. Gudavi had accentuated the appreciation of birds and I noticed some Egrets and Kingfishers in the field, the pace was appreciably slow.Breakfast was delivered this time to the rest house, which was welcome because the group (including me) had disintegrated into a bunch of shutterbugs eager to capture the atmosphere into the camera. Frogs, stick insects, grass hoppers all had their minutes of fame and we headed out to the Madhukeshwara temple at the pace of the Varadha.

The Madhukeshwara temple is the center piece of the town and it was remarkably close to the rest house. The temple itself is ancient and reflects multiple architectural styles predominantly Chalukyan and Hoysala, but the presiding deity was a remnant of the Kadamba era.

A walk around the temple revealed smaller shrines to minor deities like Varuna and Indra. The town had been built around the temple and had a curious set of homes. The Architectural Society of India virtually dictates development in these areas as every home is potentially a treasure trove of hidden artifacts. We walked down to the Varadha which was muddy and unfortunately the approach to the river was filthy. The local shops offered a delightful snack of sliced pineapples with chilly powder, we packed off again.

We were now heading to Magod falls which lay further West. The drive was beautiful, again forests and fields flanked the road, and we had a brief diversion en-route.

The Sahsralinga is a major pilgrimage spot and is so named because of the thousand lingas that are carved onto the river banks. Created by a local chieftain to propitiate the gods for the birth of an heir, it offered a sight to behold. The river Shalmali was in spate and though the river had overrun most of the idols, the river itself was amazing. Magod itself lay an hour further away and we were greeted with a sight of mist surrounding the area. The falls are created by the Bedti river and has a spectacular setting largely because of the surrounding evergreen forests. The din of the falling water was deafening and the falls were largely invisible for a long while due to the surrounding mist. A walk in the pathway along the rim of the hill we were on revealed a beautiful landscape. Thankfully heading back to the van the mist lifted and the falls were revealed in full splendor. It was late in the afternoon and we had one more destination to cover- a Tibetan Monastery.

Karnataka remarkably has settlements dotting the countryside populated by Tibetan's who escaped the Chinese repression. Having seen the one at Bylakuppe near Mysore I had a fair measure of what to expect. The Mundgod settlement has about 20,000 Tibetans settled into 11 camps , 2 of which are exclusively reserved for the Lamas. The sight of the red robed lamas was in stark contrast to the surroundings. The light was fading by the time we reached the Drepung Loseling monastery. The scale of the monastery left one in awe, the prayer hall being capable of handling 5000 monks in one go. I chatted with a few monks and some of them had come down from the Nubra region of Ladakh. It was dark by the time we left the monastery.

We were homeward bound now, the drudgery of the highway descended and it was 4:30 AM in the morning by when we landed in Bangalore. Independence day had dawned and aptly we had returned with a glimpse of the splendor that this nation offered.