This article appeared in March issue of Terrascape
One would not expect to find a 900-year old temple in a non-descript village with a tongue twister name like Doddagaddavalli. Driving past gently undulating vistas sparingly dotted with stout trees and small irrigation ponds – they added a dash of beauty to the widespread vegetable fields – I suddenly encountered a colourful sign by the road that announced the presence of an ancient temple. Turning off the main road and going past a small village with its usual share of chickens and cows that blocked my way, I found myself gliding from the top of a mound, down an easy slope. At the base of the valley was a small black structure of stone, a temple with shrines rising up from all its corners, a saffron flags fluttering over one of those projections. Its location could not have been better, situated at the edge of the village overlooking a lake and visible from every crest of the wavy landscape that surrounded it.
Lakshmidevi Temple at Doddagaddavalli
The Lakshmidevi temple at Doddagaddavalli is just one of the thousands built by the Hoysala Kings who ruled a large part of South India for more than three hundred years. Returning here again a few weeks later with a small group of history-enthusiasts, I saw a few eyebrows going up in amazement when I casually mentioned that the Hoysala Kings built 1521 temples in 948 centres. It is not much, considering that it averages to about five temples every year during their long tenure of governance. But what is impressive is that 434 of these temples have survived even today, with the oldest of them built more than 1000-years ago, the most recent having survived no less than 600-years.
Today’s Bangalore Mirror carries a story on Hoysala Trail, organized by Lakshmi and me. The next tour is scheduled for August 29th.
Travel writer and blogger Lakshmi Sharath and former techie Arun Bhat love exploring the path less taken. Together they are helping city slickers explore lesser known trails that are close to nature and steeped in history, writes Sahana Charan
Not everyone opens the locks of old dilapidated temples and walks through wild grass to look for beautiful unexplored sites that ooze of heritage and history. But for travel enthusiasts Lakshmi Sharath and Arun Bhat, going off the beaten path comes naturally. While Lakshmi took a break from her media job to travel across South India and blog about her travels, Arun decided to quit his job as an IT professional to concentrate on his passion photography and travel. In fact, Arun has been a prolific travel blogger for the last five years, busy tracking the sites and smells of India…
Read the full story – On Unchartered Trail – on Bangalore Mirror website.
Go through the related posts below to know more about the Hoysala Trail. Visit our website – travelwise.in – for details of the tour departing on 29th August.
Today’s Hindu Metro Plus (Chennai edition) has featured a story on the Hoysala Trail. For those who are new here, The Hoysala Trail is a guided tour conducted by ‘Travel Wise’, an initiative from fellow travel writer and blogger Lakshmi and me. It’s a guided tour that takes you through some beautiful but rarely visited temples built by the Hoysala Kings. As we travel through these places, we talk about history of the kingdom and narrate legends associated with the temples that we see. Also part of the trail is a small detour – a walk under the thick canopy of evergreen trees in a 300-acre coffee estate. The estate manager escorts the participants through the plantation and explains the process of growing coffee. See travelwise.in for more about the tour. Below is the extract of what Hindu had to say about us. See ‘Related Posts’ at the bottom to know more about the places we visit as part of the trail.
Off the beaten track
| There’s more to the Hoysalas than Belur and Halebeedu |
In the fringes of the Western Ghats in Karnataka, the Hoysala Kings built hundreds of intricately-carved temples. Popular among them are Belur and Halebeedu, popular on the tourist circuit. But, there are more such structures that are unknown to people. Which is why it is time you went on a Hoysala trail, put together by two travel writers. They compiled information on the temples built by the Hoyala Kings, spoke to historians and went through documents prepared by Archaeological Survey of Mysore over the last hundred years. They visited more than two dozen ancient temples around Belur and Halebeedu and spoke to the locals to know about the stories and legends associated with each of them. Thus was born a heritage trail full of story telling sessions on the Hoysalas.
The monsoon edition of the Hoysala Trail is planned on August 29 and 30 ex-Bangalore. For details, visit travelwise.in. For registrations, mail arun@travelwise.in or lakshmi@travelwise.in