Karnataka Pilgrimage Day 1 : All’s well that ends well (including two ‘pots’ of ‘gold’)- Part I

          After two successive sleepless train-borne nights, if one had to wake up so early that one is ready to be road-borne by 5.30 a.m., it is a tough start, to say the least.  If one was ready and eager to leave by the designated time and had to find another vehicle and a driver as the one supposed to turn up, did not, one knew what kind of day was in store.  This was the beginning of the Day 1 of our Karnataka Pilgrimage recently.

          We wanted to cover two places and pray at the temples and reach another temple town by the evening.  The one who planned it out for us had spent a decade in the Western Ghats, and specifically told me that the course of the journey and the serenity in the temples would compete with each other for the resultant peace of mind and the bliss of the soul.

          We left Mangalore almost two hours behind schedule and proceeded towards the Kukke Subrahmanya temple.  The ratha-sarathi (literally ‘charioteer’, but used here to indicate the driver – you will understand the reason later) was one Dilip, a local Mangalorean, and proficient in Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Hindi, English, Tamil and Malayalam.  Additionally, his driving experience spanned two decades, including a three year stint in Saudi Arabia.  He greeted us with the holy water of the Kaveri river at her birth place, ‘Talakaveri’, which was presented to him by the tourists whom he had accompanied to that place on the previous day.     

          Dilip was an interesting story-teller and mentioned the local legend of Kukke Subrahmanya.  ‘Kukke’ in Tulu meant a basket.  A local doll-maker went about selling his wares.  On one particular day, he sold all his dolls except for the one of Subrahmanya (Lord Kartikeya).  At some point, he felt thirsty, so he grounded his basket to drink water.  When he returned after quenching his thirst in the Kumara Dhara, a river flowing by, he realised he could not lift his basket on to his head to continue with his sales-efforts.  Lord Subrahmanya had decided to stay on the banks of the Kumara Dhara river, and that was the story of the temple.  With intermittent rain and sunshine, it was a pleasure to travel.  May be because of the rain, or may be for some other reason, there was not much of traffic on the day we travelled, so we could click some pictures capturing the scenic beauty of the Kumara Dhara. 

The Kumara Dhara, on whose banks Kukke Subrahmanya resides

I was a little tempted to stand on this rock, on the Kumara Dhara

Forest and Kumara Dhara

     

After completing a fulfilling darshan of the Lord, we came to know that the place was known for getting rid of the curse of the snake-God (Naga dosha) by the ‘homam’ (fire offerings) at the place.  We also visited the local monastery (Matha) and took the blessings of the Guruji before continuing our long journey.

The Ganesa image at Kukke Subrahmanya

       



























  







 We found  areca nut trees planted on vast expanse of land; we also noticed thick forestry around us. One would not know the lapse of time if one looked out of the window; moreover, the revived monsoon marked its attendance off and on.

The areca standing produce

Green, green everywhere!

The areca trees- standing on a green blanket!

          





















                      We proceeded towards Dharmashthala, the abode of Lord Manjunatha, another name of Lord Siva.  To reach there, we crossed the Netravati river, which flowed with crystal clear water.  We were told that even with Special Darsan tickets, it could take up to an hour and a half to find audience with the Lord.  We were worried whether we could reach our destination, Kollur, by sunset.

          On reaching Dharmasthala, our charioteer announced that there was hardly any rush, and that we could have a general darsan itself.  He was right.  We were out of the temple in twenty minutes flat.  Since there was not much rush, we could pray to the Lord to our heart’s fill, right in His presence.

          One thing that you should know about all these temples is that, even if they are located deep inside the forest, we could get the Lord’s ‘prasadam’ (blessings or bounty) in the form of ‘annadanam’ (donation of food).  Whoever visited the temple until a particular time got food, for free.  Since a certain standard was maintained in temples in respect of cleanliness and hygiene, there was no need to worry about the quality of food; nor did the need exist to look for it outside.  Even if it was a simple meal, it filled the stomach and made us feel blessed.

          It started to pour before we could reach our car, so we had to wait for a short-while (the best part of these rains is that the sky clears as quickly as it showers).  We could have saved that time if only we had the sense of carrying our umbrella with us.  Never mind, it was meant to be that way.  At least, we got a while to appreciate the rains, which are a rare commodity in Chennai.

          It was then that some people in my entourage decided to become ‘greedy’ pilgrims.  They wanted to visit Sringeri before reaching Kollur.  This act would increase the distance by forty kilometres and would involve travelling through the hilly terrain (or ghat section) for quite a while.  Further, the road between Sringeri and Kollur was bad, we were told, so the forty extra kilometres could translate into up to three hours of extra time on the road.  We got some vague idea about the capacity of the road when we were told that the maximum height of a vehicle traversing there could not exceed that of a mini bus.  I was not very warm to the idea, not because I was irreligious or averse to the place, but because I fixed my mind on being present in the 8 p.m. worship of Goddess Mookambika of Kollur.  I was not very keen to getting even remotely close to missing the worship.  But, who said my view would prevail?  Others merrily overruled me and I had no other option but to abide by their decision.

          The journey was enjoyable, but my thoughts were on Kollur. Will we make it in time? The rains made the journey worthy of remembering for long, but will they slow down our progress to the destination, I wondered. 'Look there, a rainbow!'. This excited cry brought me back to the Innova. I looked in the direction of the rainbow- it was a part- rainbow, and glistened on the fields. I quickly reached for my camera and got off the car to click.

The rainbow

The cloud resembles a snow- capped peak!

Colours on display!

(to be continued)