TravelingBeats

Location: 3 km from Ramnagaram (Ram Nagar) Town in Ramnagaram district.

Distance: Around 52 km from Bangalore and Ramnagaram is around 48 km from Bangalore.

Journey Time: 1 and 1/2 hour

How to reach there: Best to take your own vehicle. However, you can board a KSRTC bus for Mysore and get down at Ramnagaram. From here you hire a auto to Ramadevara Betta.

Route: Bangalore – Mysore road – Kengeri – Bidadi – Ramnagaram – Take left after KSTDC yellow signboard – Ramadevara Betta

Where to eat: There is no proper place to eat at Ramadevara Betta. So if you want to eat, bring eatables. Do take water along with you. You can also have something at Ramnagaram town or at the highway dhabas.

Where to stay: There is no place to stay at Ramadevara Betta.

Ramadevara Betta (Hill) is a Hindu shrine rising more than 3000 feet. Lord Ram is said to have visited here during his 14 years exile. There is a Ram temple at the top of the hill. Once to you take left from Bangalore – Mysore highway at Ramanagaram for Ramadevara Betta, you will be riding on a narrow winding road. It will give you an awesome feeling as you approach the hill. It is here the 1975 super hit movie Sholay was shot. At the base of the hill, there are security and watchman employed by Karnataka government. Here, you can park your vehicle for a fee. For two wheelers parking fee is Rs 5.

Ramadevara Betta is a very nicely maintained. At the entrance there is a big colorful gate followed by stone carved steps leading to the top of the hill amidst greenery. There are around 300 steps. After climbing around 250 steps you will see a Anjaneya (Hanuman) temple. If you are tired you can take rest here in shade. Climb little further to reach the top. Here, it is like a little valley with trees and shades made by the rock nearby. On the left you can climb little further to reach the view point. From here one can get a awesome view of the surrounding. One can see the small hills around, rugged terrain, moving vehicles on Bangalore – Mysore highway, country side etc. Also, a great place for photography. From here you can see Saptarishi betta which resembles 7 idols from different angles.

Besides this place is a natural pond between two hills called Ram tirtha. I assume rain water get accumulated here and one can take bath here. Hereon, we went to Ram temple. Here, you can see deity of Ram, Lakshman and Sita. I was told by the temple priest that the temple is over 1000 years old and it was built my Magadi chieftain Kempegowda. Besides, Ram temple there is a way to trek to the top of the rock cliff behind Ram temple. From the top one can get good view, no doubt. But may be wise to do so if you reach there early morning. I enjoyed thoroughly. Remadevara Betta offers much more than I expected.

Note: The security there and the temple priests advises to just see the temples and not to venture anywhere else. I assume some incidents might have happened in the past.

There are some other hills in Ramnagaram which may be explored like Yatirajagiri, Somagiri, Krishnagiri, Shivaramagiri, Revanna Siddeshwara Betta, Sidilakallu Betta and Jala Siddeshwara Betta.

Filed under : Adventure, Bangalore, Religious Place, Weekend Getaways

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Destination: Chikka Tirupathi

Distance: Around 41 km

Journey time: 1 – 1 and 1/2 hrs (depends on traffic on Marathahalli & old Airport road)

Route:

There are three options to go to Chikka tirupati depending on exits from Bangalore :

1. KR Puram – Hoskote – NH 4 – 1km – right turn towards Malur – 24 km – pass through malur town – railway bridge – right turn – Chikka tirupati is 20 km from there. total distance from Hoskote – 45 km – good roads except vicinity of Malur town.

2. Whitefield road – ITPL – Hope farm circle – straight – 40 km – good / village roads / occasional pot holes

3. St John’s Hospital – Sarjapur road -30 km – pass through sarjapur town ( market / bus stand ) – left turn – 13 km to Chikka tirupati. average roads – 50 / 60 km/hr
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Shortest route to Chikka Tirupathi is via Whitefield – ITPL route and road seems to be quite decent now.

Where to eat: There is no good place to eat in and around Chikka Tirupathi. If you want to have some have it before leaving Whitefield or have after coming back.

What to see: Lord Prasanna Venkateshwara temple (Chikka Tirupathi), Lord Ranganathaswamy temple (Kalkunte) and country side.

It was a long weekend and I wanted to put it to good use. A little effort took 4 of us to Chikka Tirupathi. We left Bangalore city by 3 pm which was very late by the standard. I suggest you leave early in the morning so that you can explore other place at Malur and further.

Route taken inside Bangalore city: Old Airport road – Marathahalli – Kundanhalli gate – Whitefield/ITPL

Soon we rode past whitefield and ventured into the country side. I suggest you keep an eye on the sign boards for direction. If in doubt ask people. It was a nice country side with decent road and also the climate was on our side. I discovered a few new routes. Using this route one can go to Devanahalli (Airport), Dobbaspet (in Tumkur district), Doddaballapur, Hoskote etc.

It took us little over an hour to reach Chikka Tirupathi. Chikka Tirupathi in Kannada means Small Tirupathi temple. As it clearly says, it is a miniature version of Lord Venkateshwara temple of Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh. At the Chikka Tirupathi mini town circle take right to go to Chikka Tirupathi temple. The entrance to the compound is a white gate with the trademark Lord Venkateshwara tilak. At the entrance of inner temple area there is a big colorful gopuram. Here on the left hand side you can park your two wheeler. People will pester you to park your two wheeler with them for a fee but if you park your vehicle where I mentioned, it should be fine. You will require to leave you shoes outside. Leave them with the coconut and puja material selling vendors outside. You will have to pay Re 1 per pair of shoe.

History/myth of the temple

Agni’, the fire god, during the incineration (dahana) of the forest of herbs (khandava vana), causes burn injuries to the serpent god Takshaka. Takshaka bestows Agni with a curse that he lose his power’. A perturbed Agni went to Lord Krishna, who suggested that the way out for him is to please Lord Vishnu, who can restore his power. So Agni gets the ’shaapa-vimochana’ by performing a penance and pleasing Vishnu. With great joy, Agni built a temple for Lord Venkateswara at Chikka Tirupathi. The lord here is aptly named as ‘Prasanna Venkateshwara’. All the festivals that are held at Tirupathi are also held here.

Photography is prohibited inside the sanctum sanatorium (where the idol is kept). The idol of lord Balaji is beautiful. As usual in most south Indian temples there is brass metal jajastambha (small metal tower). The gombuz of the temple was beautifully sculptured with various deities. Here too our monkey friends were there to greet us. But these bunch of monkeys were very intelligent. Following our darshan we left the temple by 5 pm.

On the way back we visited Ranganathaswamy temple at Kalakunte. It is located around 8 km from Chikka Tirupathi. Unfortunately the temple was closed when we visited. But here is a picture of the beautiful lord Ranganathaswamy.

On the way back we took lots of pictures as the sun was setting down on the country side horizon. We reached Bangalore by 7 pm.

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Filed under : Bangalore, Religious Place, Weekend Getaways

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