Kodagu, once known as Coorg
is an administrative district in
Karnataka state of India. It was under
the direct governance of British till the Indian Independence in 1947 and
became an independent state in 1950. In the year 1956, during the
re-organization of the states, it was merged with Karnataka and today it is the
smallest district of Karnataka with Madikeri, formerly known as Mercara,
as the district headquarters. Kodagu, situated in the Western Ghats of
southwestern Karnataka is famous for its evergreen forests, lush green valleys,
sprawling coffee plantations, and fast flowing streams and is termed as the Kashmir of
Karnataka. To this Madikeri, myself and
Rajam travelled from Bangalore in the air-conditioned luxury of Airavat, the
Karnataka State Transport Corporation’s de-luxe service.
We stayed in Hotel Cauvery Residency, which is opposite to the bus depot,
which we misread as bus stand while reserving on-line. So when we found that the
hotel is a bit away from the town centre where all the shops and vegetarian
restaurants are located and as we did not fancy the walk in the hilly town with
all the ups and downs, we felt initially a tinge of disappointment over the choice. But as the hotel was
comfortable and the staff very courteous, our stay for two nights and three
days became quite enjoyable though hectic.
As we landed in
Madikeri in the afternoon, we went round
the local and nearby attractions the first day after lunch and brief rest.
Our first visit was to the local fort, which is in the heart of the town. The fort was originally built by Muddurajah
and later re-built by Tipu Sultan, and now houses government offices. There is a museum with ancient antiques like weapons, idols, canon etc. Our next visit was to Abbey falls, which is
about 8 kilometres from city centre. The winding drive on the mountain path to
the falls is through the forests and coffee plantations, You have to walk down another kilometre in
the rugged path to reach the hanging bridge, from which you have a good view of
the gushing waters of Cauvery that cascades down a mountain face. We were told that this beautiful falls will
present an awesome sight in monsoon.
From Abbey falls we retraced our steps to the city, to view other
attractions there. Our first stop was at
Rajah’s tomb or the tombs of Dodda Virarajendra & Lingarajendra II. The
royal tombs provide a commanding view of the entire town. The tombs are of Muhammadan
style with central domes and turrets. Even the
bars of the windows are made of fine brass and adorned with beautiful
engravings. From Rajah’s tomb we made
our way to Omkareshwar temple. This temple where the main deity is Lord Siva is
also built in Muhammadan style with a central dome and turrets in four
corners. Our last stop for the day was
at Rajah’s seat. This is the spot from where the kings watched the sunsets
with their consorts and is a beautiful scenic spot. From here you can have a fascinating view of
not only the green valley but also of the curved road to Mangalore down the
valley. We sat here for sometime giving
rest to our tiring legs watching the sun go down
Next day morning we started early for Talacauvery, the birthplace of Cauvery
river. It is 42 kilometres uphill from
Madikeri. On the way we spent some time
in a coffee plantation. The source of the river is a small pond at the foot of
the Brahmagiri hills. The river originates as a spring supplying
water to this tank. The water then flows underground to emerge as the Cauvery river at some distance and travels down the states of Karnataka and Tamilnadu
before entering the sea at Poompuhar in Tamilnadu. Though it is considered sacred to have a dip in the pond, we did not
attempt it but only had the water sprinkled on our head. Nor did we venture
to climb up the Bramagiri hills, as we were happy with the scenic view from the
base of the hill and as we did not want to tire ourselves before the afternoon
program. Though there was a toilet
facility here unlike some of the tourist spots, they were charging higher rates
for the use of toilet by ladies(Rs. 5), as compared to the use of toilet by men(Rs. 2).
On
our way back from Talacauvery we made a halt at Bhagamandala, where River
Cauvery is joined by two other rivers, Kannika and Sujyothi. There is a temple built in Kerala style at this place of
confluence dedicated to Lord Siva. The rivers Kannika
and Sujyothi look like little streams at the point of confluence. In the afternoon we proceeded to Bylakuppe,
near Kushal Nagar to visit the the Tibetan temple, which is called the Golden
temple in view of the big gold coated statues of Buddha,
Padmasambhava and Amitayus. Bylakuppe is the second largest Tibetan settlement in India.
From Bylakuppe we proceeded
to Nisargadhama, which is on our way of return to Madikeri, 3 Kilometres from
Kushalnagar. Nisagadhama is a picnic
spot where Cauvery river splits forming an island, with a bamboo
forest. A hanging bridge, deer park, elephant ride, tree-top shelters, boating
facilities, dwelling cottages etc., all add to the charm of forest scenery. From Nisargadhama we made our way back to
Madikeri
Next day after going round
the shops in the city and getting the feel of the town through roaming round, we made our way back to Bangalore, the same
way we left, by Airavat service of KSRTC.
Photos of this trip can be viewed
in my Picassa album “Coorg, the coffee-land” at https://plus.google.com/photos/102997826156729709715/albums/6110477543818351681?banner=pwa&authkey=CMbbifDhyr6kaQ
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Coorg Resorts
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