It was about to be just another Sunday, before which I have decided that I should make something meaningful out of the day. And the yatradevi in me suddenly got up and decided to visit some place and got an idea to visit the Temple-rich town Sri Rangapatna which is 130Kms from Bangalore..I don’t want to stay in my PG for the whole day without power sometimes damn boring so I thought let me go alone and visit the place and one of my friend was ready to join with me and it was 8:30 am on Sunday and it was already late so we quickly had breakfast at shivashakthi hotel which is opposite to my PG.
By 9:30 am we were in Majestic (City bus stand) and luckily got a bus to Mysore with window seat (otherwise I will not get into the bus) though it is Sunday on Mysore road there was heavy traffic until Bidadi, after which it was quite clear.
The route goes like this
Bangalore-Kengeri-Bidadi-Ramnagaram-Chennapatna-Maddur-Mandya-Srirangapatna. And finally reached the temple rich town by 1:30PM at Sri Rangapatnam bus stand.
Little Intro about the place:
Srirangapatna is an island town on the Bangalore-Mysore Highway and is surrounded by the river Cauvery. The town has got the name from a 1000 year old temple of Sri Ranganatha swamy. Sri Rangapattana one of the most important Vaishnavite centers of pilgrimage in south India. The temple was built by the Ganga dynasty rulers of the area in the 9th century; the structure was strengthened and improved upon architecturally some three centuries later. Thus, the temple is a mixture of the Hoysala and Vijayanagar styles of temple architecture.
Srirangapatna is of great religious, cultural and historic importance. Those of you who recall a television serial called ‘The Sword of Tipu Sultan’ on Doordarshan will be able to co-relate this place well since Srirangapatna was Tipu’s capital. Tradition holds that all the islands formed in the Kaveri River are consecrated to Sri Ranganatha swamy, and large temples have been built in very ancient times dedicated to that deity on the three largest islands. There are three towns, which constitute the main pilgrimage centers dedicated to Ranganathaswamy, are:
- Adi Ranga - at Srirangapattana
- Madhya Ranga - at Shivanasamudra
- Antya Ranga - at Srirangam
The town has got a very rich –history was the capital of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan - The Tiger of Mysore
Intro of Tippu:
Tippu Sultan, the eldest son of Hyder Ali, he was born on December 10, 1750 at Devanhalli (near new airport of Bangalore). On his father's death in 1782, Tipu Sultan assumed power in Mysore. He continued fighting the British and defeated them in 1783. Tipu Sultan was a far-sighted person who could foresee East India Company's design to get entrenched in India. He negotiated with the French for help and also sought assistance from the Amir of Afghanistan and the Sultan of Turkey. However, in the Third Anglo-Mysore war, he was defeated in his capital, Srirangapatna, and was forced to sign a humiliating treaty on March 22, 1792 as per which he had to concede half of his kingdom and pay an indemnity of 33 million rupees to the British. He died fighting during the storming of Srirangapatna on 4th May 1799 in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war.(Note: The above Info on Tippu has been collected from a website)
There are many places in Sri Rangapattana to visit due to time constraint we have visited only some places like:
· Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple
· Sri Nimishamba Temple
· Sangama
· Jamia Masjid
Let me explain you briefly about each place we have visited.
We reached the temple town by 1:30 PM so we thought of visiting the Sri Ranganatha swamy temple fist but it was closed and we heard that it will be opened only by 4:30 in the evening so thought of visiting Sri Nimishamba temple which will be opened till 08:00PM. So there are local buses non A/c and Volvo A/C buses running from bustop to Nimishamba temple but we missed it and went to temple by auto.
Sri Nimishamba Temple:
Temple Gopuram
This temple is about 2 kms from Srirangapatna town and on the river banks of Cauvery. After passing the town, a road towards left leads to many places including this Nimishamba temple. Other places on this route include Tipu’s summer palace, Gumbaz and Sangama
There is ample parking space for vehicles including buses. Also, a number of people on road side sell pooja material and fresh vegetables are also available in small baskets.
The temple was built by Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar king of Mysore. The diety in the temple is goddess parvathi carved with blackstone.Nimishamba is another name of goddess Parvathi, the name Nimishamba had come from the fact that the goddess grants the wishes of her devotees in a minute! (‘Nimisha’ means a minute in local language). Inside the temple there is an idol of the goddess along with ‘Sri Chakra ‘carved out of stones.
This Sri Chakra is believed to be inscribed by a king called as Muktharaja on a stone and then went into self-mortification. Later on this Sri Chakra was installed along with the Goddess idol by the succeeding rulers of this place by then. Inside the temple the priest will give 2 lemons which they will put on ‘Sri Chakra’ and perform pooja which is believed to bring in good things to a devotee’s life. It is suggested by priests that you can either keep those lemons in the praying room of your home for 21 days and then drop them in flowing fresh water or consume the lemons as juice.
The Sloka of Sri Nimishamba:
Kaveri Lokapavani Sangamakshetre Susthite
Shrichakra Raja Sahite Shri Nimishamba Namostute
Along with Goddess Nimishamba, there are other idols too inside the temple including ‘Mukthikeshwara’ (Lord Shiva), Ganesha, Surya Narayana and Hanuman. The cement sculptures of goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati can be seen at the entrance on either side of the main tower. There are a number of stalls to buy some fancy stuff at a cheaper price.
The river beside the temple is really superb we enjoyed playing a lot in the water collected some shells and stones which iam very much interested to collect. The cold cane juice, the tender coconuts wah felt like
From there again our journey started to Sangama which is 3kms from Nimishamba temple got an auto from there on the way can see gumbaz tippus fort and museum and from there
Sangama is 15 min the road towards Sangama is really superb with many trees rose plantations, jackfruit tress etc. after reaching Sangama the scenary overthere is really beautiful.
Here in Sangama 3 rivers Cauvery, hemavathi and arkavathi meets at one place so this place is called as Sangama. Here we played in water for a long time till 4:30 in the evening. While returning dnt forget to have a Tender coconut in this place as the water is really damn sweet and cool. And from there again got an auto and went to main bus stand.
Sri Rangantha Temple:
We had a plan to visit Ranganathittu bird sanctuary but it was already 5:00 pm still the famous Ranganatha temple was pending so we left to the temple by 5:00pm and the temple is really awesome with beautiful sculptures and I was wondering how they have constructed such a big temple completely with stones .
And the god Ranganatha swamy is really very handsome .i felt like love at first sight by seeing him and the goddess Lakshmi devi at his feet wow really superb and there are many small temples inside the temple but they have been closed permanently I guess because of maintenance the Maha Lakshmi temple inside is also awesome. Felt like staying the whole day there but our train was at 6:10 PM so, hurriedly packed everything and left to the station by 6:00PM
This is what I have done on my weekend. Still there are many more places to visit in Sri Rangapattana I will plan for one more day in the early morning so that I can cover all the places once again. Will be updating you soon on the remaining places.
Accounts:
· Bangalore-Sri Rangapattana By train-38RS
· Bangalore –Sri Rangapattana By Bus-83RS
· Local autos they will say around 40-60 to each place need to bargain with them.
· To Nimishamba temple share autos will be available for Rs.5 per person where they will stop u at a place called ganjam from there it is five min walkable.
· From ganjam to Sangama 30 rs by auto.locla buses are also available to this place.
· For ranganathittu autos will charge 150 around but try to bargain for 40-50 rs.
Bus Nos from Sri Rangapattana bus stand:
· 316- Bus stand to Nimishamba temple
· 316- Bus stand to Sangama, gumbaz
· 307-Ranganthittu
