Nagara Fort

Nagara is a village of historic importance, Shivamogga district, popular for its fort built by Shivappa Nayak of Keladi Kingdom.

After visiting Kolluru and Siganduru, we had left with some time to explore the surrounding places. Had a big list to cover, but keeping distance in mind we planned to visit Nagara fort on the way back to Kodachadri. 

Veerabhadra Nayaka of Keladi dynasty built Nagara fort in 1640. Shivappa Nayaka succeeded Veerabhadra Nayaka and is credited with taking the Keladi Dynasty to its peak and improving the fort. 

The fort is not in a good shape, visitors to Nagara Fort can see remains of the palace, guard rooms, wells, storage facilities, watch tower and canons. The fort was built next to a lake, had provisions for water circulation and was self sufficient during a war. Nagara fort’s main entrance and exterior walls are largely intact, helping us understand and appreciate the rich history.

Best time to visit this place is during monsoon, we can see the lush green carpet across the fort. The view from this fort is good and easily we can cover this place with in one hour. 

How to reach:

The Fort is 384 kms from Bengaluru and 142 kms from Mangaluru (nearest airport). Sagara city is the nearest railway station (57 kms). The Fort can be reached from various cities in coastal Karnataka and Malenadu region (Western Ghats) such as Thirthahalli, Sagara, Kundapura, Udupi or Kollur. Buses are available from these cities to reach Nagara or taxis can be hired.

Travel Tips

Distance from Bengaluru	–	385 Kms
Road Condition	–	Decent
Nearest Town	–	Thirthahalli
Fuel Station	–	Thirthahalli
Near by places to visit	-	Kavaledurga Fort, Tunga Bridge, Kundadri Hills, Agumbe, Kolluru, Kodachadri

Devagange Pond - Nagara

A very beautiful and peaceful place which I visited in recent days. When we were riding back from Kolluru we planned to visit Nagara Fort and few other places. We wanted to visit Savehaklu dam, but came to know from localities that its closed for visitors! Need to get some special permission to visit this Dam. So we dropped that plan of visiting Dam and headed to Devagange Pond which was in our bucket. 

About Devagange: Basavanabayane (Devagange Pond) was a suburb during the rule of Keladi kayaks. The capital was shifted from ikkeri to Nagara around A.D. 1640. These seven ponds were the sporting ground of the Keladi royal family. One is known as Deva Ganga and are constructed within a large courtyard measuring 86.93X29.89 M approached by a flight of steps from the east and west. Towards the northern end is the largest of the ponds which measures 25.32X17.69 M. A stone drain leads water from this pond to a second pond with a square bottom. Between the first and second ponds are stone pillars. Amongst the seven ponds one has stellate and another lotus shaped bottom. Towards the southern end is the bathing place paved with stone. The flight of steps on the western side of the courtyard leads to a small shrine with Linga near which is an oblong basement with evidence of some rooms. 

Though we visited in winter season, the place didn’t disappointed us! It was quiet and beautiful. 

Google map lead us correctly this time without any challenges, there is enough place outside to park our vehicles. One small shop is around the pond. When we entered the premises it started raining, quickly we clicked some pics and forced to leave the place. 

There is no entry fee to enter this place.   

How to reach:

The Devagange Pond is 385 kms from Bengalur. Sagara city is the nearest railway station (53 kms). Devagange pond can be reached by road easily, its at a distance of  just 4 Kms from Nagara village and around 41 Kms from Thirthahalli. 

Travel Tips

Distance from Bengaluru	–	385 Kms
Road Condition	–	Decent
Nearest Town	–	Thirthahalli
Fuel Station	–	Thirthahalli
Near by places to visit	-	Kavaledurga Fort, Nagara Fort, Tunga Bridge, Kundadri Hills, Agumbe, Kolluru, Kodachadri

Sigandur Chowdeshwari Temple

Sri Sigandur Chowdeshwari temple is located on the banks of Sharavati River, Sigandur temple draws devotees from all over the state. Sigandur can be reached from Mangalore but majority of devotees arrive from Sagara/Shivamogga, using a launcher to cross Sharavati backwaters. Launcher ride adds to your experience as it provides scenic view of the backwaters and forest around it. After visiting Kollur we visited this holy place, which is around 45 KMs from Kollur.

Since we were traveling from Kodachadri side we could not get launcher ride.

It took almost one and half hour for us to reach Sigandur. There was no much crowd and lucky to complete darshana with in 30 minutes.

Best Time To Visit Sigandur - It is recommended to visit during January to March, to celebrate the festival, but to also escape the heat and subsequent monsoon.

How To Reach Sigandur - Getting to Sigandur Temple, you need to travel across the river Sharavathi, by a launch that is a regular service. You can even take private cars or even buses on the launch to reach Sigandur. Once crossed, there are jeeps available for INR 20 per head that will take visitors to the temple.

Timings:

Morning- 8:00 AM, 9:15 AM, 10:15 AM, 11:30 AM

Afternoon- 1:30 PM, 2:45 PM

Evening- 4:00 PM, 4:40 PM, 5:30 PM

After darshana we headed towards Nagara to visit 'Devagange' and 'Nagara fort'.

Kolluru Mookambika Temple

Sri Mookambika Temple in Kollur, Udupi district attracts devotees from all parts of South India. We were in Kodachadri for couple of days, after Kodachadri trek on day 2 we planned to visit this temple. Kolluru is around 30 KMs Kodachadri, ride through this terrain will be amazing. Though its just 30 KMs from Kodachadri it will take minimum 1 hour to reach the destination. 

About Kolluru Mookambika Temple: This temple is dedicated to knowledge and art and Goddess here worshipped as Lord of speech and letters. It is said that the idol of Mookambika Devi is made of “Panchaloha” - five metals (gold, silver, copper, iron and lead).

Adi Shankracharya was the person who installed the Kollur Mookambika temple. He is one of the intellectual persons, who is known for expounded Advaita Vedanta and also believed the founder of Dashanami Sampradaya. He was an Indian philosopher and theologian.

History of Kollur Mookambika temple: Kollur Mookambika temple is believed to be 1200 years old.

The temple was installed by Adi Shankracharya when he got the vision of Sri Mookambika Devi. According to legends, when Devi appeared in front of him and asking for his wish, Adi Shankracharya wishes to install Devi’s idol. Devi agreed on it but to test Adi Shankracharya, Devi makes a condition that she will follow him to his destination, and he should not look back. When they reach Kollur Adi Shankracharya turned back in doubt whether she is coming or not. After that incident, Devi asks Adi Shankracharya to install his idol right on this location which was Kollur.

Management runs a guest house at affordable rates. Multiple budget hotels are available in Kollur. More hotel options are available in nearby Kundapura (36 kms) or Baindur (28kms).

Temple timings: Temple is open to visitors from 5 AM till 9 PM. Darshan is allowed all through the day except brief intervals of time when certain rituals or decorations are being performed.

Luckly temple was not much crowded, we could finish darshana with in 1 hour.

Kodachadri Trekking

Kodachadri is a mountain peak in the Western Ghats at an altitude of 1343 mts at Shimoga district in Karnataka. One of the most picked trek in Western Ghats. Kodachadri is located at a distance of 400 KMs. Nitturu is a small village at the base of Kodachadri hill which is about 394kms away from Bangalore. The Kodachadri trek is considered to be moderate for beginners.

Booked Akshaya Homestay at Kattinahole village, which is near entry of Kodachadri trekking check post. Akshaya Homestay people only can arrange guide for trek, Jeep rides, getting permission for trekking & packed food for trekking. In one sentence they will make all the required arrangements for trekking! Contact details – Phone: +91 9611810643 / +91 9480870973 (Website – Kodachadri Akshaya Homestay)

When we told about our plan for trekking on day 2, Homestay guys arranged for a guide, and its fixed price they will charge 1K for one group. And its recommended to limit group to 10, if group size is more, then its advice to opt for more number of guides depending on group size.

We started our trekking around 8.00 AM, check post is around 1 KMs from the homestay. For this trekking entry fees is there. They charge Rs.400/- for this (quite surprising).

Even they charge for cameras as well (no charges to use mobile cameras). We have to register for our trek and we have to make sure we will come back by 6.00 PM other wise need to pay penalty amount to forest department!

Trek guide helped us to finish all the registration formalities and we started our trekking around 8.30 AM.

The Kodachadri trek provides everything to trekkers starting from walk in woods, a beautiful waterfall, green meadows, walk through paddy fields, rocky path, peaks & wonderful view points.

The name comes from native word “Kodacha” or “Kodashi” which means hill of Kutaja flowers and “Adri” a Sanskrit word, both combined together coined the word Kodachadri. Kutaja in Sanskrit means Girimallika or Jasmine of the hill. The hilly region that is full of ‘Jasmine of the hills’ plants is “Kutajadri”. It is also called “Kutachadri” and “Kodashi Parvatha”. (Source: Wiki)

Since its the weekday, crowd was very less only one other group was there for trekking. Felt lucky to hear that 🙂

Initial climb is easy, still we reach waterfall.

On the way of Hidlumane waterfall, we would be crossing through a small home where you can refresh yourself with fresh butter milk (in fact one should not miss to have butter milk here), after a steep walk it would really help to refresh a lot.

Though there was no crowd near the waterfalls we didn't get into water, we just wanted to reach the summit before it get too hot. In December only we were feeling the heat!

From this point hike become bit challenging, more up hill from this point and equally beautiful.

We need to walk through Jeep track for a some distance to reach the peak. There is a Mukambika temple at the peak near Bhattara Mane. We can have quick lunch, coffee/tea. Butter milk at Bhattara Mane. From here again one should walk for 2 Kms to reach the peak, where we can see a small mantapa where Adi Shankaracharya meditated to get grace of lord mukambika.

Instead of taking Jeep ride to reach down, we decided to climb down since we had enough time. We rested for almost 1 hour near Bhattara mane and started to get down around 1.30 PM and we took 2 hours to reach back our homestay.

During Winter trek will be bit easy, only because there wont be a problem with Leaches 😛 but wont see much green around.