Experiencing; Western Ghats, Agumbe Ghat Road, Sunset View Point and Cherrapunji of south India!

On 4th April 2018, I got a chance again after many years, to pass through Agumbe Rain Forest, view the Western Ghats, crossover the Agumbe Ghat Road to reach Sringeri and back along the same route to Manipal.  I must say here that I have a long association with this section of Western Ghats. I was at Manipal which is sandwiched between the Arabian Sea on the West and the Western Ghats on the East, studying Electrical Engineering Course for 5 years from 1970 to 1975. You can see this detail in the attached map…the third picture from the top.

Manipal is on a hillock with our Engineering College (MIT) and all our Hostel buildings on the eastern end of the hillock directly overlooking The Western Ghats. From a majority of the hostel rooms facing the Ghats, the view was wonderful with a green valley between us and the not-so-distant Western Ghats. The sunrise was amazing with the clouds emanating different colours and patterns each day as the Sun rose majestically. With each changing season, the rising mist, the clarity of the mountains during bright sun and the incessant monsoon rains added to the scenery of the Ghats. All rooms facing the Ghats were much in demand among the students and similarly, a few top-floor rooms on the western side overlooking the Arabian Sea were very popular, for witnessing a picturesque sunset over the Arabian Sea.

In 1972 during the Jai Andhra movement after the High Court and Supreme Court upheld the Mulki rules existing in the Telangana region, reaching Hyderabad via Udupi, Mangalore, Bangalore, Hindupur, Ananthapur and Kurnool turned risky due to attacks on buses and trains to Hyderabad, in Andhra areas. So after exams and for the vacation that year, I reached Hyderabad along with some friends in a Taxi travelling via Agumbe Ghats, Shimoga, Bellary and Raichur. That was the first time I travelled over the Agumbe Ghats. Now after so many years, I got the chance to travel in this beautiful rainforest area and over the mighty Western Ghats twice, in our journey to Sringeri Sharadamba Peetham and back to Manipal. 

More about Agumbe and the magnificent Western Ghats:

Agumbe is a small hill village in the Western Ghats. The elevation of Agumbe is 643 m. It is 47 km from Manipal via a serpentine Ghat Road that you can see in the fifth and sixth pictures above. Our to-and-fro journey from Manipal to Sringeri was through and along these beautiful thick forests, lots of greenery and a huge range of mountains. The population of Agumbe is approximately 500 and the village covers an area of 3 square kilometres. It is sometimes called "The Cherrapunji of the South" because of its very high annual average rainfall of 7625 mm which is 300 inches!

Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary and the Kudremukh National Park are close to Agumbe. The Sunset View Point that you can see in the attached pictures is close to Agumbe and it rests on one of the highest peaks of the Western Ghats. On a fine evening, the sunset can be seen over the Arabian Sea.

Now about the Western Ghats, it is in the prestigious list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. This happened on 1st July 2012. The Western Ghats is also known as the Sahyadri Mountains meaning Benevolent Mountains. Its rich biodiversity and natural splendour have made it one of the eight most remarkable spots on earth; that needs utmost care and protection. The UNESCO recognition is because of many wonderful aspects of the Western Ghats. The 1600 km-long Western Ghats Mountain Range that you can see in the attached pictures has rainforests older than the Himalayan Mountains. They are home to a very wide range of plant and animal life. It is said that there are over 45,000 plant species, over 650 tree species, several popular mammals like Asian Elephant, Gaur, Tiger, Lion-tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Tahr, Nilgiri Langur and amphibians up to 179 species, reptiles-157 species, fishes-219 species; some of them are globally threatened species. The thick rainforests around Agumbe and the forests below the Agumbe Ghats are home to the King Cobras, the longest venomous snakes in the world which grow up to a length close to 6m (19 ft).  And most importantly the Western Ghats influence the monsoon weather pattern of our country.

ALL THIS NEEDS TO BE PROTECTED, in its very natural form.

This is one area which one must visit and enjoy the beautiful nature if he is at any of the many Hindu pilgrimage places in this area.

The attached photographs and the video I am sure would be of interest to the readers.

VIDEO:

(Western Ghats, Rain Forest, Agumbe Ghat Road and Sunset View Point)

Shree Durgaparameshwari Temple, Kateel.

Kateel also known as Kateelu is a temple town located at a distance of 29 km from Mangalore city and 45 km from Udupi town in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The main temple at Kateel is dedicated to Goddess Durgaparameshwari, also known as Bhramari. This holy temple is situated in the middle of the river Nandini, surrounded by greenery and panoramic scenes. It is a very important place of pilgrimage in Karnataka.

We happened to visit this holy place by chance on 6th April 2018. Our neighbor at Secunderabad, on seeing a facebook post of my wife was surprised to know that we are at Malpe near Udupi and advised us to visit the close by Shri Durgaparameshwari temple at Kateel and Lord Shiva temple at Murudeshwar.  As we had only few hours left for our return journey to Hyderabad; we could visit only Kateel Shree Durgaparameshwari temple on our way to Mangalore airport. And we are glad to have visited this ancient temple.

In Tulu, 'Kati' means 'center'. Kateel is midway between Kanakagiri, the source of the river Nandi, and Pavanje, where the river joins the sea. 'Ila' means area (land), thus the place is called 'Kati + lla', Kateel.

The history of the temple is as follows: When Goddess Durga killed Shumbha and Nishumbha, Arunasura, one of the ministers, had fled from the battlefield and survived. Later he became the leader of the Rakshasas (demons). He began to disturb the sages and destroy their Yajnahs. As a result, the Devas stopped rains, which resulted in total draught and scarcity of water and food grains on the earth. Moved by the pathetic conditions of the people Maharshi Jabali, the great sage decided to perform a Yajnah to appease the Devas.

He approached Devendra and requested him to send Kamadhenu (the sacred cow) with him for the ritual. Since Kamadhenu had been to Varuna Loka, Devendra permitted the sage to take Nandini, the daughter of Kamadhenu in order to assist him as Homadhenu (symbolic cow for ritual) in his proposed Yajna. Jabali went to Nandini and put forth his request. In reply Nandini abused the earth and the people there and refused to accompany him. When the sage found that Nandini was firm in her refusal, he cursed her to flow as a river on earth. As Nandini prayed Jabali for mercy, kindhearted sage advised her to pray Adhishakti to get freed from the curse. Accordingly Nandini prayed Adhishakti. Pleased by her deep meditation Goddess appeared before Nandini and told her that she has to flow as a river as a result of the curse, because nobody can trespass the curse (Rishi Vakya) of a holy sage. And she added “I shall take birth as your daughter in due course and purify you from this curse”. Satisfied by this assurance Nandini emerged as a river from Kanakagiri on the day of Magha Shuddha Poornima and made the earth green once again.

Meanwhile Arunasura acquired a boon from Brahma, which made him free from fear of death by Trinity, Devas, men or women or by any two legged or four legged animals and creatures. Goddess Saraswathi also blessed him with Gayathri Mantra. All these boons made him the most powerful. He defeated the Devatas and conquered Heaven. Disheartened by the disastrous defeat, the Devatas, along with Trinity pleaded Adhishakti for rescue.

Goddess said that unless and until Arunasura is prevented from reciting Gayathri Mantra she too would not be able to destroy him. She suggested them to send Brihaspathi (Guru of Devatas) to distract Arunasura from his meditation of Gayathri, and make him get rid of Gayathri recitation so that she would be able to kill him.

Brihaspathi approached Arunasura, flattered him, poisoned his ears and succeeded in diverting him from his meditation. Now Arunasura vainly felt that he was more than God himself. He not only ordered his subjects to worship him but also troubled the sages and spoiled their Yajnas. As promised to the Devas, Goddess took the shape of Mohini, a charming woman and began to wander in the garden of Arunasura. Chanda and Prachanda, ministers of Arunasura saw her and informed the master about her beauty. Arunasura decided to marry her and approached her. When she turned deaf ears to his request and teased him for fleeing from the war field, afraid of the lady who killed his masters Shumbha & Nishumbha, he became furious. When he tried to take her by force, she disappeared inside rock. Arunasura broke the rock with his sword. Suddenly, a vast swarm of bees emerged from the rock and stung him. Devi had taken the form of a big, furious bee that is ‘Bhramara’ and stung him repeatedly till his last breath. Now the Devas and the sages led by Jabali performed “Abhishekham” to Devi with tender coconut brought from the Kalpavriksha of Devaloka, and prayed her to bless the world with ‘Soumya Roopa’ (Gentle form/posture). According to this request Devi emerged in the form of an Idol in the middle of the river Nandini (as assured to Nandini; to be born as her daughter) and is known here as Shree Durgaparameshwari.

Happy to have visited the Sringeri Sharada Peetham!

We are extremely happy to have visited the Sringeri Sharada Peetham at Sringeri and all the temples in the complex on 4th April 2018 and are feeling blessed. Sringeri Sharada Peetham is the southern Advaita Vedanta matha or monastery established by Sri Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya in the 8th century AD. The matha is on the banks of the Tunga River in Chikkamagalur district, Karnataka State. It is 80 km from Manipal where we were camping, visiting my Alma mater Manipal Institute of Technology and Manipal Town, my place of residence for five years from 1970 to 1975.

Traditionally, Sri Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya (788-820 AD) is regarded as the greatest teacher and reformer of the Smarta. According to Alf Hiltebeitel, Adi Shankaracharya established the Advaita (nondualist) interpretation of the Upanishads as the touchstone of a revived Smarta tradition. The Sringeri Sharada monastery founded by Sri Shankaracharya in Karnataka is still the centre of Smarta tradition.

Sri Adi Shankaracharya is believed to have envisioned this place as the holy site for his matha/peetham because he found a Cobra snake here with its hood spread like an umbrella to protect a frog in labour pain, from the hot sun. According to tradition, it is one of the four major temples/mathas/peethams established by Sri Shankaracharya.

As per Hindu legend, the place is associated with sage Rishyasringa, son of Vibhandankamuni. He did severe penance at this place, leading to the name Sringeri. The Sringeri Sri Sharadamba temple was renovated during the regime of Vijayanagara Empire during the 14-16th centuries and later in 1916.

Sureshwaracharya, who was Maṇḍana Miśra in his purvashrama, was installed as the successor of Sri Shankaracharya before the latter resumed his tour to found his three Peethams in other three corners of the country at Puri, Dwaraka and Badrinath to safeguard and propagate the Vedas. The head of each of these four mathas is a Jagadguru meaning “Teacher of the world”. The Sringeri math holds one of the four Mahavakyas, Aham-Bramhasmi. The math has a very great lineage of Jagadgurus, stretching back straight to Sri Adi Shankaracharya himself. The present and 36th Jagadguru Acharya of this peetham is Anantha Vibhushitha Sri Bharathi teertha Mahaswami. His guru was Sri Abhinava Vidhyateertha Mahaswami. The Successor-designate was appointed in 2015 and given the Yogapatta (a spiritual name) Sri Vidhusekhara Bharati Swami.

The historical and most revered temples we visited at Sri Sharada Peetham are as follows:

Sri Sharadamba Temple – It is believed that Goddess Sharadamba is the incarnation of Goddess Saraswati, who came to Earth as Ubhaya Bharathi. It is a common faith that by worshipping her, one can receive blessings of Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu along with Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati! The idol of the Goddess is made of gold. In the 8th century, Sri Shankaracharya installed a sandalwood statue of Sri Sharadamba in a standing posture but in the 14th century, the Vijayanagara rulers and Sri Vidyaranya (12th Jagadguru) replaced it with a seated gold statue of Sri Sharadamba. The temple is built of granite stones. The Mahamandapam also has huge stone pillars with carvings of deities like Durga, Raja Rajeshwari, Dwarapalakas and Devis according to the Shilpa Sastras. The door of the temple has a Gold covering and is unique because it has 8 panels with figures of Ashtalakshmi inscribed on them.

Sri Torana Ganapati Temple – This unique shrine has a simple silver door with an idol of Ganapati at the top. It is customary for devotees to first have darshan of Torana Ganapati and then proceed to visit Sri Sharadamba.

Sri Vidyashankara Temple – The Vidyashankara temple was built in commemoration of the pontiff Vidyashankara, around 1357-58 C.E. It was built by Vidyaranya, patron-saint of Harihara and Bukka, the brothers who founded the Vijayanagara Empire. It has Chalukyan and Dravidian styles of architecture. The Garbhagraha is on the west side with Vidya Ganapati and Durga as the main deities. Also, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva govern the other three sides.

Sri Janardhana Temple – The temple exists since the 9th century. The temple is for Lord Vishnu as Janardhana. The idol of Lord Janardhana has Sridevi and Bhudevi on both sides. Priests cover the idol with Sandal paste throughout the year.

Sri Adi Shankaracharya Temple – The idol of Sri Adi Shankaracharya is present in a pose of a Yogasana with four disciples and a Shiva Lingam in front.

Sri Kodandaramaswami Temple – A small temple dedicated to Lord Rama, Sita Devi and Lakshmana is present on the right of the Sri Sharadamba temple. 

Feeling extremely happy to have visited the almighty Sri Sharadamba Temple and other temples in this ancient and holy place, and to have sought the blessings of so many Gods and Jagadgurus.