Mysore - Part II

Our next stop was at Srirangapatna. To our surprise, there was not much crowd though it was a Puratasi Saturday which is auspicious for Lord Vishnu. We had a good darshan of Lord Sriranga and Goddess Mahalakshmi. We were not able to stop comparing with Lord Ranganathar at Srirangam, Trichy. Our daughter had fun watching monkeys in the temple. There is a bunch of monkeys which target any pilgrim coming out with the archana plate. They do not leave way unless you depart the bananas from the plate. It was fun watching them looting this way.

We took a call to proceed further to Mysore and explore whatever places we could see before the sun sets. My husband wanted to see the palace and I wanted to visit the Chamundeswari Temple for sure. So we decided to see them without fail. Mysore welcomed us with a big flower arch kept for Dussera. It was past 11 by that time. I wanted to visit the temple first as it might be closed by noon. The sign boards guiding the way for site seeing places were found only in important juntcions. We had to stop and look for someone to guide us in all other junctions for the right direction. We reached Chamundi Hills around 12. The temple had heavy rush due to Dussera. The queue in Rs.20 tickets was so long and you could imagine how much it would be for free darshan. I was very upset as it might take hours if we stand in the queue for a darshan.

It started raining and my husband wanted to leave. I was just hoping for someone to help us in having a quick darshan. My husband asked me to stand with the kid and went to check at the counter. I had no hopes of a darshan. He came back with 100 rupees tickets which allow you to go through the main entrance without having to follow the queue. I was so overwhelmed by his courtesy to satisfy my wish and we had a great darshan of Goddess Chamundeswari.

The hill was bearing a festive look and was getting ready for the D-Day on Vijayadasami (2 days from the day we visited). The tenth day of Dussera is celebrated as the day of victory to rejoice about the triumph of Goddess Chamundi over demon Mahishasura. We were happy that we could make it up to this temple during Dussera.

As we drove down the hill it started raining heavily. Our next stop was at the palace. The palace was open to visitors from 2.30 Pm only. It was around 1 Pm when we were there. So we decided to finish our lunch and St. Philomena’s church before hitting the palace again. We went to the church first. We had to remain in the car for about 30 minutes as it was raining heavily. Managing Appu inside the car for 30 minutes was an uphill task.

St. Philomena’s church is a beautiful cathedral and is in the memory of the first bishop of Mysore. The cathedral is the largest Cathedral in South Asia. The stained glass painted windows were adding beauty to the hall. The twin spires of the church stand very majestic and no wonder it is another example for architecture in India. We had fun photo shoot while drizzling.

After having a low profile :o( buffet lunch at Hotel Ramanashree (Next time I make sure to stay away from this hotel) , we proceeded to the Mysore Maharaja’s palace. We were directed from one entrance to the other as there were 6 entrances to the palace but the entrance tickets were available only from one entrance. We could see the Dussera (Mad) rush in the palace alone. Thought of getting out of that place immediately :o)

We rushed through the visitors point inside the palace in 30 minutes and hit the road back to Bangalore. Appu started sleeping and we wanted to cover as much mileage as possible. We reached Rajarajeswari nagar in 2 hours. From there, to our home at Indiranagar it was just the usual Bangalore traffic. We reached home at 8.15 Pm and this is how the trip was....

On the way to Mysore and in Mysore

On a Saturday morning we were all set for our journey. A day’s trip to Mysore. We have aleady visited Mysore and hence wanted to explore places on the way to Mysore trip, more on a religious footage. Often we have come across the name of “Lord Navaneetha Krishna” in the tamil magazine “Kumudam Jodhidam” and have been wanting to see him. Lord Navaneetha Krishna has his place in “Maloor Aprameya Swamy Temple, Doddamalooru” on the Bangalore-Mysore road in Channapatna. http://www.channapatnacity.gov.in/

We started from home around 6.15 Am by car with our little kid (yet to be 2). Packing and travelling with a kid is really difficult as you all know. My husband too had a stiff back and was not sure if we would travel or not till that morning. We were not sure what all we could cover but still started hoping to cover Doddamallur atleast. We reached Doddamallur around 7.20 AM. Doddamallur is about 63 Kms from Bangalore. It is on the banks of river Kanva. It is on the Bangalore-Mysore road (left hand side of the road when travelling from Bangalore towards Mysore) withing 2 Kms from the Channapatna bus stand. Dodda Mallur, or simple Mallur is where the 1600 years old temple of Lord Apprameya (the name finds place in Vishnu Sahasranama..”Apprameya Rishi kesho..”). The temple has the shrine of Lord Rama Apprameya, Goddess Aravindavalli and Lord Navaneetha Krishna.

The chief attraction of the temple is this krishna whose shrine is hand sculptured in saligrama stone. You could just see a 8 month old charming child crawling with his right leg on the air and butter (Navaneeth) in the right hand. With anklets in his legs and ornaments in his neck, this Krishna with his curly hair just takes away your heart as you see him.

We heard from the priest that Saint-Singer Purandaradasa composed his most famous song “Jagadodharana adisidalu yasoda” for this Krishna. For generations it is believed that this Krishna has the special power of blessing childless couples. Many childless couples come and worship him. They perform an archana for this Krishna and offer their prayers. Once they are blessed with a child, they could come back with the child to offer a cradle that is tied on the ceiling of Lord Navaneetha’s sannidhi.

The temple is opened between 8 Am and 12 noon , 4 Pm and 8.30 Pm. We could get the photos or idols of Lord Krishna in a small shop outside.

There are no public rest rooms available but a near by family has let their restroom to be used by the pilgrims visiting the temple. (So nice of them!! This too is a kind of service).

There is a board in the temple mentioning about 1200 years old Narasimha temple nearby (within 1 Km from there). We were not able to make it during this trip. Hope we will cover that too in our next trip.

More to come......