Melkote was a trip decided very quickly over an evening chat. 4 bikes and 8 people; we met near Bangalore University at 5:45 AM on 19th of January 2008, a Saturday. I enjoyed the back seat watching the sunrise, as we rode to Mandya. We stopped for breakfast at Mandya. A rightward Deviation to Melkote is about 2KM after Mandya. On our way we took several stops to interact with farmers who shared their stories with interest.

At Melkote, we first went to Cheluvanarayana swamy temple. In front of the temple was an Iyengar, who was marketing his food stall and asked us to have lunch. Melkote is known for the Iyengar Pulivogre. He also told us about the places we could visit. Cheluva narayana swamy idol is very beautiful indeed. One would not want to take the eyes off such a pleasant looking idol of lord Vishnu. Badrinarayana temple is another small temple opposite the main temple.
Yoganarasimha temple is on top of a hill. About 1000 steps would lead you up there. Both these temples are 900 years old and are extremely beautiful with lot of stone carvings depicting stories of Vishnu.

The view of the entire village from top is truly mesmerizing. The lake Kalyani at the base of the hill is a good relaxing place.

We rode back and had tasty Pulivogre, Sweet Pongal and Curd rice at the iyengar’s place. The food is cooked at home and sold here. He also gave us some back ground of the temples. It seems, a jain king who ruled here had two daughters, one of whom was terribly ill. Ramanujachar was requested to arrive and cure her. He took her to Tannur lake and there cured her out of the disease. In turn the king offered him gold, but ramanjachar asked him to follow his vaishnava principles and convert to a Vaishnava king. The king was renamed to Vishnuvardhana. Ramanujachar stayed there for several years and preached his new followers.
Another famous story about the temple is of the utsav idol which was stolen and then found in Delhi, in sultan’s house being worshipped by his daughter. Lord Vishnu himself came in dreams of Ramanujachar and informed the idols location.
This is a major difference I have seen in traveling in India or anywhere else; every place has stories to say, villagers have interesting information about their ancestors and I think this is what makes it so good to be in these places and to be part of history.
We next rode to Danush koti. A cutout in a rock, in which the natural spring keeps water filled, is believed to have been created by Lord Rama’s arrow. While we were there millions of honey bee from nowhere flew in to cover the entire place with black spots. We had to hide behind a rock to save ourselves.
The next stop was Akka-Thangi Kere. Water in one of these is salty and other sweet. Next stop was Raya Dwara – A grand entrance that never got completed. Myth is that the King wanted a grand entrance built within a night. But as the sun’s first ray fell on the incomplete masterpiece, the time was up and till date it remains so.

I recalled the song from film Guru – Barso Re, shot here. The Sanskrit academy was closed. The library has a wide collection of oldest scriptures.
We took a narrow back route from Melkote to Tannur Lake. It’s a neat place to hang around. We took a boat ride.We watched the sunset and returned through Pandavpur-Mandya-Bangalore route.

We stopped at Mandya again for food. Reached Bangalore University at 9:30 PM. Dispersed from there to our homes.
It appeared to me like I had lived 2 days in one. What a long day it was; lovely places; interesting history; enthusiastic villagers. Few back routes that we took have not seen buses yet. Few paths are only meant for bikes and they pass through the real village life.