Musafir

This trip to the district of Hassan, Karnataka is the most satisfying trip of mine and i have enjoyed writing about it as much as i did when visiting. Even though Hampi Trip will be my best ever (i understood the greatness of Indian Temple Architecture for the first time), the trip to the Hoysala world will always be memorable.

When i started planning, i never thought of most of the places i visited. Only just before the start of my first day, i browsed a little and got the names. I wanted to explore something different and away from normal tourist location. Going to places where few people visit and writing about them is the most satisfying experience and i feel i did enough justice to them. Here i should thank my cab driver who patiently bore my whims and fancies and took me where ever i asked for. He came inside and visited most of the temples with me as he was also seeing them for the first time. It is never surprising that people tend to ignore or forget their own place.

Transport: My first advise to tourists is to take an own/hired vehicle always instead of using public transport. Most of the places are remote and it is not a good ideal to depend on them. Of course, this is applicable only if you want to visit all the places i mentioned. However, good public transport is available for the main attractions Belur, Halebidu and Sravanabelagola. And i hope to have given sufficient information to locate the  place.

Stay: Always stay in Hassan town if you are planning to have more than a day and travel to other places. There are accommodations in Belur and Halebidu as well but they are an option if more than a day is planned for any of these places. For a normal tourist, a day is sufficient for both of them. We can even complete all the three mentioned spots in a day if we take our own vehicle.

Study and Research: I feel this is important before see these temples. At least, if one has knowledge of Hindu iconography, can enjoy the sculptures. I say this as most of the sculptures are event and story based. The way the sculptures are designed exemplify the story itself.

Other places: I could not visit some of the places because of time. There are wonderful temples in places like Javagallu, Hosaholalu, Nuggehalli among others.

Don’t Do: Avoid visiting the small fortified palace that i mentioned. It is a complete waste of time. I travelled almost 100 additional kilometres just for this which could have been used for covering other places. Even though i am happy that i could see some explored area, this can be skipped. From Manjarabad Fort, come back to Hassan and the Iswara Temple in Arsikere can be reached from here.

Food: Food in Hassan is good with a mixture of South and North Indian flavour. There are good quality restaurants near the bus station.

The events under which i had this trip are also funny. As i mentioned in my first post, there was a government backed strike during the time and i had a real hard time travelling from Hassan to Sravanabelagola. My cab driver woke up at 5 AM waiting to get my call, if he had to take me to my destination. Luckily, i managed to get a fully crowded government bus. Even during the return journey, i had to wait for hours to get a bus to Bangalore. This strike was a welcome break to the Government Employees with all their chatting sitting leisurely.

As i plan my next series of posts, i am very happy that i had provided good information on the Hassan District, which i feel has not been documented well.