2 DAYS TRIP FROM BANGALORE | SHRAVANABELAGOLA - MELKOTE - SRIRANGAPATNA

At a distance of 700m from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Bhandara Basadi is the largest temple built in the center of Shravanabelagola town at a distance of about 300m from the entrance of the Vindhyagiri hill which houses the famous Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple. It is one of the popular sacred places to visit in Shravanabelagola.

Built in 1159 CE, this temple was erected by Bhandari Hullamayya, a general of Hoysala King Narasimha. The temple is a large structure measuring 155 ft x 232 ft. The temple exhibits great artistic skills of Hoysala rulers. The temple has a large manasthamba and an ornate mandapa in front of the entrance. The tower on entrance of the temple is small but nicely designed. The temple tower is erected on a pillared mandapa that houses few wooden carvings of a Jain Thirthankaras.

The main shrine is a rectangular structure with a 12 pillared sanctum, a rangamandapa and another mandapa called Saraswathi .....

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Odegal Basadi also known as Vadegal Basti or Trikuta Alaya is a wonderful 14th-century basadi situated on Vindhyagiri hill on the way to Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple. It is one of the prime places to visit in Shravanabelagola.

The Odegal Basadi is named so because of the stone proportions placed against its basement. It is the only trikutachala in Shravanabelagola that can be visited as part of Shravanabelagola Tour Packages. The basadi is built on a highly elevated platform supported by huge blocks of stone pillars. It is impressive for the commanding position it occupies. The temple has a small Mukha mandapa followed by a large maha mandapa with circular pillars. The maha mandapa has three sanctums facing different directions with beautiful statues of Tirthankaras housed inside.

The .....

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Tyagada Kamba is a 10th century Monilithic Gateway situated on Vindhyagiri hill between Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple and Tyagada Kamba.

The doorway has a large stone carving of Gajalakshmi panel above the door. Goddess Lakshmi seated on lotus flanked by two elephants with pots in their trunks. The panel has crocodile and lion images carved on the upper part. This is one of the finest and largest Gajalakshmi reliefs in the country. It is one of the best arts that exhibit the workmapship of Ganga period.

There are two cells built on both sides of the gateway which were built in 12th century by Bharatamayya, a general of Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana. These cells are dedicated to Bahubali and his brother Bharatha.

Beside Bharatha's cell, there is a huge rock with several carvings of Jain saints with their followers flanked across the rock in three levels. The .....

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple is a monolithic statue situated in Shravanbelagola, Karnataka. It is the tallest monolithic stone statue in the world with a height of 58 feet, and among the must include places in Shravanabelagola Tour Packages.

The temple is built on top of a Vindhyagiri Hill at an altitude of 3347 feet. A flight of 620 steps provides access to this temple from the entrance near the pond. Gomateshwara Temple is among the prime places to visit in Shravanabelagola.

This image of Bahubali was created during the period of Chamundaraya, a minister of the Ganga King Rajamalla between 982 and 983 CE. The eyes of the statue are open as if viewing with work without any detachment. The statue has an anthill behind, representing Gomatha's long penance. Creeper emerges .....

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Siddhara Basadi is a 14th century basadi situated just outside the main Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple on Vindhyagiri hill.

Dedicated to Sidda Bhagavan Thirthankara, the basadi has an attractive carved granite statue of Saint Sidda in sitting posture. The basadi has two wonderful pillars erected in 14th and 15th centuries with valuable inscriptions. These pillars are dedicated to the Jain saints Panditahradhya and Srtamuni. The text on one of the pillars was composed by a famous Kannada poet called Mangaraja.

The Wodeyar mandapa on the western side has inscriptions describing the donations made by the Mysore Maharajas to the temple in 17th and 18th centuries.

Few meters ahead of Siddara Basadi, Gullekayi Ajji Mandapa situated opposite to the entrance of Gomateswara Temple is a wonderful mandapa with a mansthamba erected in 12th century with inscriptions. The mandapa also has a beautiful carving of an old lady called .....

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Tyagada Kamba is a wonderful 10th century monument situated on Vindhyagiri hill on the way to Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple, past Odegal Basadi.

Tyagada Kamba is a small, open pavilion with an elaborately carved stone pillar which is an unmatched artistic beauty. Built on an elevated platform, the pillar has elaborate carvings from bottom to top. It is believed that Chavundaraya, minister of Ganga Dynasty distributed gifts to needy people from this pavilion. This pillar brings out the best workmanship of Ganga rulers.

It is believed that the original inscription at bottom of the pillar was erased by Heggade Kanna in 1200 AD. He installed an image of Yaksha at the top of the pillar and added inscriptions on the pedestal. The upper mandapa of the pavilion was built using brick and mortar in 15th century.

At a distance of 1 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station, Tyagada Kamba is a 17th century Jain basadi situated on Vindhyagiri hill near Tyagada Kamba on the right side while going to Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple.

The basadi is a small shrine with a small pillared madapa and sanctum with a small tower over the sanctum. Built on an elevated platform, the doorway of the main structure has is accompanied by dwarapalakas. The shrine is built against a large boulder which form southern wall of the basadi. The image of Chandraprabha, 8th Jain Thirthankara is carved on the boulder attached to the temple.

There is a large open hall with 24 pillars opposite to the basadi. Also, a large 30 feet manastambha is placed near the open hall. The basadi, hall and manasthambha are built by Chennanna, son of Puttaswamy Setti in 1667 AD.

This place offers panoramic view of the other side of Shravanabelagola town.

At a distance of 0.5 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station & 1.5 km from Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple, Chamundaraya Basadi located on Chandragiri Hill is a wonderful structure dedicated to Lord Neminatha built in Jaina architecture of Dravidian style. It was built by Chamundaraya, the minister of Ganga king Marasimha II in 982 AD. The construction of this basadi was completed in 995 AD. It is one of the prime places to visit in Shravanabelagola, the holy site of Jain pilgrimage.

Chamundaraya Basadi is the most attractive and largest structure on Chandragiri hill. This structure resembles the Dravidian two-tier temple architecture introduced by Badami Chalukyas. The basadi is a rectangular structure facing east. The complex consists of a garbhagriha, a pradakshina path, open sukanasi, navaranga and a mukhamandapa. The garbhagriha houses the image of Lord Neminatha.

There is another small structure on the first level of Chamundaraya Basadi which can be accessed by a set of narrow .....

At a distance of 0.5 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station & 1.5 km from Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple, Chandraprabha Basadi is located on Chandragiri Hill.

It consists of an open Garbagriha, a sukhanasi, a navaranga and a porch and enshrines a seated figure of Chandraprabha, the 8th tirthankara. In the sukhanasi are placed the images of Shyama and Jwalamalini, the yaksha and yakshi. The pedestal of Jwalamalini image shows a lion with two riders seated one behind the other.

The basadi is a brick structure raised over a stone base. It is said to have been constructed by the Ganga king Sivamara II.

At a distance of 0.5 km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station & 1.5 km from Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple, Kattale Basadi is situated to the left of Parswanatha Basadi on Chandragiri. It is the biggest of all the Basadis on Chandragiri hill.

This basadi is dedicated to Adinath, the first tirthankara. An image of the Goddess Padmavathi is also found in the verandah. It was constructed by Ganga Raja, the general of Vishnuvardhana. This structure was recently renovated by the Government of Karnataka.

The basadi has garbhagriha, pradakshinapatha, an open sukanasi, a navaranga of 16 pillars, a large rangpmandapa. The garbhagriha houses the seated image of Lord Adinatha. As per the inscriptions on the pedestal of this image, the temple was funded by Pochavve, the mother of Gangaraja.

At a distance of 0.5 Km from Shravanabelagola Bus Station & 1.5 km from Bahubali Gomateshwara Temple, Parshwanatha Basadi is located on Chandragiri Hill. The basadi contains a garbagriha, a sukhanasi, a navaranga and a porch. This is a beautiful structure with decorated outer walls. The doorways are lofty and the navaranga as well as the porch have verandhas at their sides. The pillars in the navaranga are of round Ganga type with bell, vase and wheel mouldings. The image of Parshwanatha is the tallest on the hill which is 18 feet in height.

The manastambha (pillar) in front of the Parshwanatha basadi has a pavilion on the top containing standing Jain figures facing four directions. This pillar is sculptured on all the four sides of the base and contains the figure of Padmavathi on the south, Yaksha on the east, seated Kushmandini on the north and a galloping horseman on the west. It was built by a Jain merchant Puttaiya between 1672 & 1704 AD.

About Melukote

At a distance of 50 km from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore, Melkote, or Melukote is a historical town located in the Mandya district of Karnataka. Also known as Thirunarayanapuram, it is one of the popular pilgrimage sites in Karnataka, and among the best places to visit as part of Mysore tour.

The town is built on rocky hills known as Yadavagiri or Yadugiri overlooking the Cauvery valley. The town derives its name from two words, Melu means top and Kote means fort. There are two popular temples reside in this town, one is Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple and the other one is Yoga Narasimha Swamy Temple. Many more shrines and ponds are located in the town. Melukote is home to the academy of Sanskrit Research, which has collected thousands of Vedic and Sanskrit manuscripts.

History of Melukote

According to the history, the great Vaishnava .....

About Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple

At a distance of 500 m from Srirangapatna Railway Station, Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple situated in Srirangapatna is a famous temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu who is worshipped here as Ranganatha. Located inside the Srirangapatna Fort on the banks of the Kaveri River, it is one of the largest temples in Karnataka, among the top tourist places to visit as part of Srirangapatna tour packages. The temple is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India as a monument of national importance.

Ranganathaswamy Temple is one of the most important Vaishnavite shrines in South India and among the prime places to visit in Srirangapatna. The temple is one of the Pancharanga Kshetras, the other four being Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple of Srirangam, Sarangapani Temple of Kumbakonam, Appakudathan Temple of Trichy, and .....

At a distance of 1 km from Srirangapatna Railway Station & 16 Kms from Mysore Railway Station, Srirangapatna Fort is situated in the town of Srirangapatna which was the capital of the Mysore state under the legendary king Tipu Sultan. It is a small island formed by the river Cauvery and its tributaries. This is one of the popular tourist places to visit from Bangalore & Mysore and an important historical site in Karnataka.

The fort was originally built in the year 1537 by Kempe Gowda. This Fort has four main entrances and has a double wall defense system, which is what makes it one of the toughest forts. Most of the fort was demolished by British during Fourth Mysore War in 1799.

There is a monument in the fort in the place where Tipu Sultan was killed. The architectural style of the fort is supposed to be Indo-Islamic and there is a Persian inscription .....

At a distance of 3 km from Srirangapatna Railway Station & 16 Kms from Mysore, Daria Daulat Bagh also known as Tipu's Summer Palace is located in Srirangapatna. Hyder Ali commenced its construction in 1778 and his son Tippu Sultan completed it in 1784 AD. The palace is surrounded by a large garden on the southern bank of the river.

The palace was made with teakwood in Indo-Saracenic style. The pillars, walls, canopies, arches and the corridors are graced with several murals. They depict scenes of warfare by Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan, the Nizams of Hyderabad, the British and French soldiers. The eastern wall has paintings representing the scenes of Darbars of different contemporaries of Tippu Sultan including the Hindu Rani of Chittor, the Raja of Tanjore, the Raja of Benares, Peshwas, etc.

The Daria Daulat Bagh palace is now converted in a museum housing several of Tippu's memorabilia. First floor of the palace houses .....

At a distance of 5 km from Srirangapatna Railway Station, Gumbaz is the Mausoleum of Tipu Sultan, his father Hider Ali and mother Fakr-Un-Nisa, situated at Srirangapatna. The Gumbaz was built by Tipu Sultan in 1782-1784 AD as the final resting place for his parents. Tipu was allowed to be buried here by the British, after his death in the Siege of Srirangapatna in 1799.

The Gumbaz is designed in Islamic style, with a large rectangle shaped garden, having a path leading to the mausoleum. In the middle of the garden, the Gumbaz stands on an elevated platform, consists of a dome placed on a cubical structure with ornamental railings and turrets. The dome is supported by large black granite pillars.

The importance of Gumbaz lies in its well-shaped large dome with ivory inlaid doors and carved stone windows of fine work and inscriptions. The doors of the tomb are beautifully carved and engraved with ivory works. The interior .....

At a distance of 3 km from Srirangapatna, and 16 km from Mysore, Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary is a small sanctuary situated in Srirangapatna, Karnataka. It is one of the must include places in wildlife tours in India and among the must visit Mysore tourist places.

Spread across 67 sq. km, the sanctuary comprises six islets on the banks of the Kaveri River. It was declared in 1940 as a result of many requests from Dr. Salim Ali who surveyed the birds in this area. Since then, the sanctuary has become a paradise for bird watchers. The sanctuary is a breeding ground for many migratory birds from all over the world. It is home to a wide species of birds including cormorants, darters, white ibis, spoon billed storks, open-billed storks, painted storks, white-necked storks, egrets, herons, terns, swallows, kingfishers, sandpiper, etc.

A boat ride takes .....