Trip to Nanjangud

Nanjangud was one of the pilgrim places I always wanted to visit.

Temple:

Temple is the abode of lord Nanjundeshwara. The temple is said to built during the 9th century the Ganga period. Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan both had close association with the temple. Legend goes that, one of Tipu Sultan's favrourite elephant lost its eye sight. Its eye sight was restored after Tipu Sultan made a vow to the lord. In return he made a Shiva Lingam of jade with emrald necklace. He also gave the title Hakim Nanjundeswara to the lord.



Journey:
Nanajungud is 24km south of Mysore on the Mysore-Ooty road. So the best approach to Nanjangud is via Mysore. April 5th 2008 we started off from Bangalore to Nanjungud. We took a train from Bangalore to Mysore at 2:30 pm. We reached Mysore by 4:45 pm. The journey was peaceful and easy as Dad had already reserved tickets. From Mysore there are manybuses to Nanjangud. As soon as we entered the bus stand we had a partially filled bus waiting to leave. We reached Nanjangud by 7 pm.

Stay:
Dad had booked for 3 rooms in a guest house Eshwar bhavan. This guest house is about 200 meters from the temple. The guest house was neat and clean. There is a Arya Vysa choultry just 2 buildings away. We went for dinner there at 8:30 pm. Dinner was tasty and well prepared.

Puja at the river:
We woke up by 4:45 am next day, 6th April. We headed for the Kapila river for a scared bath. Water was warm. It was fun bathing in the river. I was glad that there were rooms where women could change. We poured that many mugs of water on our head which is equivalent to our age. It is supposed to clear out sins till date. We Left the wet clothes on the steps of the river. Mom had packed all the puja articles. We made Gowris in Turmeric and placed it on the steps, lit mud lamps. We worshipped Gowri and the river with flowers / incense sticks and camphor. We offered rasins and bananas to the Goddess Gowri and Kapila.Puja at the temple:We reached temple by 7 am. We took tickets for Rudra Abhisheka. We could go into the inner sanatorium of the temple and watch the abhisheka. It was a quick one. We were given Pongal / Kesaribath / Laddus as prasada. Each one of us lit mud lamps in the temple, Mom had packed them from Bangalore. My Sister-in-law and me gave two bananas / betel leaves and nuts / blouse pieces / bangles to five married women. We then fed the elephant with bananas and idlis, equivalent to our age.

Raghavendra Swami Mutt:

On the way back from the temple to the Guest house we went to Raghavendra swami mutt. The mutt doesn't have a brindhavan but actual statue of Raghavendra Swami. The legend goes that, a dhobi was using that stone for washing. One day Raghavendra Swami appeared in the dreams of one of the Wodeyar Kings and asked him to install the statue in Nanjangud. Along with Raghavendra Swami we have Vaayu Devaru too.

Return:

We took a bus from Nanjangud and started off to Mysore. At mysore we went to Mysore palace "Varah Dwara". A temple to Lord Varaha is inside the compund of the palace. It is the only temple in Karnataka.We had a return train to Bangalore at 2:30 pm.
Regretting not taking enough photos :-(.