Talakadu is a famous place in Karnataka due to its desert like topography on the banks of Kavery river. It carries an aura of mystery as the sand engulfed the town only a few hundred years ago. The place is closely associated with the curse “Talakadu maralagali, Malangi Maduvagali, Mysuru rajarige makkalagadirali” meaning “Let Talakadu become sand, Malangi become whirlpool and Mysuru kings have no children”. As per the story, Alamelamma, who was the wife of Vijayanagar family representative in Srirangapatna was harassed by Mysuru king for her jewellery. She jumped into the river uttering the curse. The incident took place at around 1610 CE. The astonishing fact is that the curse became true!! Being a follower of science, I believe that there are scientific reasons behind these events, but as a traveler, these kinds of stories add mystery to the places!!
If you browse for the history of this place, you will realise that Talakadu is an old town dating from the 3rd century CE. It was under the governance of several dynasties that ruled the area. Many temples buried user the sand indicate it was a historically and religiously significant place.
I had visited Talakadu in 2000 with my cousin and in 2003 with my family. During those days, the temples were excavated from the sand. My memory of those visits is a bit hazy, but few pictures taken from my analog camera provide a better view of the state of the temple.
Our recent visit
As part of the day trip from Bengaluru, we recently visited Talakadu along with Somnathpura, T Narasipura and Mudukutore. We found that it was a nice day trip from Bengaluru. After visiting other places, we headed towards Talakadu. The road, which was great throughout our journey, deteriorated dramatically once we entered Talakadu town. It looked like the local panchayat or municipality was doing a very pathetic job.
We first went to the riverside picnic area which had ample parking place for cars. Having decided to visit riverside at the end of our trip, we walked towards the temples. A trail from the main road lead us though the sands. I found that the place had changed a lot in last 20 years. It has become a religious place with architecture and nature taking backseat. There was do defined route earlier, but now a shelterred path is built all along the route. While it provided shade during summer and shelter while raining, I felt that it did not fit into natural surroundings.
The first temple we saw was Pathaleshwara temple. It is named so as it is situated below the ground. We did a quick visit of the temple before heading to the other places.
Vaidyanatheswara and Kirtinarayana Temple
From the trail, we could see the view of Kirtinarayana Temple. There was no direct path from the trail and we decided to visit while retuning back. Next temple that we saw was Maruleshwara temple which was very similar to Pathaleshwara Temple. The end of the trail brought us to the town and we went to Vaidyanatheswara temple.
Vaidyanatheswara temple is an example of amazing architecture featuring the styles of Gangas, Cholas, Hoysala and Vijaynagar Empire. The dwarapalakas at the entrance of the temple is very beautiful. An interesting feature is monolithic stone chain. We had seen similar feature at Gaurishwara temple, Yellandur.
After spending some time, we went to nearby Kirtinarayana Temple. It was built in 1117 A.D. by the Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana to celebrate his victory over the Cholas in the battle of Talakadu. Like other temples in Talakadu, this was also buried under the sand but excavated in the last few decades.
We climbed the sand dune next to the temple to reach the trail and went back to riverside. The banks of the Kaveri river was very crowded and we did not feel like spending a lot of time. One can swim in the water or go on a coracle ride here. The construction of the bridge across the river is in full swing.
Sshegde
Nice pictures, Discription of place is too good
aravindgj
Thank you.