Indian Columbus

I have visited a lot of palaces across India. But, I have never seen such an impressive and magnificent palace as the one located in  Mysore  city of South India. This Palace can be arguably considered the most beautiful Palace in India. This monument is not only the pride of Wodeyar kings; it is the entire nation's pride. Mysore Palace is the best tourist attraction of Mysore, the heritage city of India. The Palace is situated in the city center. It has an exciting history. It was built by the royal family of Mysore, Wodeyars, during the 14th century CE. In 1638 CE, the Palace was destroyed by lightning and was reconstructed by King Kantirava Narasa Raja Wodeyar (1638 - 1659 CE). Tipu Sultan destroyed the Palace in 1793 CE. After Tipu's death, the Wodeyar dynasty came to power again. The Palace was rebuilt in 1803 CE. It seems the Mysore palace always had an evil fate. It got destroyed again in the fire in 1897 CE. The current structure of the Mysore Palace, which was desig...

When you think about  Mysore , the heritage city of India, you cannot avoid thinking about two great places – Mysore Zoo and Mysore Palace. Mysore zoo is one of India's oldest and most beautiful zoos. The King of Mysore, Chamaraja Wodeyar, established Mysore zoo in his Summer Palace, also called Pleasure Palace, in 1892 CE. In the beginning, the zoo was established with just 10 acres. The King kept increasing its area and opened it for the public. Whenever he traveled to other countries or other parts of India, he used to bring rare animals to this zoo. After independence, the Indian Government took control of this zoo and extended the area further. The century-old zoo, officially called Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens, has a lot of rare animals even today. You can find almost all the animals and birds such as tigers, elephants, monkeys, deer, bears, leopards, lions, peacocks, snakes, crocodiles, etc. here. Giraffe, chimpanzee, African elephant, and various colorful birds a...

Talakad, also known as Talakadu, a small town near  Mysore  city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried under the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan. To know more about the town, visit my post on  Talakad . Talakad has three temples of Lord Shiva and one temple for Lord Vishnu. The temples of Shiva -  Vaidyanatheswara  temple,  Pataleswar temple  and  Maleswara  temple belong to Pancha Linga sites. Lord Vishnu's temple is considered one of the five Vishnu temples (called Pancha Narayana) established by the great Vaishnavite saint Ramanuja in the 11th century CE. It is also believed that this temple of Lord Vishnu, called the Kirti Narayana temple, was constructed by the Hoysalas to commemorate their victory over the Cholas. This is the only Hoysala architecture found in Talakad today. The magnificent temple of Kirti Narayana is intricately carved and has stunningly beautiful architecture. Unfortu...

Talakad, also spelled as Talakadu, a small town near  Mysore  city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried in the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan. To know more about the town, visit my post on  Talakad .  As mentioned earlier, Talakad town is also famous for Panchalinga Darshan (a Darshan of five Shiva Lingas). The main temple, Vaidyanatheswara temple, is one of the five sites. From this temple, if we walk on sand for about 3 km, we will reach the temple of  Pataleswar . If we walk up for another 2 km, we will come to the temple of Lord Maraleswara, which is again another Panchalinga temple.  This temple is completely buried under sand dunes. It comes to life when excavated for the Panchalinga Darshan festival held once every twelve years. The small temple has just one image of Lord Shiv linga. Happy travelling.   Visit my site,  krishnakumartk.com , to know more about the travel guides and other boo...

Talakad, also spelled as Talakadu, a small town near  Mysore  city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried in the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan. To know more about the town, visit my post on  Talakad .  Talakad has three temples of Lord Shiva and one temple for Lord Vishnu. As mentioned above, Talakad is also famous for Panchalinga Darshan (a Darshan of five Shiva Lingas). The main temple, Vaidyanatheswara temple, is one of the five Shivlingas. From the famous Vaidyanatheswar temple, if we walk on sand for about 3 km, we will reach the temple of Pataleswar.    This temple is completely buried under sand dunes. The temple comes to life when excavated for the Panchalinga Darshan festival held once every twelve years. As the temple is located underground from the path, completely buried under the sand, the deity is called "Pataleswar." (The word "Patal" means "underground." ) The Pataleswar temple is tiny. It has ...

Talakad, also known as Talakadu, a small town near  Mysore  city of Karnataka state in India, is famous for the Cauvery river, ancient temples buried in the sand, and Panchalinga Darshan.  Talakad has three temples of Lord Shiva and one temple for Lord Vishnu. The most important temple among them is the Vaidyanatheswara temple, which is also called Vaideeshwareswar temple.  As per the legend, an ascetic, Somadatta by name, and his disciples traveled to worship Lord Shiva in this town. All of them were reborn as wild elephants. Still, they did not forget Lord Shiva. They considered a particular tree as Lord Shiva and worshiped the tree. Once, two hunters named Tala and Kada struck the tree with an ax and found blood oozing out of the tree. Upon hearing the heavenly voice, they dressed the tree's wound with leaves and fruits. Thus the hunters healed the tree and became immortal. Since Lord Shiva recovered himself through this incident, Shiv Linga of the temple is nam...

Talakad or Talakadu is a small town on the banks of the river Cauvery (Kaveri) located at a distance of about 45 km from  Mysore , the heritage city of Karnataka state in South India. Talakad once had around 30 temples, which are buried under sand today. Only 4-5 ancient temples are remaining now. Talakad is a historic site. It was ruled by various dynasties such as Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, and Vijayanagara Kings. Talakad, famous for its sand dunes resembling deserts, ancient temples, Panchalinga Darshana sites and the river, has exciting legends.  As per a legend, one of the Wodeyar kings conquered and captured Srirangapattinam from the king named Srirangaraya. Srirangaraya, after losing his kingdom, settled down in Talakad along with his two wives. He subsequently died due to some ailment. One of his wives, named Alamelamma, a staunch devotee of the Goddess Ranganayaki of Srirangapattinam Temple, used to provide her big pearl-studded nose ring to the idol every Tuesday an...

Somnathpur is a small village located at a distance of around 35 km from  Mysore . It is famous due to its ancient and architecturally beautiful Keshava temple. It belonged to the 13th century CE and was built by the Hoysalas. After the collapse of the Ganga dynasty, the Hoysala dynasty was founded in 1006 CE, and the Hoysalas ruled Karnataka for about 350 years. The earlier Hoysala kings were Jains. Vishnuvardhana, a later Hoysala King, embraced Vaishnavism due to the effort of Ramanuja, the great Vaishnavite reformer. The temples that were built by the Hoysalas are unique in style. We can find the best examples of Hoysala architecture in Belur and Halebid. Somnathpur Keshava temple is another finest example of Hoysala architecture, even though it is not as popular as the other two sites. The army general of the Hoysala king Narasimha III (1254 - 1291 CE), Somnath, founded this village on the banks of the river Cauvery. Hence, the village was named after him as Somnathpur...