Indian Columbus

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...