Kotilingam

Kodi punyam tharum Kotilingam and Bakthiyai kodukum Bangaru Tirupati.

Near Kolar Gold mine at Kammasandra village  lies a beautiful temple  Kotilingam dedicated to Lord Shiva. The main deity is the gigantic Kotilingeswara which is 108 feet tall. Facing the Shiva lies a 35 metre Nandi. Kotilingam means crores of Lingas. The temple is rich with around  90 lakhs of Lingas installed by devotees. Each lingam is of different shapes and size.

Devotees contribute their offering by installing the lingas with their  name engrossed. The installation  charge varies according to size. The other temples within the premises are Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Maheshwara, Goddess Annapoorneshwari, Lord Panduranga Swamy, Lord Panchamukha Ganapathy, Lord Rama Lakshmana Sita, Lord Venkataramani, Lord Anjaneya, Goddess Kannika Parameshwari and Goddess Karumaari Amman Temple. The uniqueness is that one can perform abhisekam to Shivlingam that is located in Kannika Parameshwari Temple. We feel this is the only temple in South where the devotees can perform abhisekam to Shivalingam. What a blessed feeling we had.

Bangaru Tirupati:

This temple is situated at bout 9 km from Kotilingam on Guttalahalli  dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Always  advisable to be careful as more monkeys are waiting to grab things from peoples hand. The temple lies on the hillock. One has to climb the step to reach the temple. The main deity is Ekanta Srinivasa who is gracing devotees through the small window.

Next had the darshan of sweet scent of Mercy  Padmavati Thayar. Spent some time in the temple and proceeded back to home. On the way back we stopped over at Woody's Restaurant and had food. When we are about to leave we saw the veteran Tamil actress Anjali Devi. Spoke to her for a few minutes. She is a down to earth lady.

Other Information:

Map:

Sun City - Jodhpur

This city is also known as Sun City. As this city witnesses sunny weather all throughout the year.

Umaid Bhavan Palace Museum: 

Exhibits the Maharaj Umaid Singh history, lifestlyles galaries, how the palace was constructed and there were display of old clocks. Neatly maintained with good architecture, but only a small percentage of this place is allotted for public viewing. Rest are converted into hotels for which the hotel guest are only allowed. Even the restaurants are not allowed for public. Really a disappointment for general public.

Mehrangarh Fort:

Jodhpur is also known as Blue City as some of the houses are coloured in blue colour around this fort. One of the largest fort in India. Within the fort we could get the glimpse of various mahal (palace). Experienced the regale of Rajsthan culture.Wow! what an interior decoration in 

• Sheesh Mahal - The Hall Of Mirrors.
• Phool Mahal - The Palace Of Flowers.
• Takhat Vilas - Maharaja Takhat Singh's Chamber.
• Moti Mahal - The Pearl Palace. 

The gallaries like Howdah, Royal Cradle, Palanquins etc were awesome. Had the darshan at Chamunda Mataji Temple which makes us royal in spiritual sense. A must visit place in Jodhpur. Who could forget the preserved old cannon? The disappointment we felt in Umaid Bhavan fade  away after visiting this fort.

 

Mandore Garden: 

Inside the garden lies a temple with beautiful artistic work. But the garden and pond are not well maintained which turn you off. There are many langoors roaming and happily taking rest on the benches. For a moment we thought if it was Langoor garden or Mandore Garden LOL.

Felt hungry and we went to Gypsy restaurant which was a kilometer far from our stay. We were moved by the service provided in restaurant. Server there were friendly and made sure we did not wait for food. They explain and serve each items. It was worth for the money. Last but not the least the buttermilk we had was sooo tasty and refreshing. We would surely recommend this place for having food in Jodhpur. This is only vegetarian food  restaurant.

Gypsy website: http://www.gypsyfoods.com/


Tips when planning to visit Rajasthan:

1. Plan to go in early summer or late winter to escape from the scorching Sun.

2. Pack sunscreen lotion, light cotton dress, cap, sun glass.

3. Don't try to wear saree or skirt if you are going for camel ride in desert.

4. If you want to see the sunrise in the desert have a woollen sweater to protect yourself from the chill weather in the early morning.

Jaisalmer

We reached Jaisalmer at around 11:30 AM by Intercity train from Jaipur. Jaisalmer is a very small city and most of the streets are narrow. The  important places here could be visited  by walk and occasionally need to hire autoricksaw.

We visited Nathmal Ki Haveli and Pathon Ki Haveli which is few meters away from "Jaisal Palace Hotel" where we stayed. We had glimpse of the haveli from outside and enjoyed the architecture. From here we went to Gadisar Lake which is a few kilometer away and  had a nice trip in row boating. Then enjoyed the Puppet show in the nearby museum. The show could have been better if they had played with two or more puppets.

Jaisalmer Fort: This Fort was named after the Bhati ruler Maharawal Jaisal. Also known as Sonar Qila (Golden Fort). Here residential buildings are made of yellow sand stone. There are armoury museum, potrait of the ruler of Jaisamer, various stamps and coins, small sundial placed at the terrace for calculating time, royal palaces etc. Around 5000 families have settled here in the Fort. The main Fort has two walls running parallel , used for the movement of Security guards. There are Jain temples inside the Fort and the architecture of the buildings are appealing.
 

Sam Sand Dune: The most exciting experience of this travel was to Sam Sand Dunes located in the midst of the Desert. We reached there at about 5.30 pm. We kept our bags in the hut allotted to us. Inside the hut there is a bed, small ventilator, doors, a bathroom cum western Toilet with pipe line arrangements. This was our first ever trip to Desert.

After having a cup of tea we left for Sam Sand dunes in camel back with a maximum of 2 person per camel. The camel ride  from 'Khuri' to Sam Sand dunes took 15 minutes. We stayed in Sam Dunes till the sunset at about 7 pm and returned back to the hut. We were served with snacks and enjoyed Rajasthan Folk music, dance specially arranged for visitors. After cultural program we were served with local Rajasthani food for the dinner and some returned to Jaisalmer and  we 6 people stayed  in the hut. Some people stayed in the nearby Tents.

The place was very calm, dark and lonely in the night and we were excited.  Electricity was available upto 11.30 pm and water throughout the stay. The next day morning at about 6.30, in the chill weather, we climbed the desert top to see the sunrise. Wow! what a scenery!!!. Our experience was one of its kind. We left the place at 9.30 am. On the way some villages  were sighted.

Mandir Palace: This is just few meters away from the hotel where we stayed. This palace is similar to any other palace we saw in Rajasthan. Hence we looked  the palace from outside and went for shopping in nearby Gandhi Emporium.

Jaipur - Pink city

We hired Innova for 2 days to get the glimpse of Jaipur. Our journey started with Albert Hall.

Albert Hall: It is a museum of industrial arts, displaying the product of local craftsman. Rare collections of traditional Indian arts, crafts and architectural forms are developed and preserved here. Few of the items displayed are guns and other armors used, plate and ring helmet, Iranian helmet, punjabi helmet, the Ramayan shield, Delhi blue pottery, various musical instrument, Yogasana models, various professions like potter, seller of pulses etc.

Jal Mahal: The Mahal is surrounded by water. Hence the name. One has to take boat to reach this Mahal. Currently this is closed for public. We can enjoy the view only from the distant.

Jantar Mantar: Jantar Mantar is a must  to see  for all those who loves astronomy. It was  built  by using stone and marble. It exhibits how to measure the altitude of an an object in the sky (Unnatamsa), sundial (Vrihat Samrat Yantra) that can give the time to an accuracy of 2 seconds, Rasivalaya an instrument use to measure the latitude and longitude of celestial object etc. We were able to find the exact local time and Indian Standard Time. We spent about two hours here.

City Palace: This is the palace with   a fusion of Rajput and Mughal styles of architectural built by Maharaja Jai Singh  situated at the heart of the city and just opposite to Jantar Mantar.

After City Palace we visited for shopping and purchased Jaipur Bangles,Gagra Choli,Tie and dye chuditaar material and Sarees.

Birla Mandir: This temple is dedicated to Lord Lakshmi Narayanan built in pure white marble. It is situated below Moti Dungri Fort.. We had good darshan and saw Mangal aarthi. Below this temple there is a  Birla Muesum.Taking photos inside the temple is prohibited. Outside the temple, within the complex Rajasthani dresses are available for hire for photo snap.

Ganesh Temple: Nearby Birla Mandir, there is a Ganesh temple where we had a darshan of Sentooram Ganesh.

Hawa Mahal: Next stop was Hawa mahal. This is called 'Palace of Winds' and is five storied building. A beautiful crown shaped palace situated in the main road and also in the heart of the city. The 1st storey is known as Sharad Mandir where the autumn celebrations took place, 2nd storey is known as Ratan Mandir where a dazzling glasswork on its wall, 3rd storey known as Vichitra Mandir where the Maharaja worshipped the Lord Krishna, 4th storey Prakash Mandir has a open terrace on both sides and 5th storey is known as Hawa Mandir. Hence the whole structure is named as Hawa Mahal.

Amber Fort: It is the complex of palaces, halls, pavillions, gardens and temples built by Raja Man Singh, Mirza Raja Jai Singh and Sawai Jai Singh over a period of two centuries. This fort has the tunnel of 1.5 km in length which connects to the Jaigarh fort. They were used to conceal the movement and to allow the royal families to escape.

 

Jaigarh Fort: It consists of armory museum, cannon foundary museum, cannon foundary and it has the world famous cannon named Jaivana which was manufactured here. This is a destructive weapon and has the range of 22 miles. Due to its power, enemy never dared to enter this Fort and hence never had a chance for using it.

  In Cannon foundary, they have preserved the manufacturing units of Cannon. From here one can view the boundary wall similar to that of great wall of China.

The two days of stay in Pink city was a memorable one.

Agra

Agra Fort is the one of the most important Fort in India and it is a worth  to visit this place which is situated just by the river Yamuna. Now 75% of the area is occupied by military and 25% of residential palace is under archaelogical survey of India which is opened  for public viewing.

This was built by 4 Mughals, Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangazeeb using red sand stone and few interiors  with marbles. Akbar and Jehangir prefered red sand stone, but Shah Jahan prefered marble. Hence most of the interiors are of marble. The external security was built by Shah Jahan's son Aurangazeeb. Shah Jahan has built 2 separate rooms for his two daughters.

The other attractions inside the fort are Moti masjid, mini masjid, Diwan-I-Aam, Diwan-I-Khas,Shish Mahal (Mirror Palace) etc. Then there is a Musamman Burj, a marble balcony where Shah Jahan was kept imprisioned by his son Aurangazeeb. During this time Shah Jahan's daughter arranged for a mirror for him to look at the Taj Mahal. Currently this place is not allowed for public.

On Friday, Taj Mahal is closed for public. Hence, we had to be contented seeing the back side of the Taj Mahal from the Agra Fort.

Fathepur Sikri

We left Bangalore to Agra by Karnataka Express and it took 36 long hours of journey. From Agra we hired taxi and went to Fatehpur Sikri which is about 45 km from Agra. Then we took bus to reach the fort which is about a kilometer away from car parking. Ticket charge is Rs 5 per person. Fatehpur and Sikri are two different place opposite to each other and is at a walkable distance. The entry ticket for Sikri is Rs 20 per person except on Friday. On Friday's it is 50% less.

Construction of fort in Sikri was started in 1570 and was completed in 1582 and was built using red sand stone. The first place inside the building is built by Akbar for his Hindu wife Jodha Bai who was from Rajasthan. There are 2 rooms, one is for summer and other one  is for winter. It is built similar to Rajput style and there is separate room built for Jodha Bhai to worship.

Next is her kitchen where outer wall are carved with different ear ring pattern of that period and below that there are different patterns in Persian style. After that there is place surrounded by water where Tansen used to sit and sing.

Then we saw Sheesh mahal built for Akbar's Muslim wife Turkey Sultana which was built in Mughal style. Next, we saw Dewane-i-Aam where Akbar used to listen to the public gathering. One can see the Ludo game marking on the floor. In this game ladies were used instead of the pawns for the game.

There are few more places inside the fort like school (Madrasa), Diwan-i-Kaas where Akbar with his 9 ministers (Navaratnas) meet for the important discussion, a lake which is now used as fields, hide and seek place where queens with other ladies used to play, ladies hospital, Meena bazaar a market place where they used to do shopping, Golden House for his Christian wife Mariam who was from Goa.

Fatehpur is located opposite to Sikri, which has Salim Chisti's dargah and Buland Darwaza which is one of the highest gate in Asia. Fatehpur was named after the Babur the 1st mugHal ruler in India defeated Rajput Rana Sanga of Mewar in the battle.