11th Century Chola temple - Mukthi Natheshwara @Binnamangala

Binnamangala is about 30 km from Bengaluru, few km before Nelamangala bus stand. A lovely Mukthi Natheshwara temple dedicated to Lord Shiva built by the King Kulothunga Cholan. This temple has been renovated by ASI.

On the day of Pradosham we went to Muktha Natheshwara Temple. Though we planned our visit to this temple the previous day, we made it only on Sunday. The priest in Basavanahalli temple repeatedly told us to visit this temple.  God had something special for us :) .

We reached the temple at 4:30 pm. Outside the temple, one of the sculpture had a turban in the head.
We went inside the temple, there were about 3 devotees and the priest was chanting Vedas. The priest with his smiling face and waved his hand, asked us to sit inside. He started performing pooja and Abhisekam. We were sitting near the entrance to sanctum sanctorum. Tears flowed in our eyes as we could feel some divine vibration.

According to Kannadigas this day was also ending of Uttarayana and the following day was the opening of Dakshinayana.

The priest allowed as to take snaps of the deities during pooja. Around the finishing time around 25 people gathered and had the holy darshan.

Later prasad was distributed. Had a pious feeling and started to Bengaluru.

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Travel easy with 4G

After the launch of 4G, many people in India started to take 4G seriously as it has become reality. This is an era of smartphone which is powerful than ever before. Smartphones have overtaken computers as the most popular device for accessing the internet and people are always hooked to it. However powerful the phones may be,  this has to be supported by a high speed internet for loading the page faster, uploading lots of selfies/images,  downloading movies, music and lots more...

What to do with this unbelievable speeds provided by 4G? Here are some of our thoughts as how it will benefit us as a traveler, photographer and as a music teacher.

Augmented reality

This is one of the technology that is fast growing  and is closer to the real world. Augmented reality adds images,  videos, sounds and various other visual formats. To have this in real time, we need the power of speed for uploading/downloading,  which is easily available in 4G.  

As a travel enthusiasts couple,  we explore lots of places.  

• One day it could so happen that we may come across a beautiful place/architecture/structure. But no one is there to guide us or provide information on this.
• When we are hungry and searching for a restaurant, but unable to find any.

In these situation what shall we do? Take out the mobile, open the relevant app and point the camera  towards the building/place and get related information in a flash of second. This could be possible only with 4G.

Video/Music on the go

While traveling long distance, we tend to get bored. To engage ourselves, we listen to music or watch movie. But most of  the time it so happens that we would like  to listen to different music or watch a different movie other than what we have stored in our mobile. In that case,  4G could come to our rescue. Download movies in 3 minutes, watch HD video streaming without any interruption or listen to our favorite podcasting without  waiting for them to buffer with 4G.

Upload HD pictures on the go

As a passion towards photography and travel,  we take lots of photos and like to share HD images with our friends and relatives. To share these images on the move, we need a network that is capable of uploading many HD photos really fast. We believe that the one and only 4G is capable of this.

Music class on the go

As a Carnatic music teacher, one who teaches online face to face,  the travel should not  hinder online music teaching. To achieve this one need to have a high speed network with reliable connection where ever we go. 4G seems to be the best choice as it is available across 296 cities.

Rare pose of Lord Venkataramana and Garuda

Basavanahalli is about 30 km away from Bengaluru and a km from Nelamangala town.

In the past Basavanahalli was also known as Shamigiri kshetra and Koundanya ashrama. This place was covered by Shami trees in olden days.Hence the name Shamigiri kshetra,

Why the name Basavanahalli?

In ancient time many rishis(sage) would visit here and meditate While meditating there was a person who frequently came and disturbed the sage. One of the sage got agitated, cursed him to become a Bull. He became a bull.Hence the name Basavanahalli.

In Kannada, Basava = Bull and  Halli = Village

A sage by name Koundanya maharishi used to meditate, do his daily prayers near a boulder. So known as Koundanya ashrama. Here one can see a small pond in the  conch shape. One day the bull came in search of food. On seeing this bull's condition, Maharishi got piety on it. He went into deep meditation, prayed to Lord Vishnu and pours out his emotion about this to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu asked him to create a Shanku Pushkarani (conch pond) from his conch. Once the bull drank this sacred water, it was relieved of its sin.

Next to this place, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Venkataramana and his vahana Garuda (divine eagle bird). The shrine was said to be consecrated during the time of King Janamanjaya (great grandson of Arjuna, Grandson of Abhimanyu). As per local residents, the temple is built during the Vijayanagar period.

Here Lord Venkataramana pose seen differently. He is posing in abhaya hastham (right hand) palm are pointing upwards and varada hastham (left hand) with the palm are pointing downwards than the usual varada hastham and kati hastham. Even his vahana (vehicle) also seen in different pose. Here in this shrine, Garuda is  both the Utsavar (festival deity) as well as the Moolavar (main deity). Most of the locals worship Garuda for their well being. There are many devotees to Garuda here.

Some of the other interesting facts are:

       It is said that while Garuda is taken for the procession through the streets, if someone had not offered  they had promised, the chariot will not move forward. If it had crossed the place, it would move backward and stop near the home till the devotee fulfills his promised offerings.

Note: Priest of this temple stays near by. If this temple is closed, you can check with local resident to inform the priest when you are planning to visit here during the weekend.

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