We managed to get some sleep in the very cold night at Lachen. We were up very early in the morning by 4 a.m for a drive of 67 kms to Gurudongmar Lake.
We passed through a beautiful valley Chopta Valley. It is located in-between Lachen and Gurudongmar which gets covered with flowers in spring and with snow during winter.
As we go up the high altitude one can distinctly see the change in foliage. From green forests or large trees, the foliage changes to mostly smaller bushes. On either side of the road on come across beautiful snow covered peaks.
Beautiful Gurudongmar Lake which is located further up at an altitude of 17800 ft near Indo-Tibet border.
Lachen is a scenic mountain village surrounded by imposing snow capped peaks, glaciers and rock cliffs.
Th place in all directions is surrounded by snow capped peaks.
Birla Mandir at Hyderabad is built atop 280 feet high hillock. The construction of this new temple built by Birla Foundation was completed in 1976. This temple is now dotting the skyline of modern Hyderabad is located towards the Southern end of Hussain Sagar Lake.
The architecture of the temple is a mix of Dravidian, Rajasthani and Utkala architectures. About 2000 tons of pure white marble has been used to built this temple. The temple has a granite idol of Lord Venkateswara. There is a brass flagstaff in the temple premises which rises to a height of 42 ft.
Apart from the main shrine, the consorts of Lord Venkateswara, Padmavati and Andal are housed in separate shrines.
Lachen is a scenic mountain village surrounded by imposing snow capped peaks, glaciers and rock cliffs.
During our stay in this picturesque valley we could see half moon over the snow peaks.
Here are few shots that I could capture in the cold night.
At Shravanabelagola there are two huge hillocks Chandragiri and Indragiri. Indragiri with the statue of Bahubali is more popular of the two among the tourists. The Chandragiri smaller of the two rises about 300 feet above the plain.
One has to climb series of steps to reach the top of this small hill. one can see numerous large and small boulders of granite rocks scattered en route to the peak.
The history of this place dates back to 3rd century BC when Maurya Empire Emperor Chandragupta and his teacher Bhadrabahu came here with this place in order to attain religious peace. Hence the hillock is named Chandragiri.
There are about 92 memorials located on this hill of which 47 memorials are that of Jain monks. Important sites of interest here are:
- Shantinatha Basadi
- Parshvanatha Basadi
- Chandragupta Basadi
- Kattale Basadi
- Majjigana Basadi
- Shasana Basadi
- Chandraprabha Basadi
- Parshwanatha Basadi II
- Chavundaraya Basadi
- Eradukatte Basadi
- Inscriptions
- Savatigandhavarana Basadi
- Terina Basadi
- Shantishwara Basadi
- Iruve-Brahmadeva Basadi
- Suparshwanatha Basadi
- Bhadrabahu Cave
- Marasimha's Manastambha
- Mahanavami Mantapa
- Bhadrabahu Inscriptions
- Gangaraja Mantap
- Nishidhi Mantaps
Sikkim is one state that my family has been planning to visit for last 3 years. This has been getting postponed for one or another reason, but finally it happened in the last month.
Located in the Himalayan mountains, this beautiful place is characterised by mountainous terrain is a very lovely destination. The original inhabitants of Sikkim, called it Nye-mae-el, meaning "Paradise".
The entire state is hilly, with an elevation ranging from 280 metres 8500 metres with summit of Kangchenjunga peak forming the state's highest point. The state has 28 mountain peaks, more than 80 glaciers. Numerous rivers originate from the snow covered Himalayan mountains. The major river of the state is the Teesta River.
It is one of the few states in India to receive regular snowfall. The green cover for the state is provided by the thick forests. We covered length and breadth of the State by visiting important places in East, West, South and North.
The entire state has roads built on the mountains with never ending high, low, twists and turns. It was a exciting trip with skilled local driver taking us around. We shall cover each of these places in more detail.
This ancient temple is located at the top of Pavagadh Hill within the Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park.
The temple can be reached either by a pathway climbing over a distance of 5 kms or by a ropeway.
The small and plain temple is set amidst fortifications. It dates back to 11th century and has 3 images of the Goddesses: Kalika Mata, flanked by Kali on the right and Bahucharamata on the left.
At Shravanabelagola on the Indragiri hill there are various ancient monuments all over the hillock. One among them is Siddhar Gundu.
This is a huge boulder with carvings of Jain Tirthankaras is located just 30 steps on the upward journey after one crosses another monument Tyagada Kamba.
At the top portion of the boulder there is a carvings of of Lord Adinatha and his one hundred children.
There is also a unique carving of Lord Bahubali in padmasana and this we can not see anywhere else as we see him in all other places in a standing position.
At Shravanabelagola there are two huge hillocks and the larger hill is known as Indragiri or Vindhyagiri that rises about 470 feet above the plain.
The hillock has to be climbed barefoot through dual flight of steps of about 800 steps cutout of granite rock leading to the summit.
The entire area of this hill has been divided into two parts by a heavy wall at some distance close to the summit.
The places of interest on this hillock as one climbs up are:
A map of the monuments in this hillock are shown above.
If one is interested in visiting historical sites in Gujarat then Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park is the best bet. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004 is a must visit. This place is located at a distance of 50 kms from Vadodara and I am happy to visit this place during my tour of the state.
It is spread over an area of more than 1329 hectares of which Primary Heritage Zone covers 983 hectares. This is largely unexcavated archaeological, historic and living cultural heritage properties cradled in an impressive landscape and it also includes prehistoric sites. The landscape consists undulating hillocks and plateaus. There are steep rock exposures formed by ancient volcanic eruptions and lava flows.
Champaner is to the south of Pavagadh Hill. Pavagadh Hill rises to a height of 800 meters is considered to be one of the oldest rock formations in India. The site has many religious monuments of Gujarati Sultans, Rajputs, and Jains. There are also palaces, entrance gates and arches, tombs and residential complexes.
We shall soon explore more of this place.
At Avani which is near Kollar is a small hillock with references to the time of Hindu epic Ramayana. It is believed that Sita mata stayed in this place during her separation of Lord Rama.
At the top of the hillock is a temple dedicated to Sitamata. The temple is relatively new and to reach this place and one has to walk up to the top o the hill.
From the hill one can get a view of the village and fields.
Avani is a small village in Kollar district 32 km from Kolar in Karnataka. It is a popular location for rock climbing. The name Avani is of dravidian origin, and means "earth".
There are various interesting sites at this place of historic importance. The history of the place has been associated to the time Hindu epic 'Ramamayana'. There are references to this place in the epic and it is said that Sitadevi gave birth to her twin children Lava-Kusha here. Later the war between Sri Rama and his sons Lava and Kusha happened in this village. At the top of hillock is Sita Mata Temple.
The temples of interest that I have seen here are:
The hill at this place has various places of historic significant including temple of Sitadevi.
How to reach there: It is 95 kms away from Bangalore on NH4 via Kolar.
Sinhagad is an important fortress located at a distance of 30 kms from Pune. The fort is perched on an isolated cliff of the Bhuleswar range of the Sahyadri Mountains.
The view of the surrounding mountain range and lake from top of the hill fort is beautiful. The landscape is worth of all the effort going the distance.
