Melukote is nearly 120Kms from Bangalore. After crossing Mandya City take Right Turn to reach this place. Melukote is famous for CheluvaNarayana Swamy Temple Built by Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana.
I had heard lot about this temple but couldn't make it. Kalyani (or pushkarni),Half Build "Raja Gopura" shot in so many kannada,Telugu and Tamil movies was here and I could make it on 17/01/2010. ( Guru Movie "Barosoree megha" Song was shot here )
Raja Vishnuvardhana before converting to Sri Vyshnava was following Jainism and he was called BitteeDeva. He was married to famous dancer Natyarani Shanthala but they didn't have any kids. So he was forced to get married to Shantala's close friend Lakshmi and had two daughters. Elder daughter had some psychiatric issues and it wasn't cured for long time.
During this period Sri Ramanujacharya who was preaching Srivaishnava matha had tough time in Tamilnadu because of conflict between Srivyshnavas and Iyengars. So he fled and came to Tannurkere, a place near Melukote. He cured Raja Vishnuvardhana's elder daughter. Impressed by that and to fullfill Ramanujacharya wishes king got converted from Jainism to Srivaishnava. Raja built 5 famous temples of Vishnu, on Ramanujacharya's request, at five different places i.e. at Gadag,Melukote,Talakadu,Belur and Tannurkere.
There is famous half built Gopura called "Raya Gopura" . King wanted to construct an unique main entrance for the temple to make it remarkable piece of Architecture. So he wanted his men to construct the whole structure with in 24 hours but it was impossible. They carved whole structure for nearly 5 years and wanted to install with-in 24 hours. But they couldn't complete entire work with in a night and hence it was half built as told to us by the guide.
Tannur Kere is one more famous attraction near this place... around 20kms. This is also called Moti ka Talab( during Tippu Sulatan's tenure) . The water of pond is very clear and locals say it is 100 feet deep and even we can see the bottom clearly.. but all said done water is very very crystal clear and Sunset was very good.
The one more best part of this trip is food. You can get very good and tasty "puliyogare", " Sweet pongal" and Curd Rice. .. and there was offer also.. for 1 plate of puliyogare - vada free..unbeatable.
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