A Sweet & Short Road Trip to Anekal and Muthyalamaduvu (Pearl Valley)

Muthyalamaduvu (Pearl Valley)

Location:
Bangalore District
Karnataka State

Distance:
Bangalore to Muthyalamaduvu - 45Kms

Route:
Bangalore Banashankari II Stage - Silk Board - Chandapura - Anekal - Muthyalamaduvu.

There is another route from Banneraghatta which is also about 40 Kms. However, the road in this route is narrow, full of potholes and road maintenance work needs to be carried out. 

Estimated Travel Time:

One Hour by bike

Best Time to Visit:

August to November (During rainy season or immediately after rainy season)

Stay:

The nearest and best place to stay is Bangalore.

It was an unplanned trip to Muthyalamaduvu (Pearl Valley) by me and my friend Uday on Sunday (04.01.2015). We took the Electronic city flyover to avoid the traffic congestion in the city where the minimum speed to be maintained is 80 Kmph. There is a toll charge of Rs.25/- for round trip on the flyover for bike. It took about 20 minutes for us to reach Chandapura from the starting point of fly over and we picked up Amareesha from there. We three left to Anekal which is 13 kms from Chandapura to pick up another friend Ramesh and finally we four left to Muthyalamaduvu from Anekal.

There is a entry fee of Rs.20/- and parking fee of Rs.10/- for bike at Muthyalamaduvu where the bike can be parked safely. There is a small shop near the parking space where snacks and water bottles are available.   

From this place we climbed down steps for about ten minutes to reach the small waterfall where the water slides down the place creating an illusion of string of pearls. Hence, this place is called as "Pearl Valley". The stored water in this place is not very clean as the visitors have spoiled the place by plastic, beer bottles and lot of other wastes. There was no much flow of water when we went. However, it is a nice place with green mountain ranges and peaceful atmosphere to relax. As we went on Sunday, there were many people to enjoy.

Path that leads to waterfall

Four of us together in the pic 

Algae growth around the waterfall 

The water is spoiled by the visitors and it requires immediate clean-up. It is a request for the travelers not to spoil such a beautiful place with the non bio-degradable wastes. This pic is only a small part of the spoiled water.

Wastes dumped in the water near Waterfall 

A small Shiva temple ("Muthyala Eshwara Temple") opposite to the waterfall adds a religious touch to this place . On the right side of the temple there are various stone deities of Naga, Shiva, Nandi etc. As there was no priest at that time we took some photos and went further into the beautiful mountain ranges that looks almost like a forest.

Muthyala Eshwara Temple

Main Deity in the temple

A small paper written in Kannada attached to the tree in the pic requests the visitors to keep the place clean.

Deities near the temple

Further as we passed into the mountain ranges filled with greenery, small ponds filled water can be seen which are dirty and makes them useless for swimming.  

Small pond of water

Gandhiji's three monkeys

Diagonally opposite to the parking area, there is a small reservoir for storing the water.

The parking place is full of monkeys. So be careful when you open your food packets here as these monkeys will not leave you until you give the food to them. One of the monkeys took Pepsi bottle from one of the visitors and emptied it within few minutes.

After having fun here, we decided to go back to Anekal to have lunch. On the way to Ramesh house in Anekal, we went to a Kambada Ganesha temple.

Kambada Ganesha Temple:

This small temple can be found easily on the main road in Anekal. This temple houses Lord Ganesha Statue on a very big pillar ("Kamba"). It is believed that in the olden days when there was no power supply to the Anekal town, the people of Anekal used to light the lamps on the top of the pillar thereby enabling the travellers to identify the small village. The travellers based on the light from the pillar used to visit this place, take rest, have food & water and were continuing their journey. Due to the modernization of the world, the pillar has lost its significance. However, the pillar which has helped lot of travellers in dark old times is retained and protected in the temple.

Kamba on which lights were being lit in the olden days

Ganesha Deity

Nandi Statue

Sculpture of an Elephant

Sri Thimmaraya Swamy Temple:

From Kambada Ganesha Temple, we went to a thousand years old Sri Thimmaraya Swamy Temple which is about a kilometer far and it is believed that this temple houses the incarnation of Tirupathi Balaji which has developed on its own thereby getting the name of "Udbhava Thimmaraya Swamy". The temple gopuram has its own unique style and is a house for lot of pigeons.

Gopuram in its unique style

Naga Deities

Anjaneya Shrine

After spending about ten minutes here, as all were very hungry we rushed to Ramesh's House for having lunch. We had a great delicious lunch in his house chatted for about one hour and came back to home through Banneraghatta road in the evening. 

Places to be seen in and around Savandurga - 1

Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple

Manchanbele Dam

Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple

This post is continuation to my previous post "Treck to the Asia's largest monolithic hill - Savandurga" and read the above post for the details of location, distance, travel time etc. We got down from bus near Tirumala Gate on the Magadi Road and went towards Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple which is about one kilometer from the Tirumala Gate.

Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple:

The Ranganatha Swamy Temple Comple has shrines of Rama, Sita, Anjaneya, Krishna and Ranganatha Swamy. This temple was constructed by Cholas in the early 12th Century and the same was subjected to additions/renovations over time. The main deity in the temple is standing image of beautiful "Narayana" and is believed to be installed by "Mandavya Rishi". The flower decoration on the deity makes it much beautiful. If any one wants to do "Abhisheka" to the god, they can pay the amount to the priest and inform him the the name of the person in whose name and the day on which "Abhisheka" has to be done.  

Deity of  Narayana 

Apart from this main beautiful deity, this temple has a great wonder. On the back side of the temple, the deity of Sri Ranganatha Swamy is developing on its own from the Rock Wall. No one Knows how the deity is developing. However, the priest in the temple said that it is a miracle of God and now the shapes of jewels are developing on the deity. As the deity is developing on its own, its called as "Udbhava Ranganatha Swamy". This is definitely a miracle in the modern world and a challenge to the science to prove how the deity is developing on its own in the exact shape of Sri Ranganatha Swamy. The priest also said that it may take another few centuries for the complete development of the deity.

Udbhava Ranganatha Swamy

It took about twenty minutes for us to see and pray all the deities and we came out of the temple with an unanswered question. Outside the temple there are few very old people sitting in front of the temple waiting for the help from the people who come to visit the temple. Please carry some money with you to give to the old people and you can definitely see the smile in their face and well wishes from them in their eyes. There is a good parking space for parking your vehicle.

Parking Place in front of the temple 

Nandi

Anjaneya

Outside the temple, small shops are available where we had some snacks and cool drinks. From here we left for trekking to Savandurga. But on the way, we found another temple Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple.


Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple:

Just opposite to the Savandurga Hill is the Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple. I was very happy as I am going to the temple of my home god. We were very hungry at that time and after seeing the Narasimha Deity we came out and to our surprise we received tasty lemon rice and Sweet Pongal being distributed as prasadam by some people. There was quite a good crowd on that day. It is believed that the deity in this temple is being worshiped by many generations.

Dwajasthambham

Entrance to the Main Temple

Narasimha Deity

After praying here we then went for trekking to the Savandurga Hill which consists of two parts namely Karigudda and Biligudda. The trek to Savandurga was quite tiresome and  when we came down, we had no other choice than having food in a small hut. The hygienic conditions in the hut was very poor. However as we were very tired,  we had some food there. There are no good hotels near Savandurga Hill. So, its better to carry your own food. From here, we hired a seven-seater auto to Manchanbele Dam at a price of One Hundred and Twenty Five rupees.


Manchanbele Dam:

Manchanbele Dam is about 17 kilometers from Savandurga and it took half an hour to reach the place as the route is not so good. Many places of the road is filled with lot of holes and the road is also very narrow. Near the gate to the dam, narrow canals for passing the water can be seen.

Canals for transportation of water from Dam

As we went in summer, the water level in the dam was less. However the view of the stored water in the dam is worth seeing. The construction of Manchanbele Dam was completed in the Year 1993 and it has "3 spillway gates" with a total water storage capacity of 662.51 TCM. It is not advisable to go in water as over 200 people died in the reservoir after going for swimming in the water.


It takes about 45 Kilometers to go to Manchanbele Dam from Bangalore if you are planning to visit the Dam. The route for this is Bangalore (Majestic)-Mysore Road - Take Right on the road where Rajarajeshwari Dental College is there - From here travel for another 20 kilometers to reach Manchanbele dam.

Stored water in the Dam

One of the Spillway Gates

Canal for movement of Water

Back Waters

Road on the Dam 

After spending about forty minutes here, we started to go back to Bangalore. We waited for half an hour to catch a bus to Bangalore. At last we got into a BMTC Bus and we were so tired that we had deep sleep in the journey and the bus conductor woke us up saying that the last destination point in Bangalore is reached. We got down the bus and took auto to go back to home in the night and had deep sleep till morning.