The speciality of living in Bengaluru is that, each road going out of the city leads you to a different countryside after a journey of one or two hours.
A fine Sunday morning, I decided to take the road towards Kolar. This particular highway always is a fascinating one to ride or drive across, one can notice the change around you as you continue to move out of the city towards Kolar. The high-rise buildings are soon replaced by empty stretches of land with nothing but heaps and heaps of boulders.
I headed towards Avani Betta. Avani means earth in Sanskrit and Betta means hill in Kannada language. Some call it the Valmiki Betta. According to Hindu scriptures, Sita stayed in this place. Sage Valmiki provided her shelter during her exile from Ayodhya. Avani betta is the birth place of Lava and Kusha. Hence it is also known by the name Luva Kusha Betta.
A deviation before Mulabagal and 6 km of ride on scenic village road brought us to Avani. The Ramalingeshwara tempe welcomed us at Avani but I decided to first climb the hill and visit Sita temple on the top.
The Trek
no formal parking available here, You can park the vehicle on the road where you begin the trek. Just before the trek, there is a more recent temple in granite which houses some huge Shivalingas.
After parking vehicle at the base, I started trek up the hill. Though it looks like a very steep trek, there’s nothing to be feared, it is a relatively an easy one. It is advised to begin the trek before the blazing afternoon sun comes up, which would make it difficult for one to reach the summit.
The hillock has steps carved for the ease to climb up.
The steps are pretty easy to climb, however, it depends on your fitness levels. There is a railing on the side for assistance which ends when you reach the vast expanse which has huge boulders. The sight is so beautiful and the view of the village below is amazing too. The area is green and some lakes that can be seen all around.
En route the summit, you would come across various caves, which once belonged to Valmiki and Sita respectively, with the descriptions given it is easy to find out.
As we climbed up, I told that this was where Sage Valmiki had his ashram. By the side we see a whole lot of small pebbles and stones stacked one upon the other. These are stacked by childless couples who come here to make a vow and pray.
This place known as Valmiki Moolashrama, and here The first stop is the Valmiki Ashram. It is basically a cave and as you step inside you see an engraving representing Sita and on the right is an engraving of Sage Valmiki. It is believed that when Sita had a stomach ache, Valmiki has supposedly mixed some mud from this cave in some water to alleviate her pain.
As we move forwards in the trail, we arrive at the temple for Sita Mata where she has supposed to have lived and delivered her twins Lava and Kusha. The guide shows us a depression where she kept her vermillion and within the cave, he makes a hollow sound to indicate that embedded within the stones were copper urns that were used to boil water for bathing the twins. There are two lingas in this temple, each of which were worshipped by Lava and Kusha.
We move next to the Ekantarama Temple which also has a Shiva linga. Sita discovered a linga and Hanuman did the ‘pratishthapana’ in this temple. Close by is the temple for the Pancha Pandavas where in the Dwapara Yuga, the Pandavas visited and lived a part of the period of their exile. You can also find a giant rock is called the Thottilu Gundu which is close to the Ekantha Rama temple.
The next stop is the ‘Lakshmana Thirtha’. It is also called ‘Dhanushkod’. When Lakshmana came to leave a pregnant Sita in the woods here, she was extremely thirsty. With no water around, Lakshmana used his bow to pierce the Earth and this stream was formed.
All around you see are awe-inspring rock formations. One of them is the ‘Thottila Gundu’ where the cradle of the twins was supposed to be attached. Another is the ‘laundry basket’ that Sita used to keep and dry the clothes. After Sita went into the Earth, the laundry basket was closed with yet another rock and it indeed looked like a basket with a lid. Each nook and corner has a story and expressed the daily routine that Sita and her twin boys went through. Enroute is pond with some lilies floating in it.
Another steep flight of steps takes us to the hilltop that has the ‘Sita-Parvati’ temple. Sita wanted to worship Goddess Pavati and hence installed a ‘vigraham’ or statue of Parvati.
According to ancient scripts, it was initially a Parvati temple. Locals say that goddess Parvati appeared to Adi Shankaracharya in his dream and expressed her desire to establish a Sita statue next to hers. A deeply devoted Adi Shankaracharya executed her wish and since this temple came to be known as Sita Parvati Temple.
At the back of the temple is the ‘Orallogudda’ boulder, where devotees can roll under and it is supposed to relieve body pains and other ailments. Then there is a boulder where the famous Ashwamedha Yagna horse was tied up by Lava and Kusha.
very nice place to see, thanks for the details
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