KOLLUR MOOGAMBIKA TRIP - REJUVENATING WESTERN GHATS

Sometimes when we visit a place, we feel, we were destined to be there. I felt exactly the same when I visited this temple. It is said that, you get to visit this place only when goddess calls you!

Inside Mookambika Temple

Mookambika Devi Temple residing in Kollur, Western Ghats is abode of goddess Shakti. It is a very famous temple located in the border of Kerala and Karnataka. It is said that this goddess is worshiped in three forms i.e Durga in the morning, Lakshmi in the noon and Saraswati in the evening. Swayambhu linga was installed by Adi Shankaracharya  which combines both Shakti and Shiva.Therefore it is believed that, it is good to visit this temple three times in your trip.

Adi Shankaracharya worshiped Goddess Saraswati intensely, as a response to his dedication goddess appeared and agreed to accompany him to Kerala upon a condition that he should not turn back to check whether she is following him. If he looked back, goddess would stop there and will not move further. On the way, when Shankaracharya could not hear the anklet sound, he turned back and assured her presence. Goddess Saraswati stopped her journey and stayed at that place as per her promise.

Distance from Bangalore to Kollur is 458 kms. One can reach Kollur from Bangalore via train/bus. If you choose bus, You can directly get down at Kollur. If you opt train, the nearest railway station is in byndoor which is 25 kms from kollur and take an auto/bus to kollur. 

We planned a three day trip to kollur and made our train, hotel bookings two months in advance. As we didn't do a proper research , we chose the worst season, mode of transport and route to kollur but it still turned out to be in our favor!  We opted for train which is a 16 hours journey, yet one of the most memorable train journey for us. As the train enters western ghats the view is very refreshing and rejuvenating. We visited this place in rainy season, it was pouring cats and dogs when we reached there but the rain was absolutely mesmerizing. It definitely enhanced the beauty of western ghats and we completely fell in love with the rain!!

Maravanthe beach

Our train reached  byndoor station  at 1.30 pm on the first day of our trip. We got down the train and went out of the station to check for buses from byndoor to kollur. The bus stand to Kollur was not at a walking distance. Auto person charged us 50 rs to bus stand and 200 rs to Kollur. We planned our stay at Hotel Mahalakshmi (I would definitely recommend this hotel, it is very near to the temple). We booked a cab from hotel and started to Maravanthe beach in the evening. The drive to this beach is amazing as you will see Maravanthe beach one side of the road and Suparnika river on the other side which is one of its kind. We also visited Varaha temple which is a rare temple in India  and retired for the day. 

Second day was indeed a hectic day, We reached

Jog falls

temple at 5.30 am had darshan, and started to jog falls which is 70 kms from kollur. On the way to kollur is another famous temple called Sigandur Chowdeshwari temple where vehicles will be put on  a boat and carried over river Sharavathi till jog falls. Sigandur Chowdeshwari temple is very crowded, we opted for special darshan which costed us 100 rs per head and finished darshan in half an hour and started to Jog falls. Jog falls is second largest plunge waterfall in India with roughly 1400 steps to reach the bottom of the waterfall. The view was definitely breathtaking, since it was raining heavily localites advised us not to go down. We then visited Murudeshwar, Idagunji (Famous Ganesha temple) on our way back.

Day Three started with Mookambika devi darshan

Kodachadri

again,had our breakfast and started to Kodachadri to visit the place where Shankaracharya meditated. One can reach this place in two ways, by walk or by jeep + walk , I would rather call it a trek . We went by jeep(It costed us 600 rs per jeep) and then 45 mins trek to reach this place. It was completely covered with clouds and mist and rain. It as an easy trek, but fog, rain and wind made it difficult for us. The wind was so heavy that we thought we will fly away with it! We also got leech bites! However, the trek was completely worth it! We again went to temple and had darshan. With a lot of good memories to cherish and heart filled with satisfaction and peace, we boarded our bus back to Bangalore .