Melkote or Melukote  (or ThiruNarayanapuram for Tamils), is one of the most important Vaishnava temple in Karnataka. Inspite of living (on and off) in Bangalore since 97′ I have never been to Melkote before and the long weekend over Christmas gave me the opportunity to do so. The route was Bangalore - Ramanagaram - Maddur - Mandya - Melkote about 160 Kms and a projected 3 hours journey.

We left on Saturday Dec 26 a little late around 8 AM. It turned out to be a wrong time as we got stuck in heavy traffic throughout.  By the time we could reach the famous Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast it was past 10 AM. It took an hour to leave that place  as everyone from Bangalore seemed to travel towards Mysore and was coming there only for food. The going was slow even after that as town after town came within 15 - 20 Kms of each other. I missed the turn to Melkote before Mandya bus stand and after enquiries at a tea shop took another smaller road a little after Mandya entry / exit arch. The road joins the Mandya - Hassan highway which takes you to Melkote. It was  around 1:15 PM when we could join the queue for Darshan at the Cheluva Narayana Temple in Melkote.
 

The Road to Melkote

Cheluva Narayana Temple

Temple Sculptures

Temple Sculptures

 On the way down, we stopped at the Pancha Kalyani, (temple kulam) for some pics. It was big and not unclean.

Temple Pond (Kalyani)

 We enquired with the Auto-driver for other places and on his recommendation went to Raya Gopura and ornamental tower / structure near the edge of Melkote. We had an informal guide who said we can even see Sravanabelagola Statue from the top on a clear day. We couldnt that day but spent some time clicking photos all around.

Raya Gopuram

Our initial plan was to cover Melkote and if possible Srirangapatna too and auto driver had recommended another place called Thondanure (Thendnur Kere) with a few more temples on village side. As it was getting late and I not being comfortable with night drving in our highways, we had to skip those for another time. We left Melkote at 5 and reached Mandya by 6 PM. it was already dark and I was little apprehensive of driving in the night. Without little choice, we still carried on. The heavy traffic was a blessing in disguise as I had sufficient lighting and directions from the other vehicles. With another 1 hour break at Kamat lokaruchi including some shopping and getting stuck in railway crossing in the ring road between Tumkur Road - Jalahalli, we reached home at 10:30 PM tired but satisfied with a day spent well.

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