Talacaud

You can read about how we reached and Somnathpur here. 

There are no decent places to eat near Somnathpur. It is better if you pack a picnic lunch. The journey from Somnathpur to Talacaud (around 25 km) was quite uneventful except for the fact that we had biscuits lunch in the car. If you search online for Talacaud, there is a long history readily available in wiki. Talacaud, on the banks of River Cauvery was once home to more than 30 temples. And it was a curse from the wife of a Mysore Wodeyar, Rani Rangamma, when she drowned herself in the river cursing the place to bury under sands. True to that, the place has sand dunes and many temples have been submerged under sand.

We first went to the bank of the river. It is a true picnic spot with such a mad rush of families and children laughing and playing in the water, some playing volleyball on the river, few were taking the boat ride (read thoni ride). We had ice creams there and watched all this unfold. I could take the rush no more and we immediately proceeded to see the temples.

River (?) Cauvery 

The Coracle a.k.a boat :P

ASI has again done a remarkable job of restoring these temples. The temples are scattered around the place and we need to walk around to visit it. There are signboards that guide you to the next temple.

Sheltered walking trails to see various Talacaud Temples

The most noticeable temples are Kirtinarayana Temple, which is recovered from the sand. The view of the temple from the top was very good and I was excited to walk around the temple.

Temple ruins - Reconstruction in progress by ASI

There were many numbered columns, pillars and other structures including a huge statue of Nandi scattered around the temple, hopefully waiting to be restored.

The other temple is Vaideshwara Temple. This is a fully restored temple complex with the main deity and outer walls etc.

Exterior Wall of Vaideshwara Temple

We saw a surprisingly different ring made of stone and somehow one ring was inserted into another. We were wondering how the sculptor could have done it. The other temples in Talacad are Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara, Arkeshwara and Mallikarjuna temples.

After much walking, we decided to return and try our luck at Sivasamudram falls. The falls is around 28 km from Talacad. We knew it was getting late, but our driver gave us hope that it would be open till 5:30 PM. We were at the gate around 5:15 pm and the guard was initially reluctant to send us inside quoting it was closing time. But a little encouragement from our part (you know what :)) the guard let us in. By the time we reached the parking lot it was becoming dark and we rushed to the falls.

To reach the falls, all we had to do was climb down a volley of steps. We didn’t realise fate would come in the form of a security guard. He simply wouldn't let us go down. We could watch the falls from the place where we were standing.

Though I was cursing him initially, I realised he had a point as soon as the whole landscape turned dark all of a sudden. Within a few minutes the area, which was sunlit, turned dark. The photos were rather dark and blurry because of this. But the falls was absolute delight and beauty to look at. The sound of falling water was musical and I decided I would come back again to this place to see the falls up-close.

Sivasamudra Falls

Our relentless driver took us inside the village near sivasamudra (rather a sketchy place, I wouldn’t suggest to go there) to see a better view of the falls. Our car was parked right at the edge of some sort of cliff top and the driver turned on the car lights. There, we could see the falls only a little as it was dark, but heard the sound of water gushing and falling from a nearby cliff.

After visiting these three places, it was time to head back to Bangalore. We stopped for dinner at a place on the way at Hotel Mayura near Maddur. When we crossed Chennapatna, a city famous for its wooden toys, I mentally made a note that I would come and do some shopping next time. The weekend traffic hadn’t reduced in Bangalore and it was around midnight when we returned to our hotel room. We bid goodbye to our bodyguard, talked about the day and how beautiful they were and lack of such places near Chennai and went to sleep.

We had an exciting day tomorrow, the day we were going to meet Enrique Iglesias! :) :)