SAVANDURGA TRIP

On Saturday, 26Oct decided that we should go to Savandurga hills...... We were five... Rishi, Mom, Supriya and Smitha and myself,,,,,, we got ready early on Sunday 27th Oct and left from Birthi Mane at Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, Bangalore at 8.30am.....

Reached foot of hills after driving along Magadi road about 70km at around 10.30am. There was celebrations at the Lakshmi Narasimha temple at the bootom of the hills and lots of people. 

We could see the huge monolith rock infront of us and few people climbing.

All were excited that we could easily climb the hills and after walking through a pathway through shrubs, we reached the bottom of the rockhills. After few 100metres the steepness of the rock put me down and I decided not tp proceed further and sat. After about another 50m, Smitha slipped and fell and she also sat on the rocks. Only mom, rish and Suppi continued the tough and challenging climb and after about an hour they reahced the top, clicked many photos. It took another hour or so to climb down and all were back safely, dead tired, but with sense of achievement. 

Savandurga is a hill 65 km west of Bangalore off the Magadi road,. The hill is considered to be among the largest monolith hills in Asia The hill rises to 1226 m above mean sea level and forms a part of the Deccan plateau. It consists of peninsular gneiss, granites, basic dykes and laterites. The Arkavathi river passes nearby through the Thippagondanahalli reservoir and on towards Manchanabele dam.

Savandurga is formed by two hills known locally as Karigudda (black hill) and Biligudda (white hill). The earliest record of the name of the hill is from 1340 AD by Hoysala Ballala III from Madabalu where it is called Savandi. Another view is that the name is originated from Samantadurga attributed to a Samantharaya, a governor under Ahchutaraya at Magadi, although there is no inscription confirming this. This was the secondary capital of the Magadi rulers such as Kempegowda. From 1638 to 1728, Mysore took over this place and Dalavayi Devaraja occupied this place with the palace at Nelapattana. In 1791.

Thursday 31 Oct 2013