AVALA BETTA (HILLS) -VISIT

Sunday 29November2015

After the visit to GudiBande Fort, group decided to go to AvalaBetta, just on our way back. After missing the road few times and driving on bad road, we reached AvalaBetta, which is beautiful place. The drive/ride to the hill is on a very good road. After reaching the top, we had climb up about 100 steps to reach LakshmiNarasimha Temple. The scenery behind the temple is beautiful, with rocks. 

Avala Betta' located 35km from Chikkaballapur (en route to Gudibande) in Puresandra village, is a very sacred place. Lakshminarasimha Temple is located here. This is a very beautiful place. All around are hills and mountains. On top of this mountain, which is made up of mammoth boulders, is a splendid cave temple. Inside, arising out of a big boulder, an idol of Aval Kondaraya Swami is installed.

A lot of sanctity can be seen in this shrine. In the month of Shravana, a special jathra takes place every Saturday, during which devotees come and fulfill their vows. There is a pond called Anamadonaha. There is a longstanding belief that women who haven't been able to conceive will bear children once they bathed in this pond. This practice continues even today. Nowadays, daily prayers are offered at this temple. There is convenience of to and fro bus transport.

On our way back, we stopped over at a grape farm, where you can pluck and buy according to the weight. The villagers selling grapes are hospitable, asking you to taste as many grapes as you like. We also bought couples of kilos of grapes just Rs25 perKg.

written December2015