ChitraDurga Trip

The leopard growled at me from two feet away while two others watched disinterestedly. Clutching my nose, I smiled and made faces at the leopard. The encounter happened in the mini zoo at Adu Malleswara about 5 km from Chitradurga fort. Two friends and I were wandering around and found ourselves there onthe second day of a two-day trip to Chitradurga. Our destination was actually Jogimatti, a local hilltop which needed permission from forest department babus to be accessed, so we settled for the sloth bears restlessly prowling their cages, peacocks that slunk away on approach and the stinking leopards of Adu Malleswara.We had checked out of Basavesvara Yatri Nivas at 5 am to avoid paying second day charges and slowlymade our way to the fort that Chitradurga is named for. We had already had our fill of the place on dayone and were going back for second helpings. An impressive structure spread over rocky terrain andhaving seven ramparts, three at the foothill and four on the hills, it recalls a bygone era of kings andqueens, brave soldiers grappling with tigers and fierce battles. The archaeological survey has done a goodjob of not merely maintaining the place but also letting the locals use it; even at the early hour, there werescores of citizens briskly walking about and it was heartening to see single women going about without fear.25 historical structures, listed on the map at the entrance, are strewn within the fort. These range fromtemples to various gods to large water tanks to Obavvana kindi, a cavelike hollow formed by boulders where Obavva, the wife of a soldier, hid and died defending herself with a pestle from invaders who hadattacked the fort. Well laid out paths connect these places; a leisurely walk over the rocky terrain couldtake well over 4-5 hours. Some of the structures perch precariously on top of rugged hillscapes; footholds have been provided in the smooth rock faces to reach them. If one is adventurous or foolhardy or both,one could follow the example of the Chitradurga spiderman Jyothi Raju (also called Kothi Raju orliterally Monkey raju by the locals) who has been in the news for free climbing the fort walls and possiblysome of the rocky towers and boulders as well. Since we were interested in walking off the place on ourown two feet, we did not attempt anything daring and settled for some moderate climbs with Sajjan, themost courageous venturing farther in one instance. The green topped semicircular watch towers were aparticularly favourite destination and some of them required quite a bit of hard climbing. We climbed up afew moderate ones, ate the rusk and dates that we carry everywhere we go and lay down in the sundrenched grass on top, all our cares borne away on the winds which turn scores of wind turbines onhilltops in the distance.Four hours of exercise had us starving and we needed a higher quantum of nourishment than what therusk and dates could provide. After many false leads, we arrived at Aishwarya Fort, a fairly big hotel cumrestaurant where we had a good south indian lunch. After this, we headed to Chandravalli caves about 5 km from the hotel. This site is also rocky with a large pond; the ASI board in front declared it a protectedplace and described it as a site where prehistoric objects have been found. However none of these were inevidence and the main attractions turned out to be subterranean. Steps led down from inside a temple intothe depths of a cave that twisted and turned, now narrowing, now widening, now dropping, now rising. It was pitch dark inside and one had to carry torches. Many guides were available to tell tales to the gullible.We headed off on our own; the man made structures inside include a sivalinga, statues of Vishnu andwhat looked like tombs. Apparently some saints lived or hid here. We went upto a point where one had tocrawl and decided to turn back as the place was getting quite crowded and we were sweating quite a bit. If the guides are to be believed, the caves go on for tens of kilometres, even reaching Chickamagalur. However, they have apparently been blocked after only a short distance. Personally, it was a relief that nowater was flowing inside even though the walls were damp in some places. There are few things moredepressing than wet dank caves under the ground.We sat by the pond for a while and contemplated the surrounding rocky terrain while some unsavourycharacters boozed and played cards in the distance. After this we went to the murugharajendra mutt,devoted to the teachings of Basavesvara, a medieval Kannada saint. The mutt is spread over several acres of well-maintained park land where loafers lolled and in short order we joined their ranks. Naresh and I crashed while Sajjan watched over us and protected us from stray dogs, ducks and theiving kids. After a couple of hours of vagabondage, we returned to our lodgings which had its own charms like muddywater and bed bugs, rested a bit and went out to eat again to Aishwarya Fort. We went to the AC sectionthis time and this turned out to be a grave error; we had to suffer unpalatable paneer butter masala andsome pretty ordinary rotis and chapatis. We managed to survive an inebriated auto driver and turned inearly as we had to check out by 5 am the next day.After the encounter with the tiger, we headed to Hiriyur where we would catch a bus to the Vani Vilas Sagar, a dam on the Vedavathi, one of the tributaries of the Tungabhara. The dam is 100 years old andlooks likely to be around for atleast another 100 years. It was apparently constructed in a span of nineyears; a plaque at the site listed the architect as well as the engineers and assistant engineers that workedon its construction. Many of these as well as the architect had Indian names. The place abounds in hills with the water flowing around them; it is a very picturesque setting and apparently a popular picnic destination. Some of the aforementioned wind turbines are perched on a few of these hills. We headedback after a couple of hours and indulged in monkey watching while we waited for a bus to Hiriyur,where we had lunch and almost immediately caught a bus to Bangalore.

Location - Chitradurga and surroundings. About 160 km from Bangalore. Plenty of buses available.

Things to see - Chitradurga fort, Chandravalli caves, Murugarajendra Mutt, Adu Malleswara and Vani vilas Sagar.

Things to avoid - Basavesvara Yatri Nivas, AC section of Aishwarya Fort.

Things we missed - Local cuisine, spiderman,Jogimatti

Some pictures - http://picasaweb.google.com/rkidambi90/Chitradurga#

- Ranga Kidambi