Talakadu to me has always been fascinating because of the immense powerful history it carries along... the curse of a women that causes heaps and heaps of sand to flow over the entire ground...
Started off at 7:30 with my office buddies and friends.. heading towards Talakadu.. we choseto visit only this place because it was quite sure it was a great deal to take everything we could of this wonderful place.. took the way through malavalli and all of our eyes was tucked in on one thing... a beautiful field of sunflower plants.. what could have been best at that moment! we jumped out of the vehicle and started going crazy in the fields [the natives 'm sure they were having a hearty laugh :) ] captured some memories, moved and reached Talakadu...
There is a resort in Talakadu.. i don't know why but it always tries to fascinate me.. spending a day or two besides a huge bed of water must be great .. i wish i get a chance "some day".. :)
Our "gang" is known for gettin crazy over water.. had good fun playing throw ball on the banks.. (hmm warming up :) and there we went.. thump.. into the water.. jacob and i played for sometime and sat on the banks watching our friends play.. these guys were throwing each other into water :) height of craziness i must say.. but all in good fun and a great memory we wanted to carry along... what after
that.. ofcourse! photo session :)
Talakadu has good arrangements for people have food and relax for sometime... enjoyed sometime and......it was time for serious learning....
Walking on the sand to see the temples which trace back to centuries together is a great feeling... we hired a guide who made our visit worth it. This was a college going boy.. very sweet and very sincere in what he was doing. He did some great explanation tracing back history...
Once it was the thriving capital of the Ganga dynasty. Then came the Cholas, who named it Rajarajapuram, and then the Hoysalas under Vishnuvardhana. But now, Talakadu lies buried under huge moving sand dunes, that are as high as 15m in places.Talakadu's fate is due to a cursepronounced on the town by Alamelamma, the widow of Tirumalaraya, the last viceroy of the Vijayanagara king in Srirangapatna. Raja Wodeyar, the ruler of Mysore, coveted the fabulous jewels owned by Alamelamma and sent his soldiers to obtain them by force, taking advantage of her husband's death. Alamelamma fled to Malangi, on the opposite bank of the Kaveri from Talakadu but when her pursuers closed in on her, jumped into the river with her jewels. Before the waters swallowed her, she is said to have cried out aloud: "May Talakadu be always covered with sand; may there always be a whirlpool in the Kaveri at Malangi and may the kings of Mysore always remain without heirs!"
Talakadu has mysteriously been covered by sand, there is a whirlpool at Malangi and the family tree of the Mysore rulers shows a large number of adopted heirs.
It is believed that at Talakadu there are thirty temples submerged in the sea of sand. The temples which are still visible above ground are the
Pataleshwara and Maruleshwara(built by the Gangas), the Keertinarayana (Hoysalas) and the Vaidyeshwara (Cholas). We saw one temple (i think it was built by the Hoysalas) being excavated and it was dug so deeply to reach the floors of the temple. The stones and pillars of the temples were numbered and kept safely in a different place close by. It was interesting to know that though the forest department has planted trees to prevent the desert from advancing, it is still encroaching at the rate of 3 m a year. The source of the sand is the Kaveri itself. All the silt and sand deposited in the river bed and on the banks during the dry summer months are blown on to the town by the winds of the south-west monsoon. The river may also have changed its course many times in the past, leaving the sand behind. Whatever may be the reason, the curse or nature's course, Talakadu will be an evergreen memory in my mind...
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