"Malaya Maruta" is a place on the way to "Dharmasthala" via "Mudigere". The route to this place from Bangalore is: Bangalore -> Hassan -> Belur -> Mudigere (need not enter into Mudigere) -> Kottigehara -> Malaya Maruta.
Few of our friends decided to do trekking near "Malaya Maruta" and visit some water falls, in that region. The plan was to leave Bangalore early in the morning. Reach the place which is about 270 KMs from Bangalore. However, few of the friends opted out on Friday. So, only 3 of us were ready. We discussed instead of driving whole 270 KMs in one stretch, we shall drive on Friday night and reach Hassan in the night and stay. Drive early morning to "Malaya Maruta" which is another 90 KMs. So, we started Bangalore in the night 8:30 PM and reached Hassan around 11:30 PM with break for dinner in some dhaba on the way. Found a decent room for 3 of us and checked-in.
Got up early and were out of Hassan by 6:30 AM. Road was good most part of the journey. As we reach "Mudigere", we should take a diversion towards "Dharmasthala" and should not enter into Mudigere, however we did not knew this. We entered "Mudigere" and had breakfast in a small canteen. The breakfast was good. Upon checking the place, the localities informed us that we should have taken diversion before 3 KMs. We went back to the place which has many diversions. We took the route to "Dharmasthala". On the way we get a place called "Kottige hara". This is the place where "Charmadi Ghat" starts. To enter "Malaya Maruta" you need to drive straight. There is diversion towards right which takes you to "Kalasa" and "Horanadu", which are other most famous religious places.
There is a small check-post as you drive straight towards "Dharmasthala", where they note down your details like your name, vehicle number. As you start your journey, you will start observing the forest ranges and excitement begins.
From this place if you drive approximately 3 KMs, you will find a guest house aptly named "Malaya Maruta". Just next to this place there is a small stream where you can get in if the water level is less. As we went after monsoon and this time monsoon was bad, hence the water level was pretty low. You need to get permission to enter "Malaya Maruta" guest house. You need to get in advance from the forest office in "Mudigere". You can see panoramic view of the "Charmadi Ghat" from this place.
As you drive further you would see place called "Jenukal". There is a small temple dedicated to Lord "Annappa". Later, we got to know that one can trek from this place to one of highest point in "Charmadi Ghat", however you need 'expert advice' to enter this trekking. Since it was not a good monsoon this year, the place was little dry compared to good monsoon years. We decided to drive futher and see what we get. We got a place called "Charmadi". This is small village. We parked our car and then had a tea in small canteen. When checked with locals about the trekking. He informed few places where we can trek. There are few local people whom we can take as guide. However to reach one of the peak "Kodekallu", we have to start early in the morning so that can reach back early. Hence we decided not to trek this route. To keep our excitement, we were told that there is a small power station, we can trek to this place. Hence, we decided to trek this place. It was nice route
We freshened in the river "Netravati" then went to the temple. However, the temple "darshan" time was over and they said it would start at 7:00 PM. Hence decided to roam around, we had some snacks and tea. Our friends took nap in the car. Around 6:00 PM we went to check the queue. It was very crowded. Being holiday season/weekend it had piled up. There is another option to get "darshan". We need to pay Rs. 200/- per person. This queue was also crowded. We decided to stand in this queue. Then slowly the queue started moving and as we move to a certain place, there is a common passage for all types of queues. Here its gets messy, as people starts moving hurriedly. Some how I do not like people just push each other without any reason. Some people go to extreem, by carelessly moving ahead without noticing others. All this said, this is part and parcel of visiting any religious places. We got "Darshan". Another best thing about "Dharmasthala" is food. I like it very much. You will see thousands of people have food simultaneously. It is quick and fast. This is not place for slow eaters. They serve nice rice and "sambar" / "saru" ("rasam") and butter milk.
We finished our dinner and it was 8:30 PM when we came out. That was good when considered the queue length. Now, the big question ... what next?. We were sure that we won't get rooms to stay, not even in private lodges. Hence our good friend suggested to drive to "Sakleshpur" which is around 80 KMs from "Dharmasthala". The pain point was driving through "Shiradi Ghat" road, which is always bad. But we did not had any choice. My friend was very cautious while driving through this section of ghat road that too in the night. We reached "Sakleshpur" around 11:00 PM... you can imagine the time took us to drive this road. Again we got a decent room and slept for the night. Actually we had planned to do trek on day 1 and visit "Dharmasthala" on day 2. However, everything happened on day 1. With nothing much left for day 2.
As we went to bed, we discussed and decided that next day morning we shall visit some near by place and go back to Bagnalore.
As planned we all got up 6:00 AM in the morning and were ready by 7:30 AM. We had our break fast. Then we decided to visit the place called "Manjarabad fort", which is around 5 KMs from Sakleshpur again towards the "Dharmasthala" road. There is no information about this place. As you drive, you shall see some small canteens / tea shops. We parked our car. The fort is not visible from this place. There is a small muddy road which takes you to the top and as we move we shall see steps. That will take you to the fort. It is a star shaped fort. (one can search for it.). History says that it was built by "Tippu Sulatna", the famous king who ruled the "Srirangapattana". As we entered no one was there.
It was very cool and calm. |  | |
| View of western ghat from fort | Fort viewed from top |
We reached Bangalore around 1:00 PM and had lunch... and then slept and slept... and just slept to get up only in the next day morning.
