Bangalore to Mantralayam - by road

Entrance to the temple

We had been wanting to visit the Raghavendra temple in Mantralayam for quite some time.  What with the whole family being busy - the husband travelling or generally being  occupied on weekends, with daughters having some event, project or activity at school - we were unable to plan a trip.  Finally out of the blue, when we found a weekend when everyone was free, we decided to head out to Mantralayam.  Railway tickets are very rarely available and on a weekend, definitely not; so we set out by road.

A beautiful stone sculpture at the entrance

Mantralayam is 408kms from our house in Jayanagar (as given by our car's odometer) and the roads are pretty good.  We set out early by 5:30 AM and hence had the road to ourselves.  We took the National Highway 7- the Hyderabad route - stopped at Chikbalapur's Kamat Upachar restaurant for breakfast.  It was quite decent.  We crossed Anantpur, Gooty and then took the state highway towards Pattikonda; passed by Adoni, Yemmiganur and reached Mantralyam by 12:30 pm - a good 7 hours drive with a couple of stops for breakfast and mid-morning tea.

We booked a room at the Temple Trust - we got a 3-cot bed which came in handy for our family of 3 adults and 2 children.  We had also carried pillows and bed sheets with us (the luxuries of travelling by car) and so could manage a good night's sleep on the not so well-washed hotel bedding.  We visited the temple and headed straight to lunch (as the last batch was at 2:00 pm).  There is something to be said of the lunch served in temples - it may be a simple fare but all of us ate heartily, especially my little girl who relished the sweet-tasting sambhar and rasam.  Back in the room, we rested for a while and then set out to the temple to have our darshan of Raghavendra Swamy.  It was quiet and peaceful when we went in, not much of a crowd; we could enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place and feel one with the Lord.

Sunset on the banks of the Tunga river

We also visited the Tungabhadra river, but were disappointed to see nothing but rocks with no trace of a river flowing.  We sat on the banks and witnessed the sun-set while listening to the recorded voice of the Temple security person (we possibly heard it close to 20 times!!) alerting pilgrims to be wary of pick-pockets and thieves in all 5 languages - Telugu, English, Kannada, Hindi and Tamil.   We also saw several animals walking past the river bank, serenely and peacefully, doing whatever they had set out to do.

the Rathotsava in progress

When we returned to the temple, it was packed - it being a second-Saturday, lots of holiday goers were present.  Also, several had come to see the Rathotsava that was held around 7:30 pm.  A beautiful sight it was, with the colorfully be-decked and garlanded Utsava murthy, placed on chariots - first on the silvery-white elephant and then on the traditional wooden one - and pulled around the temple shrine.  We expected the devotees to use ropes to pull the chariot, instead found that the chariot was motorized - so no tugging and pulling, just a quick circle of the outer shrine.

After witnessing  the beautiful ceremony, we then found out that they also served dinner at the temple and so headed to the Bhojanalaya to have our simple but tasty dinner of rasam rice and curd rice. While sitting in neat rows for the food to be served, we could not but be in awe of the service rendered by the temple authorities and more so by the cooks who serve food day in and day out for the thousands of devotees visiting the temple everyday - truly inspiring and amazing work!

the Utsavamurthy atop the silver elephant

The next morning, we again visited the temple and prayed to Raghavendra Swamy and Lord Hanuman - who appeared more like Hayagreeva as the horse's facial outline plate that is put on the Lord's chest stood highlighted.  With prayers to visit again, we bid goodbye to the temple town of Mantralayam and made our way back to Bangalore.   We took the same route on the return trip but we spent nearly 8 hours, possibly because of the later start.  Lunch on the way was a challenge as we did not find decent places to eat.  We finally stopped at the same Kamat restaurant in Chikbalapur where we'd had our breakfast earlier.

So all in all, it was a pleasant 2-day trip; we collected memories and enjoyed the family time, and ofcourse, returned as rejuvenated souls!