One day Drive in Shikaripura Taluk - Anjanapura and Balligavi

It was Vijayadashami Holidays of 2017 and my fridnd Aravind LH was there with us, with his family.  We enjoyed the Shivamogga Vijayadashami procession, remembering our college days.

As we had one day to spare, we decided to roam around nearby places which we have not covered at all.  We planned to visit Anjanapura Dam and Balligavi, which were in Shikaripura Taluk.

We finished our breakfast at our home and started our journey by 11 AM to Anjanapura Dam.  There are two routes to reach Anjanapura.  One is Shivamogga - Savalanga - Harogoppa - Anjanapura - drive about 50 km from Shivamogga and take right at Anjanapura Dam Cross junction and from there 7 km drive to reach the Dam.
Second route is via Shivamogga - Ayanur - Choradi - Kalmane - Anjanapura. Both routes have a good road condition till the Dam Site.

We packed some lunch at Shivamogga and reached the Dam site at around 12.30.

As there was good amount of rain in the previous weeks, the dam was filled to its capacity and some gates were opened to maintain the water levels.

 This is dam is constructed for providing water for agricultural use.  There are lots of paddy cultivation in the area which will benefit from the Dam Water.

We walked to the base of the outflow, which is a secure place to play in water. Kedar enjoyed playing in water.

We had our lunch on the banks of dam back-water.  The spot is very nice and scenic.  Kids really enjoyed the place.

The Backwater of the Anjanapura Dam.

After finishing our lunch, we started towards Belligavi. Balligavi is situated at 39 km from Shikaripura towards Shiralakoppa. As it was still raining on the way, we really had a pleasures drive in the hot Shikaripura region.

Balligavi is famous for its Kedarashwara Temple which was built by Hoysala's in 12th Century. The temple architecture is very good.  We can find the 'Hoy -sala' ('Sala', kill the tiger") emblem on the roof top of the temple. 

Temple Entrance

The Grand Nandi

( Hoy-sala) ಹೊಯ್ಸಳ  ಲಾಂಛನ 

At around 4.30 pm we started our journey back to Shivamogga. On the way, we paid a visit to "Sri Huchhuraya swamy" Temple a temple of Anjaneya at Shikaripura Town.

It is a practice with many devotees of Anjaneya to Visit his three most powerful temples in Karnataka. They are 1. Bhrantesha - Shikaripura , 2. Kantesha - Kadaramandalagi and 3. Shantesha  - Satenahalli. It is believed that darshan at three temples in a single day is very holistic and one can receive blessings in abundance.

Here is the route map for the above three temple visits.

Guide map for Three-Anjayana  darshan.

There was a heavy, a very heavy rain awaiting us on the way back to shivamogga.  We drove safely to shivamogga with good memories of Shikaripura Taluk.