If you live in Bangalore, you must have heard of Devarayanadurga Hills or DD Hills and people genreally visit this place as it offers a grear trekking option. But do you know that this place is of immense religious and historical importance?
Namaskar friends and welcome once again to mytempletrips where we bring to you information regaridng beautiful and important temples around us.
In a hurry, watch the video:
Why Devarayanadurga Hills called as Karigiri ?
Devarayanadurga Hills is also known as Karigiri which means elephant hill in Kannada. When the Devarayanadurga hill is seen from the east side it resembles an elephant. Hence the name Karigiri (Kari-elephant, giri-hill).
So why DD Hills are famous for ? What is the religious importance?
Devarayanadurga, a scenic hill spot, is famous for ancient temples –
- Bhoganarasimha and
- Yoganarasimha , the adobe of Lord Narasimha.
But apart from these temples there are also 2 other religiously important place around this area –
- Namada Chulume and
- Vidyashankara temple
Devarayanadurga got its name from Mysore king Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar who built a fort here with seven entry points.
The 17th-century fort ruins can be seen in the surroundings of ‘Khumbi betta’. The hill temples were patronised by the successive of Wodeyar dynasty.
Many inscriptions and historical remains dating back to the Hoysala and Vijayanagar periods have been found in and around Devarayanadurga.
Devrayana durga village is at the foot hills and the place is quite scenic , calm and peaceful.
Khumbi Betta
The Devarayanadurga Hills is also called as Khumbi Betta and from the foothills to the hill top is a 2 km climb, you can trek up to the top, but there is a motorable road and you can reach to the top by your car.
Lord Yoga Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple
So coming to the temple, the temple at the top is Yoga Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple. Dedicated to Lord Narasimha, this temple is two thousands of year old.
Devarayanadurga is steeped in mythological importance.
It is said that Lord Brahma, the creator of the Universe, did penance for tens of thousands of years in the name of Sri Vishnu.
Impressed by his penance, Lord Vishnu Sri Vishnu incarnated here as Lord Narasimha.
The temple is open from 10 AM to 5.00 for devotees.
Midway to the hill top is a cave shrine with the holy ponds of ‘Ramateertha’ and ‘Dhanushteertha’.
The view from top is amazing and you will find yellow colors flower every where which adds to the beauty of the place.
Lord Bhoga Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple
The temple at the foot hills is called as Bhoga lakshmi Narasimha temple and this is another ancient, but beautiful temple and is a protected monument.
Lords idol is facing east here. A demon named Pundariks was killed by Lord Narayan at this place and after which all the devatas have showered flowers from their heavenly adobes and hence this place was all filled with flowers and hence this place for a name KUSUMADIRI.
Another beautiful story behind this temple is tat once Durvasa Mui performed tapa here for many many years and once he desired to go to kashi for a holy dip.
THen Ma Ganga appeared and told him to contiue doing tapa here and that Ganges water will come to this place. And thus the temple pond was formed.
Namada Chulume.
Five kms fromo Shri BhogaLakshmi Narasimha temple is Namada Chulume. The story of Namada Chulume dates back to the times of Ramayana.
it is sad that lord Rama visited this place during vanawas and once he needed water to apply the nama ( ie the tilak on the forehead) and could not find water for teh same and hence he shot an arrow on the ground.
The water oozed out and is today the Perneial water spring which we see and hence this place is called as Namada Chulume. It is open from 8.0 AM to 530 PM
Car Festival in Devarayanadurga is an annual festival and held during somewhere in the month of March/April.
On this day the chariot/Ratha of Sri Bhoganarasimha swami is pulled, and on this festival devotees from all over Bangalore, Tumkur and surrounding areas flock to see the beautifully adorned God.
Narasimha Jayanti is an annual celebration of Narasimha incarnation and it takes place during the month of May when thousands of devotees gather and many shelters are built to serve them with summer drinks like Panakam, buttermilk and free food is given to all devotees coming to get a glimpse of the lord.
Shri Vidyashankara temple
Another important temple in this area is Shri Vidyashankara temple. It is said that Sri Vidya Shankara Swamy used to stay there.
This temple is almost 900 years and has been renovated lately. The math is also neary by.
Not much of the hsitory is known about the temple, but the temple exists from more than 900 years. Maha shiva ratri is celebrated in a grand way here and devotees from as far as Bangalore and other parts of Karnataka visit this place.
The temple is on a small elevated portion of the hill as you can see and has been beautifully renovated.
How to reach Devarayanadurga Hills ( DD Hills Temple )
How to reach Devarayna durga ? Place is apround 75 kms from Bangalore, The google maps location is below. You can see that all the temples are with 5 kms of each other.
All the temples can be covered in a 1 day trip.
So you see we have a place which is very famous torist destination around us .. but did you how how important this place is from religioous and hisrtorical stand point.
This place as lot of positive energy.
The climb to Yoga lakshi Narashimha temple is also not that steep and can.. aeround 150 steps from parking area. Even if you are travellong with parents or old members of family they can easily manage.
And kids will definitely love the outdoors and also will get to know our important places of worship..
So do visit these temples during this weekend and get lords narashimhas blessing.
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