I had been to Somanathapura and Talakadu about 9 years ago. So when my mother requested a trip while my parents were in Bangalore, I thought of revisiting these places. On the 4th of Apr, a saturday morning, around 9AM we left home. I took Mysore road till a little past Maddur until a left deviation to Talakadu was seen. While nearing Talakadu, I decided to take a 15 kms deviation to Somanathapura first.
The temple was not crowded. There were handful of visiors. It is always a delight to see a Hoysala temple with its star shaped foundation and intricate pillars and sculptors.
While relaxing outside the temple we got into a conversation with a guard who informed us that most silk sarees produced and sold under Rs 8000 are all mix of synthetic and silk. A pure silk cannot be made below that price. He seems to have gathered such an information from the silk board in Mysore. He also requested us to have our lunch at T Narsipura as Thalakadu he feared might not have restaurants and we were already late. So we did that and had lunch at a not so nice restaurant in T Narsipura seeing no other option.
At Talakadu we hired a guide for Rs250 who during our kilometre long walk around the sand filled forest educated us on the history -
"In 1610 it was conquered by the Mysore Rāja under the following circumstances. Tirumala-Rāja, sometimes called Srī Ranga Rāya, the representative of the Vijayanagar family at Seringapatam (Srirangapatna), being afflicted with an incurable disease, came to Talkād for the purpose of offering sacrifices in the temple of Vaidyēsvara. His second wife Alamelamma was left in charge of the Government of Srirangagapattanam ; but she, hearing that her husband was on the point of death, soon after left for Talkād with the object of seeing him before he died, handing over Srirangapattanam and its dependencies to Raja Wodeyar of Mysore, whose dynasty ever since retained them. It appears that Rāja Wodeyar had been desirous of possessing the jewels which was the property of the Rāni, and being unable to obtain them, and eager to seize at any pretext, he levied an army and proceeded against the Rani. Rāni Alamelamma thereupon went to the banks of the Cauvery, and throwing in the jewel, drowned herself opposite Mālangi, at the same time uttering a three-fold curse,-"Let Talakād become sand ; let Mālangi become a whirlpool ; let the Mysore Rājas fail to beget heirs." The latter part continues to effect the royal family."
After that good walk watching five temples submerged in sand but of course not excavated, we returned back to Bangalore.
I choose to drive the Malvalli-Kanakpura route not he way back which seemed better than my not so favourite Mysore road.
