Saavantha Arasu Aramane, Padapanambur, Mulki

It is an absolute privilege to be welcomed by an erstwhile  king of the territory called the Saavantha Arasu Shri Duggana Sawanth at his Basadi in Padapanambur.  The lineage of this king is 23rd in succession.   Their reign dates back to being the feudatories of  the Vijaynagar Empire.

The first impression of the Enterance of the Seemantha Arasu's make shift palace, since the earlier palace has collapsed and plans are afoot to rebuild the same.

One can get a clue of the how the palace looked by a cursory glance of the enterance of Mulki Aramane.

Probably Krishnadevaraya ( 1509 - 1529 ) bestowed his trust in these Jain Kings.   Their reign extended between two rivers from Sambhavi to Pavanje river, from Sashitulu upto Kateel in east western direction.   It consisted of  37 villages.   Today the area under their jurisdiction reduced to less than 20 acres out of which almost 12 acres of land is under cultivation and partly used as ceremonial ground during the Kambala races and other festivity.

The main palace has collapsed almost 150 years ago, there is unfortunately no visual sketch or photograph of the old palace, probably this is the reason why British built their own Barracks at the banks of  river Sambhavi.  The palace was built of laterite bricks and mud as its bind mortar, with wooden tiled roof top.  The palace seems to have been surrounded by many basadis, a small pond and few temples scattered here and there.  How the original palace looked like is a matter of speculation, the buildings in Mulki give us some clue of how the coastal town palace must have looked like, let us check out ?

Today the king is relegated to ceremonial head during functions and annual Kambla event which is generally held either in Dec or early January every year.  He watches the event seated at the throne shown above.

Did the palace look like this huge 100 window mansion near Unity Church Mulki

The frontal view of the 100 window mansion

Let us now check out some of the interiors of the palace

The current incumbent in front of  kings backdrop, waiting for the palace to be rebuilt with the help of the Govt, NGO, Trusts and corporate doners.  I only hope that the ancient architecture is replicated without much of modern concrete structure. 

I am sure within the next four to five years we may see old palace of  Seemanthu Arasu rebuilt in a grand format, till then we hope the present Arasu is blessed with a healthy reign.  It requires the passion and perseverance of the noble erstwhile King to move his cards in a democractic set up.   Considering his down to earth approach i am sure many institutions will come forward to help in rebuilding process of a bygone era.

Ruins of the ancient palace with fortress wall, and barracks built for soldiers.

I can very well imagine the palace of Seeme Arasu could be a blend of palace exterior and interior potrayed below, which is duly acknowledged.

Location :  Padapanambur is located just after Haleangadi bus stop on NH 66 from Mangalore to Udupi.  From the reverse direction it is just after Kolnadu Industrial estate bus Stop.  It is approximately 25 km from Mangalore and 35 kms from Udupi.

Ack :  Indian Heritage Village, Manipal, Google image & Personal interview on 11/3/2013

Manasthamba Kotikere Basadi, Mulki

Jainsism took its wings under the patronage of Chandragupta Maurya in S. India.   Remember he gave up his throne in favour of his son Bindusara and migrated to Sharvanabelagola under the tutlege of his guru Bhadrabahu, who had predicted a great famine in North India.   Chandragupta Maurya took up the missionary step to spread Jainism in South India.  

The Gangas of  Talakad who patronised Jainism helped it to spread its wing to various parts of  Karnataka and Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu too.   Their biggest source of income was from the Gold Mining at Kolar, later they lost out in the race to Pallavas the territory of Gold mining ( Kolar Belt )  They shifted their HQ to Talakad which is on the banks of Cauvery river.

After the Gangas the Hoysala emperors did patronise Jainism, and it spread from the plains of Karnataka to the coastal belt of Karnataka.   This Kotikere basti was probably established during the Hoysala reign under the Queen Shantala's ( King Vishnuvardhana 1108- 1152 )  patronage.   The symbol of dancing lady on the Manasthamba gives a scuttle clue in this direction.  

To capture the picture of Manasthamba requires a good camera and nature's aid in terms of natural lighting.  The monument is surrounded by trees all round it, adding to it the entire structure is shades of black and white due to aging and algea formation on it.

I managed to get a good click of the structure with the help of sunshine and Nikon camera flash light aiding to spruce up the shadow, but i missed the khalasa on top in a hurry to capture the best lighting position, so i shot the khalasa seperately to give an idea of the wonderful achitecture.

The Manasthamba as i have mentioned is filled with scultpure, with Thirthankaras in meditation postures.   There is no description which thirthankaras are depicted on the structure.

I managed to click on picture of the Khalasa finally with a little bit of patience, ultimately they say photography is all about patience and good admixture of nature and technique.

Vijaya College premises is just below this monument towards West.

The temple structure seems to have been rebuilt with various with modern paint.

Inner sanctum shows Lord Mahaveer in bronze and White Marble.   The shelf contains various khalasa donated by the piligrims.

A close up of Mahaveer in white Marble.

The three storied super stucture of temple to prevent water seepage in the coastal area and to provide relief from extreme heat.   The priest was suggesting that the surrounding trees should be cut inorder to ensure better photography but it would spoil the beauty of surroundings.   As it is the clearance of  trees has spoilt the natural beauty and antiquity of the Basadi.   The high compound wall built around the structure is a spoiler.

In earlier times i am sure the Baniyan trees were providing plenty of shade to the pilgrims and monk alike, we can still see the remanents of the baniyan tree towards the north portion of the structure.

The local arasu from Padupanambur were holding suzereignty under the patronage of the Vijaynagar empire.

Another basadi seems to be converted into a Hanuman temple.

Finally if one takes a walk down the hillock of this structure, it leads to the back waters of Shambavi river.

Location :  One can reach this historic place via Mangalore Mulki highway take a right deviation from Bappanadu junction towards Venkatramana temple from Bappanadu temple road, after a furlong take a right turn towards Mulki post office road, than again take a left turn and reach Mulki post office and than take a left turn and follow the newly laid interlocking tile road towards dead end which is having the ASI signboard.

Soans Farm Karkala

The German legacy of horticulture under the stewardship of  Rev. Fishcher, a missionary based in karkala was passed on to Alfred Soans in 1928.  The experiment was to develop farms under the tropical climate which had laterite bed and shallow layer of soil.   The experiment succeeded with Pineapple crops. 

The Germans had to flee the land because of the looming cloud of World War on the horizon with Hitler gaining ascendency in Germany from 1933 onwards.  Allies which dominated the landscape were against the German interest.   They handed over possession of the farm to the local church who became the custodian, who were planning to sell the farm, but Soans convinced them to retain the farm and were given lease to develop the farm.  

100 odd acres have now been developed by Soans and the lease holders after 1947.   Many improved irrigation practices enabled diversification to new crops suited to the land with major crops such as Mango, Sapota, Pepper, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cocoa, Cashew Nut, Coconut and Vanilla was possible with year round cultivation of the land.  

Soans farm has literally become a tourist destination with foreign cruise ships visiting this eco farm along with the their circular trip to Bahubali statute, 1000 pillar temple with a winding down at Soans farm.  Soans farm is on the way to Moodabidri from Karkala which is approximately 40 kms from the harbour town of Mangalore.

Seasonal fruits such as pineapple, pappaya, mango etc are also sold at the farm.  We were lucky to have the pineapple juice at the farm served by I V Soans in their neat cafe.

Chaturmukh Basadi, Karkala

This magnificient monument was conceived by Vira Pandya Deva in 1432 AD, who was the feudatory of the Vijaynagar Empire.  They were popularly known as kings of  Bhairav family who reigned the territory.  The monument with four symmetrical doorways was completed in 1586 AD by Immadi Bhairav II.  This Jain monument took almost 30 years to complete in lieu of the strife prevailing in the kingdom after the fall of Vijaynagar empire in 1565. 

The entire monument is built on a stable hillock near the Venur Bahubali hillock.   The basadi is dedicated to three theerankaras Aranatha, Mallinatha and Munisuvrata.  How to make full use of a trip to karkala for attending nephew's wedding reception at Hotel Sagar on 24th instant was our dilemma, and we really went whole hog in discovering tourist spots in and around Karkala along with +Avinash A Mulki

The edifice is propped up by 108 pillars and the priest incharge can be quite notorious seeking donation.  The temple was locked in the noon with priest keeping a vigil, and he acts as if he is doing a favour by opening the doors of the temple when the tourist arrive.   The temple is supposed to open from 6 am to 6 pm. but it is left solely in the hands of this greedy priest.

There are some wonderful sculptures on the pillars depicting various facets of human endeavour.  If one notices the roofing it is built to resist heavy rainfally with a sloping design, may be rain water was bein harvested in some form which is not visible in present day.  A huge compound wall has almost robbed the beauty of the edifice.

The identical statues of the teertankaras adorn on all four sides of the monument.

Chaturmukh Basadi is located in Karakala town outskirts, just under 2 kms before the Bahubali hillock.  One can visit this place and than proceed to the main edifice at Bahubali Betta.   It is located 52 km away from Mangalore, 45 kms from Mulki and 40 kms from Udupi temple town.