Hassan district is famous for its world famous temples at Belur, Halebeedu and Shravanabelagola. But for we
HassanHaiklu,’ a small reason is enough to run to Hassan. This time, our team lead by young veteran Ravi, Chandra, Chandru, Kiran and I choose lesser known Hoysala temples in and around Hassan (15, 16 and 17th of August 2026).
Starting from Bengaluru at 6 am, one can reach Nuggehalli within 2.5 hours (take diversion to right at Hirisave). Nuggehalli has a magnificent trikootachala temple of Hoysala period (13th century), with presiding diety Sri Lakshminarasimha.
World famous kannada novelist S L Bhyrappa’s native village Santheshivara is a few km away from Nuggehalli.
That day was Shravana Shanivara and we choose to visit Mavinakere Ranganatha temple on the way. Meeting our old friend Mr.C.U.Prasad here alongwith his elder brother was a pleasant surprise.
The exciting visit to the check dam named Sri Ramadevara Katte built across the river Hemavathi, was a surprise package. The dam was built by Mysuru kings during 1870.
Around evening we reached Hassan. Our common friend Rami took charge of us and played an excellent host.
Next day was the engagement function of brand new couple, son and daughter of our common friends Seethu (8th from left) and another Chandra, Mysuru. Meeting our old friend Mr.Ravi (extreme left), Retired AIG, Police here was a pleasant surprise. Our primary schoolmate Sri Shivashankar (second from left), native of Hassan was with us throughout the function. Our co-host Rami is 9th from left.
Third day morning, our trip started with a visit to a tiny village called KONDAJJI on way to Halebeedu. 18-feet tall idol of Varadarajaswamy of Hoysala period is elegant. It’s said that the idol was made for Belur and was not taken owing to transportation issues. Then an Ajji bore the expenses and who installed it and hence the name KONDAJJI, meaning the Ajji who purchased!
The magnificient 13th century idol of Varadarajaswamy is now inside a godown type building at Kondajji. Will our department of architecture take steps to build a temple around which can resemble the old glory?
Next visit was the world famous Halebeedu temple which is about 30 km from Hassan.
Our last visit was to a tiny village called Belavadi, about 15 km from Halebeedu. The village hosts a Hoysala period temple of Veeranarayana and the carvings around the temple are second to none of the Hoysala temples.
The most pleasant part of the tour was the company of long time friends of same age group and same origin. Three days of fun, dine and a peep into tiny historical places around Hassan made our tour a memorable one.
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