Avani Betta – Ancient Historical place of Ramayana Era on Hill-Top
Avani is a small village in the district of Mulabaagilu taluk in the Kolar district of Karnataka.
Avani finds its historic importance in the epic Ramayana when Goddess Sita gave birth to Lava and Kusha. Lava and Kusha grew in the hermitage of sage Valmiki in Avani. This place is mainly famous for the Avani Betta which hosts wide variety of temples from Ramayana Era – Sita temple, Valmiki temple, Lava and Kusha temple, Pandavas temple, Ekanta Rama temple and many more.
In this blog, I will be taking you all back to the Ramayana Era to give you some glimpses from the epic.
We started off to this place at around 7:30 am in the morning from Bangalore on a Saturday. Once you are on the Bangalore-Tirupathi Highway you will find lot of restaurants on your left for a quick pit stop for breakfast. We stopped at Hotel Nandi Grand. After savouring a yummy breakfast, we then headed straight to Avani. After driving certain distance, even before reaching Kolar you will find a right turn which you need to take to Avani. From here just follow google maps till your destination. But one important point – Google maps will confuse you if you have added Avani Betta as your destination. It will take you beyond Avani village and you will get lost in the middle of the road. So once you enter Avani, please switch off google maps and ask local person for directions to the base point of the Avani Betta trek.
We did the same and finally reach the base point of the trek at around 10:30 am.
I will divide this blog into two parts. First part takes us through some steep steps up until the Valmiki Moolasharama. Second part is hike to the Sita Parvathi temple on the hill top.
Part 1 – Hike to Valmiki Moolashrama
From the base point of the hill, we started our trek through some clearly carved out steep steps.
Watch out for your belongings since you will find lot of monkeys during this initial journey. Every milestone you complete and turn back to see some spectacular views of the Avani village and surrounding areas.
Finally, we reached Valmiki Moolashrama.
This area hosts wide variety of temples.
While we were confused from where to start and were just thinking wish we had a guide here, god listened to our prayers. We saw a couple with a localite who was narrating the story to them. So we asked if we also could tag along with them and they agreed instantly. He agreed to show us around at a nominal fee of Rs. 100.
Shri Valmiki Ashrama
This is the temple where Sage Valmiki lived. The mud here is considered sacred and is believed to have some medicinal properties. Guide told us that people collect this mud, dip it in water and then drink that water in order to cure fertility issues. Lava and Kusha took birth in this cave only. You can see the cradle where Lava and Kusha were kept.
Pancha Pandavara Devalaya
I was surprised to see that this place had the histories of both Ramayana and Mahabharatha. It is believed that Pandavas during their exile stayed here and prayed where in each brother set up their own Linga in order to offer prayers for Lord Shiva. So you will find 5 Linga’s here.
We saw a small sign-board which pointed directions to Shri Jambavata temple. But we ended up reaching to an end point and view from this point were enchanting.
We could also see our next milestone on the hill-top from here - The Sita-Parvathi temple.
There was a small pathway which next took us to the Lava Kusha temple
Lava Kusha Temple
You can find two Lingas here in the names of Lava and Kusha
From here we next saw another temple in the name of Lord Ram which is Ekanta RamaSwamy Temple
Ekanta RamaSwamy Mandira
It seems when Sita gave agni ahuti, Rama came and meditated here in remorse. And it is believed to have turned into Linga in his meditation mode.
As you walk ahead, you will find a place where Sita devi would light a lamp.
You will also find a pond where Sita Devi would wash clothes of Lava and Kusha.
From here we climbed few more steps up to reach Lakshmana Teertha
Lakshmana Teertha
Here you will find footsteps of Hanuman, Lava and Kusha along with some Sanskrit recitals engraved on the floor (really not sure what it means). You will see a small pond here. It is believed that Sita told Lakshmana when he came to leave her for exile that there is no water in this place. So he shot an arrow and created this water body for her. Even though the pond looks small, this is considered Pataal Ganga and locals are not aware how deep this water body is.
From here our guide bid adieu to us and asked us to take the clearly marked trail to make it to the Hill-top temple. And we started our climb to the next milestone of our trek - Sita Parvathi temple.
Part 2 – Hike to Sita Parvathi Temple on hill-top
Hike to the hill-top also is pretty moderate with plain walk in few places and steps at later point.
After climbing around 100 steps, we could spot the temple finally.
Once you reach top, you will find one big boulder with directions to the temple.
Here the priest was very enthusiastic to narrate the story of this temple to us.
Sita Parvathi Temple
Avani means Earth. Goddess Sita, the consort of Lord Ramachandra is also known as Avanisuta – the daughter of Earth. He told us that this is the place where Sita devi called Bhoo devi (Goddess earth – her mother) and told her to take her along since she was done with her stint in Earth.
You will see Parvathi and Sita idols here with Bhoo Devi’s footsteps. We were really amazed to see this.
I remember seeing Ramayana in DD1 during our childhood days. During the recent lockdown, DD1 started airing this again and this time I watched it completely. Hence all these pictures were passing by in front of my eyes as if I am watching the epic 😊. Great experience indeed.
Views of the surroundings from the temple premises are mesmerizing. You feel like just staying there and absorbing the serenity of the place.
Priest told us that from here we can see 3 more places. He told few school kids to show us those 3 spots for Rs. 50 and we happily agreed since we were getting to know more about this place.
Horalu Gundu (Also called as Urulu bande)
Agni Teertha
This place is believed to be the spot where Sita gives agni pariksha(Fire test) to prove her purity and loyalty.
Ashwameda Yagya Horse resting place
This place is little hard to spot since without guide you will not even be able to find if such place exists. So thanks to our little tour guides who took us through those tough paths and showed us these unexplored places.
Here you will find that on a big rock, there are some teeth marks. So it is believed that when the Ashwameda Yagya horse reached Avani, Lava and Kusha captured the horse and challenged Lord Rama for a fight. They used to feed the horse with some grass around. But that wouldn’t fill their stomach since it was on hill-top. So out of intense hunger, they bit some portion of the boulder is what is believed here.
After watching this amazing phenomenon, we bid good bye to our little tour guides and found a nice place on the hill-top to relax and absorb the view in front of us.
Places to Eat:
It is very important you note this. There is just one Hotel Tirumala here in Avani village and there is just one table with seating arrangement for 4. If you miss this, then you need to drive all the way back to National Highway and look for restaurants. So please carry food from home which I felt is the best option here so that on the hill-top you can relax, have food and return.
One thing as a traveler I have noticed - Its always good to not research much about the place you are heading to because the excitement of the surprises that unfold is priceless at times. I got the same experience in this place too. We had set off from Bangalore with an intention to hike along a hill-top just like any other trek. But what we came across at every milestone of this trek was truly overwhelming. Avani Betta turned out to be a good day’s outing from Bangalore having historical significance, amazing trekking experience and alluring views.
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