Sigandur Chowdeshwari Temple

Sigandur is a small town located at about 40 Kms from its Taluk Headquarters Sagara town in Shivamoga district of Karnataka state. This place is well known for Shri Chowdeshwari temple that is dedicated to Goddess Chowdeshwari. 

What's so special about this place? : This tinsel town is surrounded on 3 sides by the backwaters of Linganamakki dam formed by the Sharavathi river and is linked on one side by road that can be reached via Kollur. So one must travel just to experience this journey. 

Getting there :  One needs to drive till the banks of River Sharavathi - Holebagilu village. From here you will need to park your vehicle and wait for barge. Two barges carry people and vehicles on other side of the river. You can even take private cars or even buses on the barge to reach Sigandur. After crossing the river, there are jeeps available that will take visitors to the temple.

 

We started from Sagara after breakfast and it took us around 1 hour 15 minutes to reach Holebagilu. Here there is a dedicated parking area and you will be charged Rs.50 as parking fee. 

We parked our vehicle and walked towards the shore. 

While we were waiting for the barge, the clear blue waters invited us to click pictures. And yes its time for photo-shoot.  

One barge arrived and unloading of people along with vehicles began. We were really amazed to see how one ferry can carry such big vehicles (including tourist buses with people). Process of loading and unloading is also very well organized. The ferry driver will decide which vehicle should load first and park in which side of the barge. 

We then hopped onto barge and our journey began in the picturesque backwaters. Ticket fare to travel in this barge is Rs 10 per head. A bridge is being built and is under construction. But its definitely going to take years to complete. So until then one can enjoy this refreshing ferry ride .

It took around 15 minutes to reach other side of the river giving everyone enough time for photo-shoots . 

Time to get down from the barge and the process is same again. Evenly parked vehicles will get unloaded first and we are the last ones. 

We saw some jeeps parked who were requesting for visitors to board for temple drop off. But we saw a bus and it was ready to leave. 

So we decided to take bus. We were charged a fare of Rs 17 per head and reached temple in hardly 5 minutes of time.

We got down at the temple’s parking area and started walking towards the temple. 

Time to leave your footwear : We saw a chappal stand first where we left our footwear.

We then got into darshan queue. 

From here on clicking pictures are not allowed inside the sanctum.

 

Darshan of the deity : We had a very peaceful and soul satisfying darshan of Goddess Chowdeshwari.

 

We then came out to take Kunkumarchana prasadam.

Food :  Temple volunteers asked us to proceed to Anna Prasadam since it was 12:30 PM. There were clear signboards leading us to Anna Prasadam center. 

We were served curd rice, payasam, khara bath, plain rice and Sambar. Food was too yummy and we hogged to our heart's content.

Best part is they serve food in steel plates and everyone needs to wash their steel plates. They have kept bins to discard wet waste and carts to keep washed plates. 

Restrooms : Restroom facilities are provided which is free to use and well maintained. 

After putting on your footwear, you will find lot of shops while walking to the parking area. We took a pit stop at a Sugarcane juice shop and savored one glass of juice which was very much required at this time since it was very hot. 

Then we hopped onto a bus which was leaving to Sagara town for our return journey from temple. This time the experience was different since the bus directly drove into the barge along with all the passengers onboard. It was a scary but thrilling experience. We got off from the bus to enjoy the refreshing drive along the backwaters of Sharavathi. 

Finally we reached Holebagilu, hopped onto our car and drove towards Ikkeri (Blog) which was our next stop enroute Bangalore. 

While Sigandur attracts lots of pilgrims due to the faith they have in Goddess Chamundeshwari, I feel this is a must visit for travel enthusiasts just to experience the journey.