Adoni - A hidden gem off the highway

Ado8
Adoni was known as "Chota Bombay" during the British Raj days because it was a bustling market hub for cotton,grains and textiles.

Ado25
Though the town itself is not very interesting, but a few kilometers drive away from the town is an amazing conglomeration of fort ruins, hill top shrines, dargahs and caves.

Ado24
There were hardly any tourists around except for a few visitors to the Anjaneya Temple. Of course, there was the shepherd boy to keep me company,

Ado13
On every turn or bend in this rocky terrain I stumbled on to a shrine or a dargah.

Ado26
Adoni Fort was controlled by the Vijayanagar Kings for some decades then it was taken over by Bijapur Shahs - later by Nizams, Mughals and finally by the British.

Ado6
It was so hot and dry that day I cooled off near a shady temple pond - and I tried my hand at bird shooting.

Ado19
There were hill top shrines all around - for Shiva, for Yellamma, for Hanuman ..

Ado3
There were caves and nooks used by mendicants and sadhus..

Ado11
There are several Temple ruins from the Vijayanagar period...

Ado16

Archaeological  Survey of India guys are piecing together the history of this region - slowly and painstakingly..

How was this sculpted to pefection? - I wondered..

Ado17

I didn't get enough time to scout around this place thoroughly - may be I will return soon...

and the Adoni folks seemed to agree with me...

Ado4

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Battle of Raichur - One of the bloodiest battles in Indian History

Image
A battle caused by 40,000 gold coins led to more than 40,000 casualties. The Battle of Raichur was one of the biggest battle fought in medieval India in terms of scale and ferocity with the total number of soldiers involved approximating a million. The fertile doab region of Raichur lying between the Krishna and Bhima river was much sought after land by the kingdoms of yore because of the potential of huge revenues. The rich soil of the region yielded many types of  crops including oilseeds,cotton,sorghum,groundnut etc. The Bahamanis had recaptured Raichur fort while Sri Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar Empire was on a campaign in Odisha. The trigger for war Old King Saluva Narasimha Raya expressed a wish in his testament that the city of Raichur be recaptured. This has been in the mind of Krishnadevaraya since his coronation in 1509. In the year 1520 Krishnadevaraya sent Seyed Maraikar, a Muslim in his service to Goa with a large sum of money to buy horses. Imag
Read more

The Badshah who was a Jagadguru

Image
The general opinion the majority of Hindus have about Muslim rule in India is largely based on prejudice and ill informed impressions.A balanced perception is lacking even among the educated class. IMHO both good and bad things happened during that era. It is amazing how we hold on to opinions without ever venturing to check the veracity of it. (-avalok) Consider this. A Muslim King who tried to bring in cultural harmony, between the Shias and the Sunnis and between Hindus and Muslims through music. He was a great lover of music, played musical instruments, sang and composed praises of Hindu deities Saraswati and Ganapati. He wrote the book Kitab-E-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas) in Dakhani. It is a collection of 59 poems and 17 couplets. He was Bahmani King Ibrahim Adil Shah II - aka Jagadguru Badshah! According to his court-poet Zuhuri, he wrote it to introduce the theory of nine Rasas, which occupies most important place in Indian aesthetics, to acquaint people who were onl
Read more

A Vibrant Village Jatre

Image
India is perhaps the most colorful country in the world and certainly is a photographer's delight. Just walk down a busy street or a market and shoot and you will end up with a bunch of incredibly colorful snaps. Not only India is diverse in terms of natural bounty as well as topography, Indians themselves are diverse in their facial characteristics, physical attributes etc. And their dress sense invariably veers towards extreme and vivid colors. I was on my way out of Raichur when I rode into a village where a Jatre was going on.  Jatre - a word with its root in the Sanskrit word 'Yatra' - is typically held annually in many villages in Karnataka to worship their local deities. But a jatre is more a cultural festival than a religious event. It is the time when farmers forget their problems and spend time happily with their family and friends. In fact, many of them go on a shopping spree. Besides essential commodities, they purchase clothes for the whole y
Read more