Basadi betta, Mandargiri Temple and Mydala Kere

You'd be surprised if I told you there are so many hillocks around Bangalore, that it would take you ages to finish seeing all of them. Over the course of all these years, I've been so busy and pre-occupied with Nagala and KP, that I've completely overlooked all these stunning hillocks surrounding Bangalore, which are just as good. I've always been under the impression that going straight to the biggest things means overlooking the smaller ones. Boy was I wrong! These places surrounding the ever expanding city of Bangalore have kept me hypnotized over the past few months, a year actually.

My regular homes, KP and Nagala, kept running into some issues or the other, whether it was Natural or man made. Also, I was in between jobs (and hence the free time), and so really didn't have the kind of financial freedom to throw darts on a map, and just head for any place. So with my limited budget, and Honda Activa, I began exploring the surrounding hillocks and lakes of Bangalore, which I assumed were all the same.

There are quite a lot of hillocks on the Bangalore-Tumkur highway which can keep you occupied for months together exploring each of them, if you're just doing weekends. I visited Mandargiri, Shivagange, and Devarayanadurga, all on three separate occasions, but I'm sure one can do all of these places together over a weekend, split into two days. In this blog, I'll mainly talk about Basadi betta, aka Mandargiri hill.

But before we begin, let me give you a birds eye view of these places:

Click on the image to get a better understanding of locations

So at the top of the map, you can see Devarayana Durga. Out of the above mentioned three places, I did this one last, which you can read about, here. Towards the bottom of the map, you'll see Shivagange hill, which is also a popular spot known for not just one temple on top of the hill, but a couple of them dotting the trail, all the way to the top.

Right at the center of the map, is Mandargiri hill, along with Digambar Jain Temple (which is connected to the temple on top of the hill), and Mydala Lake abutting it.

The three of them are clearly visible on the map together:

The distance from Bangalore to these hills is more or less the same, give or take a few kilometers, depending on where you live in the city.

1. Bangalore to Mandargiri - 77 kms

2. Bangalore to Shivgange - 67 kms

3. Bangalore to Devarayana Durga - 87 kms

I used only the NH75 to access all of them. I haven't tried any other route, as the road was good and there aren't many deviations. Aside from the high-speed-chase kind of driving by some Taxis, buses, and civilian drivers on this route, it is a relatively safe one (but its still 2-lane, so use caution).

Here's a tentative itinerary on how you can complete these three places
Mandargiri, Digamber jain temple and Mydala lake, combined together, easily make for an extremely relaxed half-day picnic, so you could probably use the other half to scout around Shivagange. You can follow the below itinerary if it seems feasible. If you want to directly read about the trek, skip this list and scroll down.

1. Pack some lunch the previous day (or make it that morning itself, if you have the energy to do so)
2. Start not too early in the morning the next day, get on the highway, and reach breakfast point by around 8 or so.

3. Have breakfast and leave for Mandargiri.

4. Arrive at Mandargiri by mid day. Park your vehicle in front of the temple and proceed to trek up the hill.

5. You should be at the top by around 10 or so (if you took sufficient time for breakfast and stopped here and there for pics). There is another trail to get to the top as well (its the one you take while exiting the lake).

6. Chill and relax at the top while taking in the stunning vistas of the hillock dotted rocky landscape. There is also a small pond on the top, but I'm not sure if its only because of the rains.

7. Get down to the lake using the winding mud road.

8. Chill out in the water, do some bird watching by the lake. Take a power nap/swim or relax if you wish.

9. Use the side trail to exit the lake, which takes you back to the starting point for the hill trek, going right around it.

10. Visit the temple and Statue.

11. Get back to the main highway for lunch. Aim to get to Shivgange no later than 1pm.

12. Proceed to Shivagange and complete your trek there. For newbies, Shivagange can be quite daunting, especially that final steep staircase section, so I'd advise to keep half a day for it.

Alternatively, you could also do this the reverse way, which I think is a much better option for those who wouldn't want to do the arduous Shivagange hike in the sun. The hike up Mandargiri hill (or Basadi Betta, as it is called), can be easily done even in the afternoon sun as it is an extremely easy one compared to Shivagange. And hey! there's a lake nearby to cool off, even if it does get exceptionally hot.

Mandargiri hill & Mydala Kere

As I already stated in the introduction, I was reading online blogs for new places to trek around Bangalore and chanced upon Mandargiri. Blog images of the Chandranatha Thirthankara statue placed next to the spectacular and unique Pinchi shaped temple is what captivated me and got my attention. There were a couple of other images showing the Pinchi temple with a sight of the trekkers ascending the hillock in the background. After seeing that particular image, I decided that I must visit this place.

Even more so because this was during winter of December 2019, and as we all know, frigid winters just cast that magical aura of suspense and mystery around such wild places.

There's trekking, a lake, a uniquely shaped temple, and yummy Dhaba food on the way. What's not to like? So my friend and I took off for it, on my Activa scooter on a sunny, wintry Saturday afternoon. This was an impromptu plan, and hence the late start.

Just before getting onto the expressway to NH75

The Ride

We had started sometime just before noon, around mid-morning, and so planned to be there before lunchtime so that we'd not have to carry lunch with us. The city roads and highways were relatively empty owing to the vacation month, and was an absolute pleasure to drive on. With majority of most Bangalore residents off to their hometowns or on vacations, I decided to make the most of free highways to visit hillocks around the city. We made the best of it by riding slowly on the leftmost lane, enjoying the wintry nip in the air, while taking in grandiose, sweeping views of hillocks and shrub forest all around. The Karnataka Tourism board has done a good job of placing identical sign boards all around these tourist locations.

We spotted one on the National Highway itself:

Karnataka Tourism signboard

A screengrab of my Insta stories that day

Since it was our first time here, we relied entirely on Google maps. Because of this, we found an alternate route that would take us to the entrance, and decided to use it, instead of going through the main road. This turned out to be a really good decision as the route took us through this vast, wide field with an under construction railway bridge next to it, and gave us spectacular views of the open, forested landscape amidst the backdrop of a clear blue sky. It got colder as we left the highway and got into village settings. A few villagers on their two wheelers passed by every now and then.

We got down next to the underpass pictured above, clicked a few pics, and then proceeded towards our destination. It was almost noon by now but we never felt it, as it was still cold.

The Trek

We arrived at the trek point by noon, parked the scooter, and were busy figuring out how to go about it from here. After a few minutes, we decided that we would trek first, visit the lake, and then finally rest at the temple. It made sense as we would be tired after roaming all around the place. There were hardly any other people around and the stairs were free. There were either groups of 2, like us, or groups of many.

Since we weren't carrying any water bottles, we decided to first take a sip at the cooler inside the temple, before we began our ascent. We reached the top in no time as it was a pretty short trek, with the added convenience of taking the stairs in between. I mainly stuck to the trail as I didn't need stairs, but there came a point where I joined the stairs where I waited to cross and overtake people. This is the first time we felt it was noon, as we began sweating.

That white line is the trail, paved with steps

The trail going right takes you directly to the lake

A warning board

There was a warning board at the entrance and towards the right, there was an arch overhanging the route to the lake. The stairs were neatly laid, and well painted, with a water pipe doubling up as the railing. How ingenious!

Once at the top, the view was spectacular in all directions. This area is littered with hillocks and shrub forests in between. We could even see some quarrying activity taking place in the distance. Once we reached the other side of the hill that faces the lake, we noticed a massive boulder a few metres below, under which some people were sheltering from the sun and adjacent to it was a small pond. After reading some more blogs on getting back home, I got to know that this pond is the Kalyani, meaning, Temple Pond.

The Kalyani

The boulder under which people were taking shelter

View of the boulder from down

Reflection of the sun in the Kalyani

After resting here for a few minutes we proceeded towards the lake. The winding mud road to the lake was very picturesque and the downhill views of the lake as we approached it were spectacular. It was my friend who actually noticed the mud road towards the lake, that began right around the scrub patch near the Kalyani. I was under the impression that there was no way one could reach the lake from here.

On reaching the lake, we played a game of hopping stones across the water for a while. We also watched eagles soaring right up into the sky amidst the hilly backdrop of the lake, as well as some birds hovering right above the surface of the water. After barely fifteen minutes lounging around the place, we decided to make a move for the temple. So we took the road that goes around the lake, instead of going back up the hill.

On taking the mud road around the hill back to the trailhead, you'll see the temple from this angle:

Here's a few pics of the trailhead going from lake to temple. This road is motorable but you'd want to be careful with your cars, as it is completely an offroading experience.

We arrived at the temple, drank copious amounts of water from the cooler again, and then went inside.

Entry sign at the temple

Inside the Pinchi temple, there are wonderful paintings and depicition of Jain monks and their lifestyle in the olden days. I'm sure its a depiction of some epic story and not just ordinary village life. At that moment, I felt that this is just an art gallery, and the actual temple is only the one on the top. After viewing all the paintings in silence, we decided to pack up and move, as we were really hungry, and it was way beyond lunch time. It was almost tea time now, at 4pm.

While returning, we took the main route that Google assistant asked us to initially take, and we came across a spectacular sight of what appears to be a railway track intersecting a hillock in the distance. It was totally out of the world. It had gotten even more cold by then, and that icy chill in the air only added to the suspense and quietness of the place. It was probably 15 degrees or so that evening.

With that, we wrapped up the trip and started for home, but not before savouring some delicious north Indian fare at a dhaba (a truck stop) on the highway. The piping hot Roti and Curry in the cold wintry outdoor ambience is an experience that just cannot be missed out. This place is definitely a winter trekkers charm and delight. Do add it to your bucket list.

Like I said before, you can do this trek combined with Shivagange, but I did it with another set of friends on another day. I am currently working on that blog, which I will publish soon.