Talakadu (Talakad): Beauty Underneath

Talakadu is a small town on the banks river Kaveri. Its about 180+ KMs from Bangalore. Talakadu is known for its temples burried under the sand dunes.
According to a legend curse of a woman "May the town of talakadu be always covered with sand, may the kings of mysore always remain without heir " caused the down fall of the this capital city of Ganga Dynasty (350-999 AD). In the above image you can see remains of main temple gopuram.

Each and every part of the original temple are numbered and staked. ASI is in the process of re-arranging the stones to get the original glory back

According to my guide there are around 30+ temples which are buried under the sand. The excavation process by ASI is under progress. We visited the sacred panchalingas (5 shiva temples) which are in a stone throw distance from each other.

Talakadu is also a picnic spot for kids and families. We also enjoyed in the shallow water.

I spent some time taking these pictures of teppas. Teppa (Kannada) is big basket made up of bamboo and then covered by plastic and tar to make water proof. They are mainly used in riveres where the current is low. Its a low cost alternative for a bot. And it can carry upto 8 people at once if the weight is balanced properly.

I took the below picture from my teppa (floating plate!?!)

Route Map for Talkadu from Bangalore (click on the image to open Google Maps).Bangalore -> Ramnagar -> Channapatna-> take left turn -> Malavalli and then follow the sign boards.