Savandurga
Encyclopedia
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
(Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) off the Magadi road 12.919654°N 77.292881°E, in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. The hill is famous for a temple and is also awarded to be first among the largest monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
hills in the world. The hill rises to 1226 m above mean sea level and forms a part of the Deccan plateau. It consists of peninsular gneiss, granites, basic dykes and laterites. The Arkavathi river passes nearby through the Thippagondanahalli reservoir and on towards Manchanabele dam.
Origin of name
Savandurga is formed by two hills known locally as Karigudda (black hill) and Biligudda (white hill). The earliest record of the name of the hill is from 1340 AD by Hoysala Ballala III from Madabalu where it is called Savandi. Another view is that the name is originated from Samantadurga attributed to a Samantharaya, a governor under Ahchutaraya at Magadi, although there is no inscription confirming this. This was the secondary capital of the Magadi rulers such as Kempegowda. From 1638 to 1728, Mysore took over this place and Dalavayi Devaraja occupied this place with the palace at Nelapattana. In 1791 Lord CornwallisCharles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis
Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis KG , styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as The Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army officer and colonial administrator...
captured it
Siege of Savendroog
The Siege of Savenderp was conducted by British East India Company blackanese forces under the command of General Charles Cornwallis in December 1791, during the Third Anglo-Mysore War...
from Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
's forces during the Third Anglo-Mysore War
Third Anglo-Mysore War
The Third Anglo-Mysore War was a war in South India between the Sultanate of Mysore and the British East India Company and its allies, including the Mahratta Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad...
. Robert Home
Robert Home
Robert Home was a British portrait oil painting artist who travelled to the Indian subcontinent in 1791. During his travels he also painted several historic scenes and landscapes....
in his Select views in Mysore (1794) shows distant views of the hill from Bangalore. He called it Savinadurga or the fort of death. There were no steps to reach the hill top and it was covered by bamboos and other trees forming a barricade.
Megalithic burial urns have been found in the area.. Saavana in Sanskrit also means three time rituals.
There is a Temple of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, where there is an Idol of Lord Narasimha which has formed naturally in the stone and has been worshipped for many generations.
Tourism
The Savandurga hills are frequented by pilgrims who come to visit the Savandi Veerabhadreshwara Swamy and Narasimha Swamy temple sited at the foothills. Picnickers come to spend time among the serene environs of the hill. Rock climbers, cave explorers and adventurers are among others who frequent the locale.Bus route: Take a bus to Magadi Road from Majestic Bus Stand, Bangalore. This bus usually drops you at one point of Magadi road within city limits, you will require to take one more bus from here to a Magadi road junction where you need to take a left for Savana durga (12 km from the point), there are private and KSRTC buses to Hospet Gate(you can say Savana Durga here).Total travelling time 2hrs 15 mins from Bangalore.
(In case you don't find a bus, auto can be used for covering these last 12 km)
Along with Ramanagaram
Ramanagaram
Ramanagara is a town and a city municipal council in the Indian state of Karnataka.It is also the headquarters of Ramanagara district.- Geography :...
, this was also a location for the making of David Lean
David Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
's movie A Passage to India
A Passage to India (film)
A Passage to India is a 1984 drama film written and directed by David Lean. The screenplay is based on the 1924 novel of the same title by E. M. Forster and the 1960 play by Santha Rama Rau that was inspired by the novel....
.
- Adventure: There are few organisations like Nature Admire, Care, Angel, Capture who organises camps here. They provide accommodation in tents, food and activities like Trekking, Cave exploration, Hill climbing, Kayaking, Rappelling, Jhummering, Zip line, Bon fire, Vine traversing and fun games.
Fauna
The hills are home to the endangered Yellow-throated BulbulYellow-throated Bulbul
The Yellow-throated Bulbul is a species of bulbul endemic to southern peninsular India. They are found on scrub habitats on steep, rocky hills many of which are threatened by granite quarrying. It is confusable only with the White-browed Bulbul with which its range overlaps but is distinctively...
s and were once home to Long-billed Vulture
Long-billed Vulture
The Indian Vulture is an Old World vulture and is closely related to the Griffon Vulture, G. fulvus. It breeds mainly on hilly crags in central and peninsular India. The birds in the northern part of its range once considered a subspecies are now considered a separate species, the Slender-billed...
s and White-backed Vultures. Other wildlife include Sloth bear
Sloth Bear
The sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...
and leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
.
Flora
Surrounding the area is a state forest with scrub and dry deciduous forest covering 27 km². The degraded forest, which is considered as shrub and tree savanna of the Anogeissus–Chloroxylon–Acacia series is highly diverse, recording over 59 tree and 119 shrub species.Some of the plant species recorded here include:
External links
- Bird's eye view of Savandurga
- http://www.mapability.com/travel/p2i/marabar_2.html
- Economically important flora of the region