Had been to a place called Sonde (Sodhe) near Sirsi over the weekend. It is about 450km from Bangalore. Must say that this was one pilgrimage I liked a lot. Sonde is the abode of Sri Vadhiraja, one of the highly acclaimed sages of the 15th century. There is a RamaaTrivikrama temple established by Sri Vadhiraja himself. Another temple hosts the Brindavana of Sri Vadhiraja and a small temple of Sri Bhootharaja.
There are other places of interest nearby like the Tapovana (on the course of the Shalmala river, where Sri Vadhiraja used to perform penance/prayers), Sri Venkataramana temple, Sri Lakshmi-Narayana temple (which is said to have established by Sri Vyasaraya, one of the contemporaries of Sri Vadhiraja; there’s also a laghu Brindavana of Sri Vyasaraya in the temple premises. It is also known for ‘thorana Ganapathi’), Sri Swarnawalli Mutt (this is a temple of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha, Goddess Rajarajeshwari and Lord Shiva) and SahasraLinga (it is believed that there are a 1000 lingas inscribed/installed on the rocks resting on the flowing river).
The best part about Sonde is that the place is quite calm and peaceful and has not been commercialized like most of the other pilgrim centres. I just hope it stays that way.
I just found this other blog, HariVaayu, which gives a host of other information on some sages, their teachings and philosophy, and other devotional stuff. Seems to be an interesting read!
Monday, March 12, 2007
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