Our last visit to Hemavathy river Ugama Sthana (Birth place) was disappointing except for spotting of chestnut headed bee eater. The sacred place was under renovation. My uncle who recently visited our house warned me not to drive via Shirady Ghat until work is completely done. Otherwise, there was high risk of breaking my car suspension. The car left front suspension is already making noises and travel along this route with partially broken legs of car would be edgy. Hence we decided to drive via Charmadi Ghat during return to Bengaluru. That was wise decision as well. En-route, we recalled the completion of Hemavathy origin point renovation and whimsically decided to steer towards the holy place to seek blessings. The car took deviation from Kottigehara towards Javali village which would cost us additional 1hour which was worth every second.
The google maps shows a long route, but 1.5 kms from Balur deviation, the welcome arch greets you to entrance of Hemavathy Ugama sthana. From here, it is 1.5kms of drive through dense jungle over neatly paved concrete road. A large tree had fallen on road during our last visit which faintly paused our drive. Since it was negotiable, we moved forward. This time, it was nice and smooth till the river originating point. As we parked car nearby the holy place, it was experience of true divinity . The thick forests are major contributor to divinity The renovation is clean and rubbles were cleared. Once we got down, we headed straight to take blessings from sacred place.
The place consists of small temple of Lord ganesha followed by the originating point of river Hemavathy located adjacent to the temple. A large pond welcomes the visitors where the water from birth place accumulates before flowing as river. The river originates from surrounding hills and flows through mouth of Nandi and gathers with larger volume at the larger pond nearby. The area where river originates is locked to maintain sanctity of the place. Being festival day of Hindu calendar new year, the temple was open till evening. On other days, the priest would perform religious rituals by 10AM before closing the temple. The priest stays in Balur which cuts the temple timings. There is facility for priest at this place but seems to be ill-maintained which forces them to stay at nearby villages. We were fortunate to visit on this auspicious day which permitted us to seek blessings of Lord Ganesha.
A short pond situated at the birth place of river. The larger pond where river water accumulates, is open to anyone. Please make the area clean. We sprinkled holy water on to us and took blessings of Goddess Hemavathy. Local feed the holy fishes swimming in the pond with puffed rice. Puffed rice need to be provisioned from nearby towns or villages. No stores are located nearby the place.
It was healthy 30mins stay and invaluable one. Here is a short from visit!
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