Coorg/Madikeri/Kodagu (ಕೊಡಗು) Projects Thread

[s.yogendra]

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Coorg Day Trip 108.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

[s.yogendra]

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Coorg Day Trip 106.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

[s.yogendra]

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Coorg Day Trip 107.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

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Coorg Day Trip 109.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

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Coorg Day Trip 90.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

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Coorg Day Trip 145.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

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Coorg Day Trip 79.jpg by Stephanie Booth, on Flickr

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Virajpet

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Klokworks by FrancisLobo, on Flickr

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St Anne's Church in Virajpet

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Copyrights:- sudeip

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[JhonJ]

At the summit of faith

Temple history
Kodagu’s Paadi Igguthappa temple became a prominent place of worship during King Lingarajendra’s reign. The temple, located atop a hill in a forested area in Kakkabe, has been in existence since 1153, writes C P Belliappa

Goddess Cauvery and Lord Paadi Igguthappa are the two presiding deities of Kodagu. If legends are to be believed, Igguthappa temple located atop a hill in a forested area in Kakkabe, in the southern part of Kodagu, has been in existence since 1153 AD. Legend also has it that Igguthappa is one of the seven divine siblings who chose Kodagu as his abode.

The temple became a prominent place of worship during Lingarajendra’s reign. Legend has it that in 1811, Lingarajendra came to the densely forested area surrounding the temple to hunt for elephants. Lingarajendra’s main source of income, besides taxes collected from his subjects, used to be cardamom and ivory. Every pod of cardamom grown and every tusk extracted from an elephant had to be surrendered to the raja at a price fixed by him!

Lingarajendra was camping at the nearby Nalknad palace and had instructed his dewan Apparanda Bopu to organise the hunt. Dewan Bopu arranged for machaans to be built on trees and had hunting dogs and drum-beaters to herd the elephants. On the appointed day Lingarajendra and Bopu sat on a machaan armed with powerful guns especially designed to shoot elephants.
In spite of all the drum-beating and dogs barking, not a single elephant was to be seen. The raja started getting restless and directed his ire at Bopu. Lingarajendra’s nasty temper was well-known and Dewan Bopu who was a devotee of Igguthappa started silently praying for some divine intervention. Suddenly a huge pachyderm with mammoth tusks appeared silently from the nearby bushes.
The elephant looked up at the machaan where Lingarajendra and Bopu were seated and started scratching itself on the tree trunk. The raja and dewan froze and were too petrified to shoot the beast. The action of the elephant shook the large tree so violently that they were about to fall off from their perch. This time around, Dewan Bopu prayed loudly to Lord Igguthappa to save him and the raja. Lingarajendra too joined Bopu in prayer. Suddenly the behemoth stopped, once again looked up, and gently sauntered away into the forest.

Lingarajendra, a Lingayat, was a worshipper of Shiva and had not visited Igguthappa temple which was dedicated to Vishnu. He made an exception and asked Bopu to immediately take him to the temple. It was a modest shrine. The head-priest welcomed the raja and advised him to perform various poojas including tulabhara (donation of grains equivalent to the weight of the devotee), to thank Igguthappa for saving his life.

After all these rituals, Lingarajendra asked the priest if he could do anything for the temple. The priest was quick to request for a punarnirmana (renovation) of the temple.

Lingarajendra immediately agreed and the temple was renovated and the approach improved. He also made grants of wet-lands in the vicinity, the income from which continues to be used for the upkeep of the temple. When the reconstruction was completed, he visited the temple again. At the temple, he had a sack full of silver coins brought. Lingarajendra dipped both his hands and scooped out three heaps of silver coins. He then ordered Dewan Bopu, who was present, to get an idol of an elephant made out of the coins. The coins weighed about three kilograms.

Silver elephant

The best silver-smiths from Mangalore were commissioned to craft an idol of an elephant. On the back of the idol is inscribed in halagannada (old Kannada), the year in which it was dedicated to Igguthappa for favours granted to Lingarajendra. This exquisite silver elephant is used daily in the poojas performed at the temple.

In 1835, the year after Lingarajendra’s son Chikka Veerarajendra was deposed by the British, Dewan Apparanda Bopu took it on himself to renovate the temple. The structure was reconstructed and was fitted with tiles replacing the earlier thatched roof. The temple once again went through reconstruction in 2008. Descendants of Apparanda Bopu along with other devotees have provided silver cladding for the entrance door.

Paadi Igguthappa is an important deity for the people of Kodagu. He is considered a provider of bounty and one who fulfills his devotee’s wishes. Iggu means grain and thappa means give.

Puthari, the harvest festival in Kodagu, is normally celebrated 90 days after Onam. Every year, paddy is first harvested in fields belonging to Lord Igguthappa. People of Kodagu celebrate the festival the following day. On a daily basis, those who visit the temple are served a simple but scrumptious lunch.

source:http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...mit-faith.html

[s.yogendra]

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[s.yogendra]

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God's Miracle ... by Kanishka **, on Flickr

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Energy: Madikeri CMC chooses unconventional path

Windmill installed to tackle power crisis

The government has been supporting the production of electricity through unconventional sources of energy like solar and wind power.



Madikeri CMC has found an unconventional way of overcoming erratic supply of power. A windmill has been installed on the CMC premises to generate electricity.

Madikeri town is 4,000 metre above the sea level. As a result the wind factor would be constant in Madikeri. With this, the CMC expects to slash down its electricity bills.

The idea of windmill originated two years ago and the 2.1 kv windmill started functioning from that time. It provided electricity to light up few bulbs in the CMC building.

As the demand for electricity increased, the CMC has decided to install three to four windmills at a cost of Rs 47.50 lakh under Chief Minister’s Small and Medium Town Development Scheme.

It has been planned to produce 5.1 kv electricity from each windmill. The CMC office requires 5 kv electricity daily. Two windmills have already been installed near the CMC office. The authorities have planned to install another windmill near water filter house at Stone Hill. The final decision has not been taken, said CMC commissioner N M Shashikumar.

CMC president H M Nandakumar said: “The CMC pays Rs 50 lakh as electricity bill annually. The windmill will help to reduce the electricity bill. At the same time, there is no question of disruption in power supply.”

The work on installing windmill will be taken up at the earliest, said the commissioner.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...ventional.html

[engineer.akash]

[engineer.akash]

Kodagu to get another synthetic hockey surface

Kodagu is poised to get the second synthetic hockey playing surface at Ammathi in Virajpet taluk, said A.B. Subbaiah, the former Olympian and Secretary of Hockey Karnataka, on Saturday.

Mr. Subbaiah told presspersons that Hockey India had promised Hockey Karnataka that it would provide another synthetic playing surface in Kodagu. The first synthetic turf is in Madikeri.

Mr. Subbaiah said that the State government had promised to provide financial assistance to lay a synthetic hockey playing surface at Ponnampet as well (it would be the third if it materialises).

The promise was made by Hockey India secretary Narendra Batra following a request by Iychetira K. Anil, whose family is conducting the 16th edition of the Kodava Hockey Festival in Kodagu from April 21, Mr. Subbaiah said. Mr. Batra would make a formal announcement in this regard after participating in the Iychetira Kodava Hockey Festival scheduled to take place at Ammathi, Mr. Subbaiah said. Hockey India was providing synthetic playing surfaces in 32 selected locations in the country, including Ammathi, with a view to giving a fillip to the national game in rural areas, he added.

Chief coach of Indian hockey team Michael Nobbs would attend the inaugural function of the Iychetira Hockey Festival. An exhibition match would be played between the Indian hockey team and Coorg 11 on the inaugural day. The foundation would give Rs. 50,000 to each of the selected player as scholarship to pursue the game, Mr. Anil said.

The State government had promised to provide Rs. 30 lakh to Iychetira Hockey Festival. More than 200 Kodava families had registered teams, Mr. Anil said.

[s.yogendra]

Speaker inspects works

Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah paid a visit to the General Thimmaiah Circle and Sudarshan Circle in the city to inspect the on-going road construction work near the circles on Thursday.

Assembly Speaker K G Bopaiah pays a visit to brave soldier Guddemane Appaiah Gowda’s statue near Sudarshan Circle in Madikeri. City Municipal Council president H M Nanda Kumar, additional DC K M Chandre Gowda, CMC commissioner Shashikumar and others accompanied him. DH photoSpeaking to media persons during his visit, he said that Madikeri-Sampaje road construction work is in the final phase and it will be completed soon. Apart from it, Mysore-Mangalore by-pass road construction work too is going on in a full swing.

Once the by-pass road is completed it would be of great help for the passengers who travel from Mysore to Mangalore and vice-versa, said the speaker. He directed the officers to control increased traffic at G T Circle and Sudarshan Circle and insisted them to make way for the clear vehicle movement in both the circles.

Speaking to the speaker, the contractors assured of constructing a circle around brave soldier Guddemane Appaiah Gowda’s statue near Sudarshan Circle and they informed that the work will be taken up and completed at the earliest.

CMC president H M Nanda Kumar said that a park will be built near the statue.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...cts-works.html

[s.yogendra]

Rs 40 crore sanctioned for rural roads: Ranjan

MLA M P Appacchu Ranjan said a sum of Rs 40 crore will be utilised for development of rural roads in Kodagu district. Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda had announced Rs 75 crore for Kodagu in the budget, he said.

Speaking after inaugurating asphalted road at Hirikara village, he said a sum of Rs 35 crore will be utilised for the development of PWD roads. All the roads will be upgraded in Somwarpet taluk.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...ned-rural.html

[s.yogendra]

Direct payment to curb illegal felling of rosewood

In an effort to prevent illegal and indiscriminate chopping of rosewood trees in Kodagu, the district administration here has issued a fresh circular to bring in some changes in the payment methods during auctions.

In tune with the Supreme Court's decision, Kodagu district commissioner has instructed all forest officials in the district to make direct payment to land owners after selling their rosewood in auctions.

The new rule prevents owners of private forests from felling these costly trees, second in value only to sandalwood, and minimizes the role of timber contractors, who promote indiscriminate felling for economic gains.

Madikeri division conservator of forests KS Anand told TOI that this will enable land owners or planters in the district to directly deal with the forest department rather than availing services of the middlemen to cut and sell rosewood trees.

Welcoming the decision, the Kodagu Grower's Federation president Katti Mandaiah and Udiayanda Pemmaiah, general secretary of Kodagu Jammamalai Association said the move will benefit small planters and prevent misuse of General power of Attorney (GPA) granted by land owners to timber contractors.

"Capricious timber contractors have already obtained GPAs from many owners and are attempting to cut thousands of trees," source said.

As per the Forest Act, land owners should avail the permission of forest department to cut and sell rosewood and teakwood trees only when it reaches the growth of more than 1.75 meter. The department will in turn auction such logs and 90% of the sale amount will be paid to the tree owners, keeping 10% for the forest department.

As of now, rosewood fetches between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000 per cubic feet in the local market while the export quality fetches up to Rs 8,000.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/12605489.cms