Yana and Unchalli falls!

I am believer that if you are going on short trips then rest is something you need to compromise with. When I had planned the Gokarna trip last year I wanted to cover all surrounding places and Yana was recommended to me by quite a few people. But things did not fall into place back then! So when I went to Sirsi for cousins wedding, I had enough time to spend a day exploring near by places.

Sirsi is in Uttar Karnataka, an overnight journey from Bangalore. We knew there were some nice places to visit around Sirsi. We spoke the manager of our hotel, who was kind enough to arrange a day trip covering Unchalli falls, Manjuguni Venkataramana  temple and Yana. The entire day package cost us 2.4k in an omni. We hardly had done any research so I felt it was expensive for the 150 odd kms that we traveled that day.

We started at Unchalli water falls which is around 35kms from the city. This falls was nothing short of looking like a screen saver. The water seemed to be falling in slow motion and was milky white and the highlight was the rainbow that was formed due to the water splashing. There are few steps to climb down but we could not get to the foot of the waterfalls.

After this we visited the Manjuguni Venkataramana temple. The locals here feel that visiting this temple is more spiritual than visiting Tirupathi. By the time we visited the temple, the pooja was over but we got the prasad (the free lunch). After a hearty meal we head out to Yana. 

Yana has two massive rocks with different shape and texture. It is believed that Bhasmasura had obtained the power to burn anything he touched and lord Vishnu who had transformed as Mohini made him touch his own head while doing a dance pose. He ended up burning himself and the flames were so intense that the rocks got its unique look.

We need to walk about 1km to reach the temple at the foot of the rock. There are steps which you can climb to enter the caves in the rock. A complete walk through the caves results in a full pradakshina to the temple. Due to the religious significance you will have to walk the stretch bare foot. The walk through the rock is cool and calm. You can spend an hour at max here so it can be covered if you are driving from Gokarna or Karwar or Castle Rock.

The entire stretch we covered that day was forest area. It felt good to be amongst mother nature. And for a change this trip was with family. After this day trip we attended the wedding the next day and head to GOA. Yes, Goa with family and to visit temples :P (Read here)

Credits:
This trip was with my brother Gowrish and cousin Akshay :)