Journey Through Kaveri

-By Jayanthi Mahalingam

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• The Kaveri in Mythology
• The Kaveri in Kodagu
• Meet the Kodavas
• The first Tributary
• The Kaveri Enters Mysore
• An Ancient Dam
• Visweswaraya's Dream
• A Dream Fulfilled
• Mysore's Guardian Angel
• In Tipu's Domain
• The Great Temples
• The Shifting Sands
• Sand Covered Temples
• Shivasamudram
• The Goat's Leap
• The Kaveri in Tamil Nadu
• The Last Island
• An Outpouring of Music
• The Temple Trail
• Journey's End

An Ancient Dam

At Ramanathapura, on the left bank of the Kaveri, around 30 km out of Kodagu, a huge rock looms out of the river. A Shiva temple stands on it. Known locally as Gogarbham, it is said that Sri Rama worshipped a shivalingam atop the rock to atone for the sin of killing Ravana. People believe that Adi Shankara himself consecrated the temple.
In the village of Kattepura, which lies downstream, an ancient dam slows down the flow of the Kaveri. The dam, Jangamaghatte, was built 900 years ago by Jangamas or ascetics of the Lingayat sect. The stones, which are 1.2 m high, are precisely hewn and stacked. The river seeps slowly, almost wonderingly, through the stones as if Kaveri herself were amazed at this engineering feat achieved by a band of wandering holy men without the aid of technology.
The river cascades over a drop of 20 metres at Chunchanakatte (named after Chuncha, a tribal chieftain who is supposed to have built a dam here). The narrow gorge through which the Kaveri tumbles is called Dhanushkoti, after its better-known namesake at the southern tip of India. Sita, so speaketh the legend, bathed in the river at this spot (named Seeteya Bachchalu, or Seeta's Bathing Place) and there is a shrine built by the locals to commemorate the event. On the river bank is a large temple to Kodandarama.

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Last updated on :11/3/2003