पक्षिणः जननम् (Birth of Bulbuls)

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मम गृहस्य परिसरे विद्यमानानां पक्षिणः विषये अत्र, अत्र च अत्र पूर्व्ं मया लिखितमस्ति | गृहसस्याणि खगान् आकर्षयन्ति इति विचारे मम गृहमेव प्रमाणमित्यहं मन्ये| एकदा पाकशालायाः नालिकायामेव नीडनिर्माणं कृतं पक्षिणा| अद्यत्वे द्वौ पक्षिणौ अस्माकमुद्याने निवेशनं कृत्वा शिशू प्राप्तवन्तौ । अस्य वृत्तन्तस्य विवरणं करोमि अत्र|

Bulbul’s nest

उद्यानस्य एकस्मिन् भागे मल्लिका लता अस्ति। तत्र वयं अनेकवारं न गच्छामः । एकदा तस्यां लतायां नीडमेकं दृष्टवान् । सामान्यतः पक्षी सुरक्षितस्थले नीडस्य रचनं करोति, किन्तु एतत् नीडं भूम्याः निकटे एव आसीत्। अपि च नीडे अल्पाकारयुक्तौ पिङ्गलवर्णबिन्दुयुक्तौ द्वौ अण्डौ आस्तां!

Bulbul’s eggs

अण्डं तु दृष्टवान् किन्तु कस्य खगस्य अण्डमिति ज्ञातुं पार्श्वे स्थित्वा पक्षिणः निरीक्षणं कृतवान्|  किञ्चित्कालानन्तरं नीडस्योपरि उपविशन्तं मस्तके किरीटसदृश पक्षयुक्तं पक्षिणं दृष्टवान्| एषः पक्षी बेङ्गलूरु-नगरे सामान्यतः दृश्यते| अस्य नाम आङ्गलभाषायां Red-whiskered Bulbul इति अस्ति| K N Dave महोदयेन लिखितं “Birds in Sanskrit Literature” पुस्तके अस्य नाम गोवत्सकः इति दत्तमस्ति|

Red-whiskered bulbul

पश्चात् नितराम् नीडे एव उपविशन्तं पक्षिणं दृष्टवन्त:। दिनद्वयानन्तरम् अण्डाभ्यां द्वौ अरोमयुक्तौ शिशू बहिरागतवन्तौ। जन्मस्य तत्क्षणं तौ पक्षिणः शिशवः इव न दृश्येते स्म ।

Bulbul chicks – right after birth

यदा द्वित्राणि दिनानि अतीतानि, रोमं पक्षं च प्रप्तवन्तौ। शिशोः प्रथम-उड्डयनं द्रष्टुम् अस्माकम् आशा आसीत् किन्तु कदा पक्षिण: सर्वे नीडं त्यक्तवन्तः इति न अवगतमेव अस्माभिः!

4 days old bulbul chicks

Disclaimer:
संस्कृतं न जानामि न जानामि पाणिनिम्।
पदार्थमपि  न जानामि क्षमस्व वागीश्वरि॥

पक्षिणः नीडम्

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मम गृहस्य पाकशालायां chimney यन्त्रः अस्ति। तस्मात् यन्त्रात् एका नालिका गृहस्य बहिर्गच्छति | तया नालिकया पचनसमये उद्भवः वायुः बहिः प्रसरति | एकदा अहं गृहस्य बहिर्भागतः तां नालिकां प्रवेशं कुर्वन्तं पक्षिणं दृष्टवान् | तत्क्षणमेव मया अवगतं – यत् नालिकायां नीडस्य निर्माणं कर्तुं पक्षिणः इच्छा अस्ति इति | प्रतिदिनं पचनसमये नालिकया उष्णवायुः आगच्छति, अतः एतत् स्थलं नीडनिर्माणार्थम् उचितं नास्त्येव इति मम अभिमतमासीत् | पक्षिणः कार्यभङ्गं कर्तुं यदा यदा सः नालिकां प्रविशति, तदा तदा अहं यन्त्रचालनं कृतवान् | किन्तु पक्षिणः निश्चयमचलमासीत् | तेन नीडनिर्माणकार्यं न स्थगितमेव | अतः अहमेव पराजयं स्वीकृत्य पाकशालायां अनिर्दिष्टकालपर्यन्तं यन्त्रचालनं न करणीयमिति मात्रे पत्न्यै च सूचनां दत्तवान् |

अल्पाकारयुतस्य (४ अङ्गुलि) अस्य खगस्य नाम scaly breasted munia इति आसीत् | द्विवासरपर्यन्तं प्रतिदिनं प्रतिक्षणं तृणमानीय पक्षिणौ मातापितरौ नीडनिर्माणं कृतवन्तौ | नीडस्य मुखभागमेव नालिकायाः बहिः दृश्यते स्म | बालखगान् द्रष्टुमस्माकमाशा आसीत् किन्तु मासानन्तरं काञ्चिदपि खगान् वयं न दृष्टवन्तः | प्रायश: बालखगैः सह मातपितरौ नीडं त्यक्तवन्तौ इति वयं अचिन्तयन् |

किञ्चित् कालानन्तरं यन्त्रस्य वार्षिकसेवासमये (yearly service time) यदा नालिकया नीडमाकृष्ट्ं तदा नीडस्य मात्रं दृष्ट्वा अत्याश्चर्यमभवत् | ४ अङ्गुलि लम्भस्य पक्षिणः नीडं ३२ अङ्गुलि आसीत् !

Disclaimer:
संस्कृतं न जानामि न जानामि पाणिनिम्।
पदार्थमपि  न जानामि क्षमस्व वागीश्वरि॥

पक्षिणां कलरव:

मम गृहस्य पार्श्वभागे एक: वटवृक्ष: अस्ति। प्रस्तुतमासे तस्मिन् वृक्षे बहूनि फलानि भवन्ति। अस्य वृक्षस्य फलं पक्षिभ्य: अतीव रोचते। प्रात: काले एव अनेकानि पक्षिण: फलं खादितुम्  आगच्छन्ति। बहुविधानि पक्षिण: अस्मिन् वृक्षे दृश्यन्ते।

विशेषत: अनेका: पिका:आगच्छन्ति। कोकिलानां कलरवं श्रुत्वा एव अहं प्रतिदिनम् उत्तिष्ठामि। घटिकायन्त्रस्य आवश्यकता एव नास्ति। प्रतिदिनस्य एतत् अनुभवं मधुरं भवति।

कोकिल:

 

Disclaimer:
संस्कृतं न जानामि न जानामि पाणिनिम्।
पदार्थमपि  न जानामि क्षमस्व वागीश्वरि॥

Birds in my neighbourhood

I moved into Bangalore 10 years back and stayed mostly in well populated areas where the most commonly seen birds were crows and eagles. Recently I have moved into a new locality in the outskirts of South Bangalore where there is a considerable bird population. I won’t be too much off the mark if I say that I see more birds and insects than humans when I spend an average day at home! It has been a very exciting experience going behind these birds with my newly acquired camera and here are some results of the same. I am yet the learn the art of bird watching and hence most of the shots here are taken with maximum zoom (20x w/o tripod of course)  and hence are not all that clear.

The most largest and easiest to photograph are birds which I think are cow egrets. These keep following the cows that come near my home everyday for grazing.

My work room window opens into a vacant site which has a few Sapodilla (Chikko, Sapota) trees . (This locality was apparently a farm land earlier). These trees are favourite hangouts for some beautiful tiny birds (around 3 inches in length).  I am not qualified yet to identify the names of these birds. Here are some pics of them taken from inside my window with fullest possible zoom of my camera.

Here is another tiny one on the roadside parthenium plant.

Along with Mainas, there is another kind of bird, roughly as same size as Maina which comes in groups of 8 to 10. These are quite fearless of humans and provide some photographic opportunities.

Another bird which allows itself to be photographed fairly easily is what we call ಕೆಂಭೂತ in Kannada.

Parrot is one bird which sounds so common, but I hardly remember seeing it anywhere else than in zoos. Photographing this bird was difficult since it hardly remained at one place at a time. And most of the times, it blended so well with the green foilage that it was hard to spot.

 

This black bird is so often mentioned in various books and poems, but I should confess that I saw this for the first time. It look exactly like a crow, but slightly smaller in size with distinctive red eyes. One could easily ignore this as a crow, but this is the Koel. I was observing it for quite a few days without knowing it as koel, until I heard it calling out, which was unmistakably koel’s sound.  I had read the comparison between crow and koel in the form of poems and stories in the childhood and I was glad to experience it and verify it first hand.  One such saying in Sanskrit comes to mind: को भेदः काक-पिकयोः ? वसंतकाले संप्राप्ते काकः काकः पिकः पिकः | (which roughly translates as this: What’s the difference b/n crow and koel ? When Spring arrives, crow will be crow and koel will be koel)

Here is an other elusive one.

I never knew there were cuckoos which are not black in colour like the below one:

This one posed for the photograph without much hesitation.

Kingfishers are regular visitors to my home given the proximity to the lake.

So moving into this new neighbourhood has been an interesting experience.  There are many other birds which have remained still elusive for my camera, I wish I had a better camera to do full justice to the beauty of these birds!

Around Sonda Sirsi

I was mostly unaware of the natural beauty of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka until my marriage to Veena who hails from Sonda. Since then I have done quite a few visits to Sonda and visited numerous places around it and amazed by the tourist potential (still not fully tapped though) of this green district.

Sonda is small little village in the Sirsi taluk of Uttara Kannada district situated at a distance of around 450km from Bangalore and 20km from Sirsi. It is mostly known as a pilgrimage center due to the presence of three prominent Mutts: the Swarnavalli Mutt, the Vadiraj Mutt and the Jain Mutt. These attract hundreds of pilgrims mostly through out the year. The green surroundings, typical to the Malnad area of Sonda and Sirsi add to the serenity of these places of religious importance.

Here are some of the places I have visited around Sonda, Sirsi, since last 3 years. Please note that all distances mentioned here are mostly approximate.

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi
Sahasralinga, Sonda
Magod Waterfall
Unchalli Waterfall
Satoddi Waterfall
Sonda Kote
Muttinakere Venkataramana Temple
Hunasehonda Venkataramana Temple
Shivagange Waterfall
Mundige Kere Bird Sanctuary
Yana

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi

Banavasi, which was once the capital of Kadamba rulers is situated at around 20km from Sirsi. The village road from Sirsi to Banavasi is very picturesque with green fields all round. There are a few sugarcane fields also which set up the traditional sugarcane crushing units for preparing jaggery (called Aalemane in Kannada) during Jan-Feb. If you are here during this time, you would want to stop by one of these places. You would be offered generous quantities of sugarcane juice straight out of Aalemane. One should taste this know how this differs from the cane juice available in the cities.

The 9th Century Madhukeshwara temple of Banavasi is dedicated to Shiva. It is a fairly big temple and is well protected.

Madhukeshwara Temple, Banavasi

The ornate pillars add to the beauty of the temple. Just outside the Sanctum Sanctorum, a stone structure is placed which looks like a throne or a couch.

There is a beautiful bull (Nandi) in front of Shiva but interestingly it appears to be watching Parvati who is present in the adjoining temple.

The temple campus has many beautiful stone idols of Gods and Goddesses.

Sahasralinga, Sonda

River Shalmala flows quite close to my in-laws house in Sonda. I have to just cross a few arecanut farms and paddy fields to reach the well known pilgrimage center in the river Shalmala called Sahasralinga. The place gets its name from the numerous (Sahasra = thousand) Lingas carved on the rocks of Shalmala river. Lingas with Nandi of all shapes and sizes can be seen here, some of them dislodged due to the force of water flow. It is better to visit this place when the water level is low when all the Lingas become visible.

Sahasralinga, is approachable from Hulgol, on Sirsi-Yellapur road at around 15km from Sirsi. This place becomes a center of activity on Mahashivaratri day when people throng here to offer Pooja.

Magod Waterfall

Magod waterfall is formed by river Bedti which falls in two steps forming two falls. Though one could use an interior village route (Sonda – Upleshwara Cross – Magod Road – Magod Waterfall) to reach this waterfall from Sonda, the ideal way to reach this is from Yellapur which is around 50km from Sirsi. After traveling on NH63 from Yellapur for around 5km towards Ankola, there is a deviation on the left which goes to Magod Waterfall. The waterfall is around 15km from here. The road is reasonably well maintained and one can drive up the falls in a 4 wheeler.

Magod Waterfall (Sept)

Magod waterfall is visible at some distance from the viewpoint in the valley. From here, it is not possible to reach the base of the waterfall.

Magod Waterfall (June)

A nearby place to visit along with Magod waterfall is the Jenukallu gudda viewpoint from where River Kali is visible.

View from Jenukallu

If you take the interior road from Sonda to Magod waterfall via Upleshwara, you could visit the Kavdekere en route which has a big lake and a temple.

Unchalli Waterfall

River Aghanashini forms a spectacular waterfall called Unchalli waterfall in a deep jungle. To reach this waterfall, start from Sirsi on Sirsi – Kumta road and reach Aminhalli (around 14km).  From here a left deviation leads to a village called Heggarne (around 19km from Aminhalli). The road is decent until Heggarne. From Heggarne one has to travel around 2-3km on a jeep track to reach the viewpoint of the waterfall. This last stretch is distance is best done in a hired vehicle or by walk.

Unchalli waterfall

From the viewpoint the falls is visible at a distance. Steps have been built from here to another viewpoint still down the valley which is built directly opposite the waterfall. The water flows down at a great force  raising up a cloud of water drops that could easily drench anyone at the viewpoint. It is common to find leeches in this area. Again one can’t reach the base of the waterfall from this viewpoint easily.

Visit to Unchalli waterfall can be clubbed with a visit to Benne HoLe waterfall which is approachable from a village called Nilkunda, around 14km from Heggarne. From Nilkunda one has to walk around 2km and descend down a valley to reach the waterfall. We tried doing this in September and were unsuccessful. The descent down the valley was so difficult and full of leeches that Veena and I got lost halfway, while the rest of the group went down. With so many leeches around, we had no option but to rush uphill. So no photos of this waterfall 😦

Satoddi Waterfall

Satoddi waterfall is formed by River Kali(or may its tributary) and is situated in Yellapur district. To reach this, start on Yellapur-Hubli highway (NH63), proceed around 2-3km and take a left turn into what is called Bisgod road. From here, proceed around 20-25km to reach a place called Kattige which has a Ganesha Temple. From Kattige Ganesha temple it is around 8-10km of jeep track to the waterfall.

Satoddi Waterfall

I visited this waterfall with my brother-in-law in September in a motorbike and it needed all the village-riding skills of my brother-in-law to negotiate the final few kilometers of slushy road. Even walking would on this road would be difficult with so much of slush all around. But all the effort is worth as this is one of the waterfalls whose base can be easily approached.

This waterfall is present upstream after the backwaters of the Kodasalli dam.

Backwaters of Kodasalli dam

Sonda Kote

Sonda was once a royal city ruled by Swadi Kings and one can still see some of the remains at various places around Sonda. One such place is the Sonda Kote which is present on the banks of River Shalmala. Though it is called Kote, I couldn’t find any fort here. It looks more like a place where some royal remains have been protected by ASI. A small temple, a few cannons and a decorated single stone Kallina Mancha (Stone Cot) are preserved here.

View at Sonda Kote

Kallina Mancha at Sonda Kote

Muttinakere Venkataramana Temple

Muttinakere is a small lake in Vaja Gadde area of Sonda. Alongside this lake is a small but beautiful 17th Venkataramana temple built in Vijayanagara style. This temple has been renovated and is well maintained. A visit to this temple is worth if you are in Sonda. Daily pooja is performed here.

Muttinakere Temple

Carvings on temple wall

An abondoned temple near Muttinakere

Hunasehonda Venkataramana Temple

This is another small temple present in Sonda dedicated to Venkataramana. To reach this temple, from Kamatgeri in Sonda, proceed towards Sirsi for around 1km and take a left deviation and proceed another 1km on the un-asphalted road. There is a lake alongside the temple. The carvings on the temple walls are interesting. Daily pooja is performed in this temple.

Hunasehonda Temple

Shivagange Waterfall

This waterfall is formed by River Shalmala (As far as I know). The approach to this waterfall is from a place called Hulekal, which is around 13km from Sirsi towards Sonda and 5km from Sonda towards Sirsi. From Hulekal, take the Jaddigadde road and travel for around 25km to reach Jaddigadde. From here it is around 2-3km on a Jeep track which is best negotiated by walk or a two wheeler.

Shivagange Waterfall

A viewpoint has been built from where the waterfall is visible at a distance. Me and my Uncle tried to descend down the valley to get closer to the falls but after a while found it too hard to negotiate the thick forest growth in the monsoon season. So had to return satisfied by the long-distance view of the waterfall.

Mundige Kere Bird Sanctuary

There is a small lake called Mundige Kere in Sonda which attracts hundreds of birds (mostly Cranes as per my very limited knowledge about birds) in June.  I am not sure if this can be called a sanctuary, but is definitely a place is worth visiting when you in Sonda and have some time to spare. From Kamatgeri in Sonda, proceed a few yards towards Yellapur and take a right deviation near Kasapal primary school and proceed a 1km further.

Mundige Kere

Yana

Yana has become a very popular tourist spot now with hundreds visiting it in the weekends. So no more details except for a few photographs.

Rocks of Yana

– with inputs from Veena Bhat, Vinayak Bhat, M S Bhat and Krishnamoorthy Bhat.