Devarayanadurga, Karnataka

Devarayanadurga is a hill station near Tumkur in the state of Karnataka in India. The rocky hills are surrounded by forest and the hilltops are dotted with several temples including the Yoganarasimha and the Bhoganarasimha temples and an altitude of 3940 feet. It is also famous for Namada Chilume, a natural spring considered sacred and is also considered the origin of the Jayamangali river. Another famous temple in the area is the Mahalakshmi Temple at Goravanahalli.

It is 65 km from Bangalore, India, by road on Tumkur road. The nearest railway station is 25 km away in Dabbaspet.

There are two routes to this place.

From Banglore, go till Dobbespet. Go under the flyover and take a right (Note: The left here leads to Shivagange betta and right leads to Devarayandurga). On this route you get Devarayanadurga first, and then as you go towards Kyatsandra, you get another Hanuman and Shankara temple, a little further is Namada Chilume and then Siddaganga mutt (different from Siddagange betta) and a kilometer from there is Kyatsandra where you hit Banglore Tumkur road.

The other route from banglore is from Kyatsandra. About 1 km after crossing second toll gate on Tumkur road take right at Kyatsandra. After crossing railway level cross you reach Siddaganga Mutt then Namada Chilume then Hanuman Temple and finally Devarayanadurga. The roads on this side are much better and this route is shorter.

At the base of the hill on the road leading to Tumkur, is a place called Namada Chilume (chilume means spring). Myth has it that Sri Rama on his way to Lanka halted here. As he did not find water anywhere around to wet the "nAma" (a kind of paste Hindus apply on their forehead), he shot an arrow into the ground, and a spring sprang and thus the name (Rama)-nAmada chilume. The spring can be still seen, and there is a foot impression of Lord Sri Rama near that.

The forest department has developed a nursery of medicinal plants near Namada Chilume picnic spot on Devarayanadurga hills. There are about 300 varieties of rare ayurvedic plants in this nursery.

Only particular species of plants are cultivated on specified plots for easy identification of the plant varieties. The nursery is located at a forest spot beside Tumkur-Devarayanadurga bus route.

The nursery, known as the mini forest of medicinal plants, has been developed with the objective of conserving endangered species of plants on Devarayanadurga hills.