Situated on a hill and containing springs, caves and a temple, AntaraGange is a popular tourist spot located about 70 kilometres from Bangalore in Kolar district. Tourists usually come here to trek to caves located up the hill, but we had gone for a family weekend outing, and only visited the temple located a small way up the hill.
One has to climb up a few steps to reach the temple. It’s a pleasant climb as the steps are shaded by trees and the monsoon weather meant that temperatures were very bearable even though it was afternoon. The biggest nuisance, though, are the large number of monkeys which are everywhere. They are quite unafraid of humans and the smaller ones will happily jump on to your trousers if you are not careful! One of them ended up stealing one of my socks. Thankfully, after playing with it for a while, it dropped it and I was able to reclaim it!
The temple is a surprisingly small one and it was locked, so we could not go in. The highlight is a small pond (or tank) to the side of the temple. It is said that devotees bathe in this water and even drink it. But looking at the condition of the water the day we visited, I am not sure if that would be advisable. And, indeed, we did not see any person even venturing close to the water!
There is a path behind the temple that leads to the caves that trekkers come to visit. But as we were with small children, we did not proceed further and made our way down, having delicious cucumbers and guavas along the way.
Sanjay Varma 