Biligiri Ranga - BR Hills - Awesome weekend destination

In this post , we share our visit experience to Biligiri Rangana Hills and RanganathaSwamy temple on top of BR Hills.

Highlights of this Spot

• Hill range about 170 kms from Bengaluru , covering almost 3 to 4 districts connecting the eastern & western ghats
• About 5000 ft from sea level
• Houses a wild life sanctuary - Elephants , Deers , Tiger reserve , Stags , Bulls & much more
• BiliGiri means White Hill - which would have got its name due to the white cliff.
• Ranganatha Swamy temple right on top of BR Hills - belongs to Yelandur taluk of Chamarajanagar district - has history dating since Ramayana period.
• Unique Idol of lord vishnu in standing form worshipped as RanganathaSwamy 
• Temple attracts devotees all over karnataka for its best views of mesmerizing surrounding nature.

We headed to this spot on a Saturday weekend after covering Mudukothore temple in morning . We took the Takaladu , Kollegal , BR Hills forest road to reach this spot. There is a check post at the entrance of forest who took our contact details and soon we entered inside the forest , greeted with monkeys all around , the narrow clean roads were a pleasure to drive on in the silent forest with chirping bird sounds. 

There is a clear road to reach on top of the hills - after covering some 20 kms we reach the hill top , the curvy hill roads were another attraction with scenic views all around . It was 11.45 AM when we reached temple . We parked our car on the hill top parking area , covered few stairs and reached temple sanctum. Temple is open between 7 AM to 2 PM and again from 4 PM to 8 PM. 

There were tow routes to reach temple , once was the foot path from bottom of hill  and the other which we took. Temple Gopuram seem to be getting newly constructed. In front of sanctum was a dwaja stambha . There was not much crowd ,so we got darshan of Ranganatha Swamy & laxmi in few minutes . 

Biligirirangana betta has alternative references with the following names , "Bilikalla Betta" and Swethadri. The earliest reference of this sacred place is available in the Bhramanda Purana in it Teertha Prahamsara Khanda . The place also has reference as "Champakaranya" ( forest of Champaka flowers) in puranas and also as "Gajaranya" (forest of elephants) during the rule of region by ganga dynasty.  Description suggests that idol was installed by sage Vashista when lord Srinivas (Tirupathi) blessed him with appearance in B.R Hills.  In Ramayana it is believed Rama , Lakshmana performed worship here during their search for Sita. Temple was built and renovated during period of Vishnuvardhana in dravidian style of architecture.

We noticed temple has arrangements for Dasoha i.e free lunch between 12 PM to 2 PM. There are very few hotels in this region . We found GiriDarshini to be a good one for a fulfilling lunch. We relaxed for about an hour here enjoying the cool breeze , touching clouds. 

We felt blessed to snap out surrounding nature from this hill top. One gets a great view of hills range , forest coverage , BR Hills soliga community villages from this spot. 

Overall an awesome must visit destination near Bengaluru which could be covered in a day.  Covering this spot we then moved towards K.Gudi forest . Do visit this spot and share your visit experience.