the light baggage

Overview: I had always liked driving across coastal highways. This one was not exactly driving along the coast, but yes, it took me to some exciting places along India's west coast, particularly in North Canara region. Starting from Karwar, I covered several places all the way to Bhatkal. I have covered Karwar, Ankola and Aversa in one of my earlier posts. According to legend, Ravana had won the Atmalinga from Lord Shiva after performing severe penance. On his way back to Lanka, while performing evening prayers, he requested a young Brahmin (Lord Ganesha in disguise) to hold the Atmalinga till he completes his prayers. But he was tricked and the Atmalinga was placed on the ground. Furious with this, Ravana tried to remove the Atmalinga from the found and threw it in all directions. It got established as 5 Atmalingas in this region- at Shejjeshwar, Dhareshwara, Gokarna, Gunavanteshwara and Murudeshwara.             Along this route are few of the p...

Overview: The district headquarters of Uttara Kannada is at Karwar, a place which inspired Sri Rabindranath Tagore in 1882 and dedicated a chapter on this town. Karwar was a very important port during the Portuguese rule in the 16th century. In the 16th century, the Portuguese entered the district through the Cintora port (now Karwar), and captured the Pir fort, called as Forte de Piro in Portuguese. They later built the Sadashivgad fort to harbour shelter against the attackers. The Marathas took control of the Sadashivgad fort in the 18th century under Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The British took over the region after the fourth Anglo Mysore war in 1799.  Some of the old temples in Karwar are Naganatha temple, Shejeshwar temple and Brahma temple. Karwar is home to serene beaches like Devbagh beach and Rabindranath Tagore beach, also having watersports for the visitors. RT Beach also houses INS Chapel, a warship belonging to Indian Navy, and currently a museum.   ...