Nandi Hills or Nandidurg is an ancient hill of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 10 km from Chikkaballapur town and approximately 60 km from the city of Bangalore.
It is 4,851 ft (1,479 m) above sea level. It is located close to the newly constructed Bangalore International Airport, the second largest in India. In addition, the hills are located about 20 km from the National Highway (NH-7) just after Devanahalli Town.
We have started from our house at Electronic city around 8 AM....We have taken Silk board and then Marathahalli towards Outer ring road so as to avoid any traffic in the city and it was the shortest path as well, even though it was a Sunday the traffic was pretty good on the outer ring road...We reached K.R.Puram bridge where I've been thinking to have a photograph every time I visit the area....But this time I have not missed it...We have taken few snaps and then started towards Hebbal...We then travelled on to Hyderabad National Highway 7 and took left at just after Devanahalli to reach Nandi Hills...
There are many stories about the origin of the name Nandi Hills. During the Chola period, Nandi Hills was called Ananda Giri (The Hill of Happiness). Another story is that Yoga Nandeeshwara performed penance here, and so it was named after him.
Nandi is also commonly called Nandidurga (Fort) because of the fort build here by the then ruler Tippu Sultan of Mysore, the prisoners, to whom death sentence was given, were pushed down from this cliff only.
It is also perhaps called Nandi Hills because the hill resembles a sleeping bull (Nandi). There is a rest house where Tippu Sultan used to come for rest.
Another theory holds that the hill gets its name from an ancient, 1200 year old Dravidian style Nandi temple situated on this hill. An ancient, lord Shiva and Parvathi temple also adorns this hill. They are really beautiful carvings...
The Ghat road to which the Nandi Hills has to be reached is really enjoyable if you are a good driver...There is parking for 2-wheelers and for 4-wheelers there is option to travel on to some more distance...
Lot of monkeys are there, if they see anything is with you they will follow and ask you to give it, even snatch it from you sometimes :)
We parked our 2-wheeler after the Ghat ended and took the tickets to enter. The first after entering the fort entrance is the Tippu guest house...It was small - old house around 5-6 rooms which we can see from outside, is an ancient monument as well....After reading the information near Tippu guest house we came to know Nandi hills are famous for many river origins, 2 of the river origins are Palar and Arkavathi..Then we walked through different gardens and trees to reach the Koneru...
It was a big Koneru and a nice view...Then we walked towards the temple and then the hill as it was really nice...views of the surrounding area was really beautiful...If you get to go in winter and that too around 7 AM, you can see the beauty of the place...
Even it was summer we went but the air was cool and superb...we had our lunch at one of the hotel back side of the temple and sat in a garden for 2 hrs and started towards the parking...on the way were lucky to see a yellow colour snake..It was really very very beautiful...Before we took a snap of it, it crawled faster in to the trees...
We reached parking and without starting the bike travelled 8-9 kms of the Ghat road as it was completely down slope….Had few snaps on the way and reached birth place of Tippu Sultan, Devanahalli ... It was a small fort and purchased Chakotra which I have seen while going to Nandi Hills....Chakotra is a good fruit in summer which I ate earlier but this one is quite a big one I've seen to take it to my home town Hyderabad...
Once we crossed Hebbal flyover towards K.R.Puram, we have seen there was a small pond called Lumbini Gardens where we passed our time for some time.
One thing I forgot to tell you…there are lots of grape gardens after entering the Nandi Hills road after Devanahalli…..Also a railway track where we had small photo session!!
We reached around 7PM back to our home at Electronic City...My friend cooked food as I do not know much cooking...we ate and took rest for the day so as to start Monday back in Office!!
Below are Few pictures...More pictures click here
