Shivanasamudra Falls

Shivanasamudra Falls
Shivanasamudra Falls
Bharachukki and Gaganachukki Falls
	Bharachukki Falls
Location	Malavalli taluk, Mandya district, Karnataka, India and Kollegala taluk, Chamarajanagara district, Karnataka, India
Coordinates	12°18′00″N 77°10′37″E / 12.3°N 77.177°E
Type	Segmented
Total height	90 metres (300 ft)
Number of drops	Gaganachukki, Bharachukki
Watercourse	Kaveri River
Average; flow rate	934 cubic metres/s (33,000 cubic ft/s)

Shivanasamudra Falls is a cluster of waterfalls on the borders of Malavalli, Mandya and Kollegala, Chamarajanagara, in Karnataka, India, situated along the river Kaveri. The falls form the contour between the districts of Chamarajanagara and Mandya. The Bharachukki Falls in Kollegala, with a height of 69 metres, and the Gaganachukki Falls in Malavalli, with a height of 90 metres, collectively form the Shivanasamudra Falls.

Shivanasamudra Falls is home to one of the first hydro-electric power stations in Asia, which was set up in 1902. The idea of tapping power from the falls to supply power for the machinery at the Kolar Gold Fields was suggested in 1898 by Alain Chartier Joly de Lotbiniere.^[1] The project was designed by Dewan Sir. Sheshadri Iyer and Chief Engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya.

Waterfalls

The Shivanasamudra Falls is on the Kaveri River after the river has found its way through the rocks and ravines of the Deccan Plateau and drops off to form waterfalls.^[2] The island town of Shivanasamudra divides the river into twin waterfalls. This creates the fourth largest island in the course of the river.^{[citation needed]} A group of ancient temples is located here and there likely was a village.

This is a segmented waterfall. Segmented waterfalls occur where the water flow is broken into two or more channels before dropping over a cliff, resulting in multiple sides by side waterfalls. It has an average width of 305 metres (1,001 ft), a height of 98 m (322 ft), and an average volume of 934 cubic metres per second (33,000 cu ft/s). The maximum recorded volume is 18,887 cubic metres per second (667,000 cu ft/s).

It is a perennial waterfall. The time of best flow are the monsoon season of July to October.^[3]

A common misconception about these waterfalls is that the left segment is called Gaganachukki and the right segment is called Bharachukki. In reality the Bharachukki falls^[4] are a few kilometers to the south-west of the Gaganachukki falls.^[5] This is due to the Kaveri river itself splitting a few kilometers to the south into western and eastern branches.^[6] The western branch results in the twin waterfalls of Gaganachukki, whereas the eastern branch results in the Bharachukki falls. The Gaganachukki waterfalls are best viewed from the Shivanasamudra watch tower.^[7] Most of the pictures showing the twin waterfalls are taken from that location. There is another approach to the Gaganachukki falls from the Darga Hazrath Mardane Gaib (Imam Ali).^[8] Despite warnings being posted, people climb down the rocks and attempt to view the waterfalls from behind/top, resulting in many fatal accidents. It is 139 km (86 mi) from the city of Bangalore.

Temples

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple located here is built in the Dravidian style of architecture. Sri Ranganathaswamy here is also referred to as "Madhya Ranga", who is highly revered by Sri Vaishnava devotees among others. Among all the three Rangas, the deity here is believed to represent the youth form of God and hence is also fondly referred to as 'Mohana Ranga' and 'Jaganmohana Ranga'. Madhya Ranga is an ancient temple housing a beautiful idol, yet being located remotely sees few visitors. The temple often remains closed to visitors as the local priest is not punctual, and the Karnataka government temple authority has done little to maintain and promote this place.^[9] The Shivanasamudra temple is one of the three temples of the God Ranganatha (Madhya Ranga) that are situated in the natural islands formed in the Kaveri river. They are:

Adi Ranga: the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangapatna, Srirangapatna taluk, Mandya district, Karnataka, India
Madhya Ranga: the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Shivanasamudra, Kollegala taluk, Chamarajanagara district, Karnataka, India
Antya Ranga: the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, Srirangam taluk, Tiruchirappalli district, Tamil Nadu, India

There are three more temples on three other sides of the island.^{[citation needed]}

The ancient Sri Someshwara Temple, is another famous temple at Shivanasamudra. Adi guru Sri Shankaracharya is said to have visited this place and established a "Sri Chakra". It is unusually believed that the Someshwara Linga here has existed much before the Ranganantha idol and that the Saptarshis was performing pooja and worshipping this Linga.^{[citation needed]}

The Shakthi Devathe temple of Vanadurga Devi is 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away from the Someshwara temple.^{[citation needed]}

Power-generation

India's first hydro-electric power station is located at the waterfall and is still functional.^{[citation needed]} This station was commissioned by the Diwan of Mysore, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer. The power generated here was initially used in Kolar Gold Fields.

One can visit the power station by obtaining special permission through Karnataka Power Corporation. Travelling in British built winch lift is an experience.