Scotland of the East

A Daytrip to Mercara

Later in the day, we made a trip to Madikeri town. Madikeri is a small

planter’s town in the heart of the Kodagu hills. The Koduva people who were the earliest settlors in this region are a warlike race and take great pride in their prowess in battle and combat. The “Peechekathi” a short dagger with chain which is stuck into a strip of brocade cloth tied around the midriff is a common symbol of Koduva martial pride!

Coorg is dubbed “The Scotland of India.” The Koduvas like the Scotsmen are martial and alwaysready for battle. The Scottish tartan is, here, reproduced in the long coat tied at the midriff with a brocade sash.

Our first stop was at the Abbey falls. The waterfall is accessed by a steep winding path going down. On reaching the bottom we could glimpse the falls cascading down from the higher slopes to a pool and thence as a rivulet possibly headed to join and feed the main Cauvery which has its source quite nearby at Thala-Cauvery.

Thereafter we made it to the fort with its moss-covered walls and battlements. A panoramic view of Mercara is obtained from the viewing platform on the battlements. The buildings used by the British Governor are now the Deputy Collector’s offices. The latticed balcony with the statuettes of a pair of white horses as bracket supports is a nice architectural feature of the building.

The Omkaareshwar Temple dedicated to Mahadevwas our next halt. The whitewashed walls of the buildings; four minarets with globular domes on top and the central dome (as against the typical Hindu Pagoda) give a distinctly Islamic feel to the temple. It is either an extreme arab influence through inadequate supply of craftsmen or a planned attempt at camouflaging the temple from possible Islamic attempts to demolish it as an attack against idolatory.

This temple is similar in design to the shiva temple at Mangeshkar in Goa.The huge temple tank with a central mandap housing the Nandi (a seated bull placed at the entrance of Shiva Temples facing the Lord);the narrow and steep flight of stairs leading to the Gopura Dwar and the structure of the sanctum sanctorum itself are similar. This must be a konkan style or influence as the Mangeshkar temple is quite typically Konkani. The western stretch of the Konkan and Malabar coasts is a mix and clash of cultures from Surat in the north to Trivandrum in the extreme south. These Costal regions are rich in tradition, cuisine and cuture that often overlap.