Madagh Masur Lake, Karnataka, India (with photos)

Madagh Masur Lake (Kannada: ಮದಗದ ಕೆರೆ)

Different names of this lake ->
Madagada Kere, Masur Kere, Kenchammana Kere.

View of the Lake from Masur side towards Shikaripura side

Getting There:
Madagh Masur Lake is near Masur Town in Hirekerur Taluk, Karnataka state, India, on State Highway 57. Nearest city is Ranebennur which is around 40 km. The Lake actually borders Hirekerur taluk & Shikaripura taluk.
The best & easiest route from Bengaluru is -> Take NH4 to reach Ranebennur, take a left from here on SH57 (Halageri Road) after 8 km you reach Halageri Village, take right on SH76 after some 100 mts take a left on SH57 (which is actually second left after you take right on SH76) keep going straight after about 17-18 km you reach Rattihalli Town, keep going straight, then you reach Masur Town, go another 4 km on SH57, then you need to take a right turn & enter a mud road to reach the destination in around 2 km.
Totally its around 340 km from Bengaluru (300 km on NH4 & 40 km on SH57)

Route: Bengaluru --NH4--> Tumkur --NH4--> Chitradurga --NH4--> Davangere --NH4--> Ranebennur --SH57--> Rattihalli --SH57--> Masur --> Madagh Masur Lake

From Shivamogga: (Its around 70 km)

Route: Shivamogga --SH57--> Savalanga --SH57--> Shikaripura --> Madagh Masur Lake

Water falls near the lake

Water falls near the lake

The river Kumadvathi which originates in the Agastya-Parvata near Humcha in Sagar Taluk, flows north near Shikaripura continues towards Masur & forms this big & beautiful lake near Masur town. A small water falls is formed at the out flow of this Lake & the river Kumadvathi continues & traverses in Hirekerur & Ranebennur Taluks & finally joins to River Tungabhadra near Hole Anveri & Mudenur in Ranebennur Taluk. This lake was actually built for the purpose of irrigation, details of this is given in the History section.

River Kumadvathi after the falls

We can actually get down to the bottom of the falls & have a beautiful view of the falls. We need to do a bit of rock climbing & trekking to get down. Though I could get down, but could not go to the place where I could get the front view of falls as we were already late :( I could only get the side view of the falls, that too not complete. Below is the picture of the same.

Small portion of the falls visible from the side view

There is a very popular Janapada Geethe / Folk Song written on this Lake ->
"Maayadantha Male Bantanna, Madagada Kere Ge"
Check out the youtube view of this remix song of the movie Sevanthi Sevanthi at the end of this post.

The lake is surrounded by big mountains, this makes the place very beautiful. The mountains divide the Taluks/Districts, the other side of the mountain is Shikaripur Taluk & this side is Hirekerur Taluk.

River Kumadvathi after the falls

History of this Lake:
Few centuries back, there lived 2 big Land Lords - Mallana Gouda from Masur & Puttana Gouda from Rattihalli. Since there was no irrigation in this land, once they both decided to help the people of this region by building a big lake & irrigate the surrounding area. There were no equipments like JCBs, it was all by the human labour, both the land lords, pulled hundreds of people to build the lake, it took few years to form mountains & finally built a big lake. But unfortunately, there was no source of water to this lake, they waited & waited but there was no trace of water to this lake, everybody was very sad & worried. Finally they decided to enquire an Astrologer (Bhavisha Kelsidru) then they came to know that, to get water to that lake they have to sacrifice the life of the youngest daughter-in-law Kenchamma (not sure daughter-in-law of Mallana Gouda or Puttana Gouda) It became a very tough decision for them, but looking at the benifit to many people, they took the painful decision to sacrifice the life of Kenchamma. To execute this they made a plan to have a fair in that lake place & have a gold/silver idol of Kenchamma at the centre of Lake. Kenchamma was not aware of the plan. After the fair got over, everybody went back to their homes. Then Mallana Gouda / Puttana Gouda asked Kenchamma to go & get the gold/silver idol of her from the lake (plan was to sacrifice her life during this time) It was God's blessings the moment Kenchamma reached the centre of the lake, water flooded in to the lake & Kenchamma was washed away. Since then, Madagh Masur Lake is always filled with water with no scarcity of water. Hence this lake is also called as Kenchamma Lake, there is a Temple of Godess Kenchamma in the centre of the Lake. Its seems, this temple is only visible if there is a continuous draught in this region for 7-8 years. Hence there is one more temple of Godess Kenchamma on the bank of the lake.

Canal coming out from this lake to irrigate the surrounding areas

Tourist spot near the Lake

Totally this place is very beautiful, its a very good tourist & trekking place ...
Check out the place in google maps ...

http://maps.google.co.in/?ie=UTF8&ll=14.348217,75.420971&spn=0.035507,0.087891&t=h&z=14

Here is a video of the Remix song of "Mayadanta Male Bantanna Madagada Kere Ge" from the movie Sevanthi Sevanthi

Places of Interest nearby:

* Rattihalli - Kadambeshwara Temple (18 km)

* Abalur - Sarvagnya's birth place (32 km)

* Ranebennur (40 km)

* Udutadi - Akkamahadevi's birth place (34 km)

* Balligavi - Allama Prabhu's birth place (38 km)

* Gudavi Bird Sanctuary (70 km)

* Chandragutti - Renukambha Temple (70 km)

* Banavasi (75 km)

* Jog Falls (94 km)
* Keladi (55 km)
* Ikkeri (64 km)
* Varadamoola (65 km)

* Shivamogga (70 km)