Nandi Hills

Tourists planning to travel to Bangalore should not miss the opportunity to visit the Nandi Hills, a quaint little summer resort near Bangalore. Its quiet charm provides a very pleasant respite from the metropolitan bustle and is also a great weekend getaway from Bangalore.

Nandi Hills may not be as famous as some of the other popular hill resorts of Karnataka, yet it can offer a very pleasant respite to tourists on vacation in Bangalore, and that too, within 50 kilometres of the city, which makes it ideal for a weekend getaway, or even a day trip. Lush vegetation, coconut groves and vineyards lie all round, dotted with pretty stretches of water in the form of pools and lakes. The horizon stretches, unbroken, in a sweeping semi-circular canopy overhead, affording a birds' eye view of the Kolar, Tumkur and Bangalore regions, from a height of 1,500 metres.

Here, the legendary Tipu Sultan strode and fought, 200 years ago. At the top of the hill is a spot known as Tipu's Drop, with openings in the stone embankments from where, according to legends, enemy soldiers captured in battle were dispatched to their doom. The drop is an almost vertical, sheer stone face, plunging down through several hundred metres.

It is believed that Nandi Hill was, prior to the eleventh century, a Jain stronghold known as Nandagiri (meaning the Hill of Pleasure). Thereafter, during the Chola period, the name was changed to Nandigiri (the Hill of Nandi, the sacred bull of Lord Shiva). From a Jain inscription that refers to the first Teerthankara 'Vrishabha', it is surmised that the appellation might have been derived from the synonym for bull. The guide books say that the hill was probably first fortified by the Chikkaballapur chiefs, but the ruins that one now sees are of the fortifications that Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan put up, two centuries ago.

At the top of the hill are guesthouses and cottages set amidst well-kept lawns and gardens, where travelers can stay at modest rates. As one walks through the woods on one side is an elevated, sprawling white bungalow - a plaque says it was the summer residence and a favourite retreat of the famous administrator, Sir Mark Cubbon, K.C.B. Commissioner of Mysore from 1834 to 1861. Mahatma Gandhi stayed here twice, in 1927 and 1936. Queen Elizabeth and her consort, the Duke of Edinburgh have visited the place and stayed here, and so has Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1962.

While other resorts in and around the region (Ooty, Jog Falls) received much publicity, Nandi Hills remains, still, comparatively unknown and unexplored, even though it makes getting away from it all just as refreshingly worthwhile as any other famous hill resort. A weekend trip to Nandi Hills is highly recommended if you plan to travel to Bangalore.