Voyage 361

The second half of the Utsav Rock Garden was mostly sculptures of Humans and Fauna. Lifesize sculptures at the Gauda House Next was the Indian Marriage Museum . Here we can see different Indian contemporary marriage customs & traditions of different religions are depicted through sculptures, and photos. The only interesting part of this museum was the set of sculptures representing typical Indian marriage reception stage with 25 life size sculptures comprising of all age groups. Sculptures of a typical Indian wedding reception stage Coming out of the indoor museums and passing through the Traditional Doors one can explore the village art open air museums. These traditional artistic doors are typically found in the north Karnataka. Traditional door designs of Rural Karnataka One of creative designs on our way to the art village The Art Village represents the rural culture. Various rural professions like Blacksmith, Goldsmith, Potter, Barber, Weaver, Cobbler, Shopkeep

Utsav Rock Garden After Vani Vilasa Sagara another 225 km drive over NH4 took us to our final destination, the Utsav Rock Garden. This is located on the Pune-Bangalore Highway, 37km after Haveri.   There are no signboards to take the exit from NH4, so after the town Shiggaon (which is exactly 6km from Utsav), you should slow down your speed. Utsav Rock Garden is a Contemporary Sculptural Museum spread across 30acres of land, designed by internationally renowned artist Prof. T.B.Solabakkanavar and promoted by Dasanur group. The art village basically represents the art and folk culture of Karnataka state of India, adding to this it has fulfilled with contemporary and traditional art.  The art village representing the art and folk culture of Karnataka It has already achieved eight records, including the India Book of Records, RHR Indian Records and Limca Book of Records as a National record with a collection of over 1000 sculptures and monuments for depicting the rural an

Just under 200km from Bangalore is a less explored but beautiful place, Vani Vilasa Sagara best for hangout in the evening. It is located in Hiriyur Taluk of Chitradurga District, just 19km from the NH4. After Hiriyur town take the left on the TH road. The road condition is excellent from the NH4 till the Kanive Maramma temple, after the temple the diversion to the left leads you to the top of the dam. This stretch from the temple is an up-ride of about 1.5km and this was a mud road, but it looked as if the road will be constructed in coming days. The dam is built across River Vedavathi during Mysore reign. Construction started in the year 1897 at the order of the King of Mysore Sri Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. The construction was completed in 1907, and the dam was named after Krishnaraja Wadiyar's mother. Vani Vilasa Sagara Dam First view of the dam back water while driving up the hill It is considered as an Architectural Masterpiece. Google maps might misguide you the