The Hidden Treasure - Dzogchen Monastery #TravelDiary

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Vanakkam. Nice to meet you all again, through my blog Perceptions. Through this blog, I share some insights and experiences about Travel, venues and Reviews about services. Today I am planning to share yet another Travel Diary. I hope you will enjoy it.

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I'm delighted to share this article regarding my visit to Dzogchen Monastery (One of the active Tibetian settlements in India). I was fortunate enough to visit this place on the birthday of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (8th April).

Buddhist Monastery

One day, when I was hunting for a new place to visit, I came across the Dzogchen Monastery. The location seemed to be perfect for a one-day trip. I started to surf and gather more information regarding the venue.

All these days, I had a thinking that only Northern part of the Nation had Buddhist Monastery. But, I was surprised to find one next to my place. Some of the famous Monasteries in Southern part:

• Namdroling Nyingmapa Monastery (Also known as Golden Temple) - Bylakuppe, Karnataka
• Dzogchen Monastery - Kollegal, Karnataka

The Plan

From the articles that I referred and the Monastery's official website, I understood that for staying, we need to obtain special permission from Government officials. This process usually takes 2 to 3 months to get approved. Even though it was 400 kilometres drive, I decided to visit the commonplace in the Dzogchen Monastery in a day and return.

Dzogchen Monastery

The Journey

With a lot of expectations and hope, on a bright Sunday morning, I started my journey towards the Monastery. Coincidentally it was Buddha's birthday. I was extremely joyful and excited to travel through the famous Dhimbum - Hasanur forest ghat route (Talamalai Reserve Forest). With all excitement, I reached Bannari.

Bannari was a small town near Sathyamangalam where the ghat section begins, and this was the last town where we could purchase the basic amenities like food, fuel and medicine. There was a forest check-post where I had to share the vehicle details, the place and purpose of visit. The information was collected to ensure the safety of the travellers as it was a reserved forest.

It was absolutely a thrilling ride through the dense Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve (Talamalai Reserve Forest). I couldn't locate any sorts of buildings. Mobile network was also not available. The road was narrow but perfectly maintained. The climate was mind-blowing that gave a freshness throughout the journey. I crossed all the 27 Hair-Pin bends in less time than estimated and reached Dhimbum.

Note: It is not advised for a beginner (in driving) to travel through this ghat section due to the high volume of Lorry transport, mist and snow.

High-level Map

The Scary Second Half

I enjoyed a short break for 5 minutes in Dhimbum and then continued my ride towards my next pit stop, Hasanur. On either side of the road, I was able to see only the Eucalyptus trees and dense bushes. The number of vehicles using this route was also less. Hence, this route was a little scary.

I reached Germalam (a village on the Tamil Nadu - Karnataka border), where there was one other check-post. I displayed an Original Identity card and provided all the information requested by the officials. 

From that point, for the next 20 kilometres, I found only cornfields on either side. I reached Odeyarpalaya in 30 minutes and spotted the way to enter the Monastery.

The Temple

The Monastery was full of Monks (Few Monks were able to understand Indian languages like Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi). I visited the Buddha temple by taking local monk's permission. The temple was beautiful, and the artwork was exemplary.

There was a Prayer Wheel outside the temple. I was thoroughly enjoying When I rotated the wheels. I tried capturing some photographs and video as well.

Prayer Wheel

The Dzogchen Monastery had three temples within the same premises, and I visited all of them.

Monastery

Shopping

There was a gift shop in the Monastery where I purchased the Tibetian Flag for my vehicle. There were few unique and attractive Lord Buddha statue for sale. The shopkeepers were also Monks. 

Food

There was a restaurant inside the Monastery. The choices for the food was minimal (I was there for lunch). I enjoyed the Tibetan flavor of Indian cuisine. The price was a bit high, but I did not find any other restaurant nearby to have my lunch.

Back to Den

After some good food, I captured some photographs and started from the Monastery towards the Den (Coimbatore). On my way back, I found a water stream and had a short pit-stop. I spent some quality time on the banks of running water (But it was not completely safe and advisable to stop in-between the forest)

I left the place very shortly and resumed towards Coimbatore. Even during a sunny afternoon, only a few sun-rays tried it's best to pierce all the tall and dense trees. I did not feel the summer heat anywhere during the journey.

I reached back my residence in the late evening. The ambiance in the venue helped me to rejuvenate.

Lord Buddha

Duration

I wish to share the split-up of the time duration that I took for my journey.

• Journey time from Coimbatore to Sathyamangalam: 2 Hours
• Journey time from Bannari to Dhimbam: 45 minutes to 1 Hour
• Journey time from Dhimbam to Monastery: 2 Hours
• Duration required to in Monastery: 2 Hours

Note: Time duration might vary depending on the individuals. And also this article is covering only the travel from Tamilnadu through Talamalai Reserve Forest. For other routes and states, do refer the official website link that is attached below.

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References

I have attached the Monastery's Official Website, Incredible India's article and Google Map from Bannari to Dzogchen Monastery.

• Official Site
• Incredible India
• Map

Image Source

"My image gallery and official website"

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