Kumara Parvata Trek - March 25th - 27th 2010 - 1

Once every now and then, the bug of foolhardiness infects me, and I end up doing crazy ventures that saner minds of my age (58 years) would prudently avoid. So it happened that a few days ago I decided to venture a trek up Kumara Parvata – a towering peak in the vicinity of Kukke Subramanya, a town in the South Kanara district of Karnataka, India. The peak, however, lies in the Coorg district of Karnataka. While the peak is known as Kumara Parvata in South Kanara, it is known as Pushpagiri, in Coorg. The top of the peak is at an altitude of approximately 5650 feet or 1712 m above the Mean Sea Level. I found out from the Survey of India Toposheet that Subramanya town is 123 m or 400 feet M.S.L., and that would make for a trekking climb of roughly 5200 feet. This peak is supposed to be the third tallest one in Karnataka – the tallest being the Moolaingiri peak in the Bababudan hills.


This peak finds a mention in the Skanda Puranas and narrates the story of how Lord Subramanya (also called Kartikeya, Muruga, Vadivel etc.) slew the demon Taarakasura on top of the peak on the seventh day after his birth. Lord Subramanya is the son of Shiva and Parvati, the other son being Lord Ganesha. Lord Subramanya is supposed to be characterized by six potencies and is hence also called Shanmukha (Six Faced). Curiously on Kumara Parvata, you find in profusion, a mineral that has six faces. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system and is probably the mineral apatite. These crystals are venerated as Shanmukha Linga and worshipped with diligent care and devotion. When Subramanya slew Taarakasura, his body is supposed to have fallen in Marigundi – a place one sees while climbing up the Kumara Parvata, and his head is supposed to have fallen near a village called Kulkunda. Curiously, my job had forced me to camp at Kulkunda in 1984 which makes me wonder if I had been Taarakasura in my previous birth!

Way back in 1984, I and another colleague had been assigned work in this area, and we had only been successful in climbing half way up the peak then, as we returned back to camp at Kulkunda before dusk. Since then, it has been my desire to trek up the peak, but it is somewhat foolhardy to venture on a scheme like this when one is out of shape. For the past 6 months I have neither been going on my walks nor exercising. Further I’ve put on a lot of weight and suffering from bouts of breathlessness and effortful breathing. Just recently, as I was reading through a book called ‘Mystic Eye’ by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, I was struck by the experience he had had in the vicinity of Kumara Parvata in the 1990s and the urge to go up the peak developed within me very strongly. I did try to find a friend to accompany me from Bangalore but totally failed in the effort. Since the desire to ‘just do it!’ was so strong, I decided to go it alone.

I left Bangalore at 9:00 a.m on the 24th of March 2010 by bus to Kukke Subramanya, arriving there by 4:15 p.m. I faced a hurdle in getting a decent room as the owners of hotels are terribly wary of giving rooms to single visitors. I did try for a room at Ashraya Hotel but was flatly denied. I found this strange as I am close to sixty and would have expected better perspicacity in people who can see me and judge me. Or rather, is it true that they indeed have it more than me to prudently deny me a room?! Anyway, I tried in one or two other places before a kindly clerk at ‘Karthikeya Krupa Guest House’ offered me a room at Rs. 50 a night.

I divide rooms into two types -  Those in which my sister just would not even dream of entering and  Those which I would dream of living for a night. Guess of what type the room number 7 which I was offered was. But I was extremely grateful that I got an accommodation in the first place and secondly at such an inexpensive rate.

The room was quite dingy and unventilated. But what else can you expect at Rs. 50 a night? The ceiling fan was very noisy. Throughout the night there were frequent powercuts and the extreme sultriness of the place combined with the noisiness of the fan gave me barely two hours of disturbed sleep.

Later I visited the temple and ardently prayed for blessings. I certainly needed them considering the shape I was in and also considering the strenuousness of the trek.

Later I set about in search of a guide to take me up the top.
                                                                                     To be continued ...