Info of Talakadu, Mysore by Sundar Palaniappan
Vaidyanatheshwara Temple and Talakadu
Talakadu is a centre of pilgrimage situated in the Thirumukudalu Narasipura Taluk of Mysore district of Karnataka.
Talakadu is also known as Kasi of south and also known as Gajaranya( Elephant forest in the ancient lore of India ).
Pilgrims come here for the sight of the five sacred lingas in the lunar month of Kartika.
Talakadu was ruled in ancient times by the Gangas, Pallavas, Cholas. Hoysalas, Vijayanagara emprerors and recently by the Mysore kings. Once upon the time it was the capital town.
Curse of Alamelamma
During the Vijayanagara emprors period, they appointed one Srirangaraya to be the resident supervisor of Talakadu.
Srirangaraya's wife was Alamelamma and every friday, she used to send her ornaments to decorate, Sri-Ranganayaki, the spouse of SriRanganatha at SriRangapatna.
One fine day, Srirangaraya of Talakadu, died of carbuncle. On a certain friday, Alamelamma did not send the ornaments for some reason.
The king of Mysore sent forces to bring those ornaments at any cost. Alamelamma relented the use of force in dharma. She was helpless and bound all the ornaments to her sari and jumped into river Kaveri near Malangi cursing 'Let Talakadu become sandy, Let Malangi be a swamp and may not have the kings of Mysore have any Children'. Since then it is said to be Talakadu was filled with sand dunes.