Chikmagalur district

Sringeri taluk

The seat of the Sharada Peetham that Adi Shankaracharya founded in the eighth century, on a bend of the Tunga. The town is small and the temple complex is its centre of gravity; around it the taluk is rainforest, areca gardens and the short, cold waterfalls that come off the Kigga ridge.

4 places to visit

  • Sharadamba temple and the Sringeri math
  • Vidyashankara temple, 14th-century Vijayanagara stone
  • Sirimane Falls
  • Rishyashringa temple at Kigga

What to eat in Sringeri

  • The math's own prasada meal, served twice a day to all visitors
  • Tunga-side breakfast: idli, kotte kadubu steamed in jackfruit leaf, and coffee
  • Halasina hannina happala and sandige, dried on every terrace in summer
  • Areca-country sweets — hayagreeva and kayi holige at festival time

Getting around

Dress conservatively for the temple complex and leave footwear and leather at the stands. The fish in the Tunga below the temple are protected — feeding is allowed, fishing is not.