According to Hindu Mythology, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana crossed Sharavathi at this point during their long stay in the forests, hence it is named as Seetha Katte. Here, in a file photo, Lord Curzon is crossing the river near Seethakatte during a survey in 1903.
A wizened young tree converses with the Falls as winter advances: 'What happened to all your flamboyance, with which you kissed me through incessant droplets, and drenched me in constant green?'
For the fun-loving tourists who want more action, there's the water sports complex at Shirur lake, about a kilometre from Jog, which receives enthusiastic people of all age groups during the season.
For the fun-loving tourists who want more action, there's the water sports complex at Shirur lake, about a kilometre from Jog, which receives enthusiastic people of all age groups during the season.
The clouds have passed, the mist has lifted, and the rains have receded; white has given way to brown & blue; the copper pond below has turned emerald green. There is peace & grace now. Sharavathi stands testimony to the thought that beliefs converge eventually and there is only one Divine.
Water flows down leisurely as it caresses all the rocky recesses, creating layers that the bare eyes cannot discern. That is when the Sun comes to your rescue and sets up myriad rainbows, Water uutouched by the Sun ramains a staid white; for the rest, the celestial harpist runs his fingers across.
When the masculine has made way for the feminine in Nature, it is all grace & beauty that enthrals the connoisseur with fleeting colours. The light accentuates the dark recesses as well, and this show goes on from about 11.30 in the morning to 5.00 PM. Obviously, one has to stay back and romance the Falls!
All conversation is naturally dumbed down here. Forget all your niggling concerns, you have come here to witness my majesty, the Falls seems to say to the visitors. Wherever you are in the vicinity of the Falls, its roar is the constant background music that you get to hear.
There's the roar of the falling water, there's the mist and the clouds. A lot of it is transient, here now, gone again. Which is why it is a bit of a lottery when you arrive at Jog during the rains and witness instead the hide & seek that Nature sets up for you.
In the later years, the Government of Karnataka took steps to build a stairway with railings, making it safer for people to climb down. The effort is worth the view. Don't bank on the Falls though… carry your own drinking water, lots of it!
The persistent photographer keeps looking for yet another way to express the glory of Jog. Here, all he manages to get is a silhoutte of visitors subdued by the sights as they wait patiently for the clouds to pass and the mist to lift. This is why, for many people, Jog Falls is synonymous to Sharavathi!
During monsoons, Linganamakki reservoir gets full and the gates are opened. The river is full-bodied now and there are clouds trying to climb up the valley. The entire region is enveloped in a surreal milky whiteness. Literally and figuratively, everyone dissolves and disappears, they get lost in Nature.
The pool of the colour of burnished copper is the 'pit stop' for the cascading water. The streams regroup, pause for a breath as it were, and continue to flow westward. The Mahatma Gandhi Power Station here produces a small amount of power and the Sharavathi Power Station downstream produces a lot more. For many years, people were allowed to trek down to the bottom despite the presence of wet, slippery rocks along the way. So the view from the bottom was restricted to the lion-hearted.
At the mouth of the Falls, water spreads across the entire width and flows down forming fleeting patterns. You take your eyes off for a moment and you miss it. The grandeur of Nature here inspired many Kannada poets like Kuvempu, Nisar Ahmad, Dr, Shivarudrappa and others to write hearwarming odes about Jog and the land that bears it. They have been set to evergreen tunes and rendered by many a noteworthy voice. Collectively they urge you to witness Jog at least once while you are still alive!
If there is something called 'monsoon magic' it is best displayed here at Jog. Ignoring the intermittent rain that beats down, people climb up & crawl down to all the accessible points of the landscape. Here is one such hero standing on a ledge beside RAJA, undaunted by gusts of wind that would insist on having their way, as they carry rain-bearing clouds hither & thither, spraying copious mist. You haven't experienced Jog Falls, if you ain't drenched!
Between June & September, whenever Linganamakki reservoir fills up, the gates are opened to balance the inflows, lending unequalled splendour to Jog. Here you have RAJA flowing down majestically.
It is a treat to watch Sharavathi rushing down to a depth of 830 ft at Jog Falls in 4 different cascades called as RAJA, RANI, ROCKET & ROARER, based on their style of falling. It is called 'Jogada Gundi' in Kannada, which means the pit of Joga, referring to the muddy pool of water below, perhaps implying that your viewing is complete only when your eyes can take in all the 4 streams and the bottom in one sweeping view.