Shivanasamudra and Talakadu Full Day Trip

The Shivanasamudra Falls is on the Kaveri River after the river has found its way through the rocks and ravines of the Deccan Plateau and drops off to form waterfalls.[2] The island town of Shivanasamudra divides the river into twin waterfalls. This creates the fourth largest island in the rivers course. A group of ancient temples are located here and there likely was a village. This is a segmented waterfall. Segmented waterfalls occur where the water flow is broken into two or more channels before dropping over a cliff, resulting in multiple side by side waterfalls. It has an average width of 305 meters (1,001 ft), a height of 98 m (322 ft), and an average volume of 934 cubic metres per second (33,000 cu ft/s). The maximum recorded volume is 18,887 cubic metres per second (667,000 cu ft/s). It is a perennial waterfall. The time of best flow is the monsoon season of July to October. India's second hydro-electric power station is located at the waterfall and is still functional. This station was commissioned by the Diwan of Mysore, Sir K. Seshadri Iyer. The power generated here was initially used in Kolar Gold Fields. India's and First hydro-electric power station is located at Darjeeling Sidrapong Hydroelectric Power Station. They were among the first in Asia.

The ancient Sri Someshwara Temple is another famous temple here at Sivasamudram. Adi guru Sri Shankaracharya is said to have visited this place and established a "Sri Chakra". It is unusually believed that the Someshwara Linga here has existed much before the Ranganantha idol and that the Saptarshis were performing pooja and worshipping this Linga. The Shakthi Devathe temple of Vanadurga Devi is 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away from the Someshwara temple.

The origin of the town is lost in antiquity; but one tradition is that its name was derived from two Kirāta twin brothers, Tala and Kādu, who, cutting down a tree which they saw wild elephants worshiping, discovered that it contained an image of shiva, and that the elephants were rishis transformed. The tree being miraculously restored, all obtained mōksha and the place was named Tala-kādu, which was translated into Sanskrit as Dala-vana. Two stone images declared to represent the brothers are pointed out in front of the temple Veerabadra swamy. In a later age, Rāma is said to have halted here on his expedition to Lanka. The earliest authentic mention of the city of Talekād or Talakādu, in Sanskrit Dalavana-pura, is in connection with the Ganga line of kings. Harivarma, who has been assigned to find a place (247-266 A.D) was, according to an old chronicle, installed at Skandapura (said to be Gajalhatti, in the Coimbatore country, near where the Moyār flows into the Bhavāni), but resided in the great city of Dalavanapura in the Karnāta-dēsa. Thenceforward Talkād became the capital these powerful sovereigns and there the subsequent kings of that line were crowned. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Western Gangas succumbed to the Chōlas, who captured Talkād and gave it the name of Rājarājapura. But about a hundred years later it was taken by the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, who drove the Chōlas out of Mysore. After this time we find that Talkād was composed of seven towns and five mathas or monastic establishments. The town of Māyilangi or Malingi, on the opposite side of the river, was also a large place, and had the name of Jananāthapura. Down to the middle of the 14th century, it remained a possession of the Hoysalas, and then passed into the hands of a feudatory of the Vijayanagar sovereigns, whose line appears to be known as that of Sōma-Rāja.

Among the temples of Talakadu, the Pathaleshwara, Maruleshwara, Arkeshwara, Vaidyanatheshwara and Mallikarjuna temples, the five Lingas believed to represent the five faces of Shiva, form the Pancha pathi and have become famous.[4][7] In honour of these five Shiva temples, a fair is held once every 12 years called Panchalinga Darshana, last held in 2009. The Panchalinga Darshana is held on a new moon day in the month of Karthika when two stars conjoin, the stars of Khuha Yoga and Vishaka. On this day, tradition has it that pilgrims should first bathe in the Gokarna theertha, worship Gokarneswara and Chandikadevi, and then worship Vaidyeshwara, and then bathe in the northern eastern southern and western stretches of the Kaveri and then worship Arkeshwara, Pataleshwara, Maraleshwara and Mallikarjuna, returning to Vaidyeshwara after each worship, finally worship Kirtinarayana and conclude the pilgrimage in one day.[6] According to local legend, Ramanujacharya during his sojourn in Karnataka (also called Melnadu), established five Vishnu temples of Lord Narayana known as Pancha Narayana Kshetrams. Talakadu is one of the Pancha Narayana Kshetrams where the Keerthi Narayana temple was established and the presiding Deity in this temple is Keerthi Narayana.