Jog Falls

Jog Falls created by the Sharavathi River falling from a height of 253 meters (829 ft) is the highest plunge waterfall in India Located in Shimoga District of Karnataka state, these segmented falls are a major tourist attraction. It is also called by alternative names of Gerusoppe falls, Gersoppa Falls and Jogada Gundi.

There are many waterfalls in Asia - and also in India - which drop from a higher altitude. But, unlike those falls, Jog Falls is untiered, i.e., it drops directly and does not stream on to rocks. Thus, it can be described as the highest untiered waterfalls in India. The waterfall database gives it 83 scenic points while Angel falls is at 97.

'Sharavati': A river which rises at Ambutirtha, near Nonabar, in the Tirthahalli Taluk. It takes north-westerly course by Fatte petta,receives the Haridravati on the right below Pattaguppe and the Yenne Hole on the left above Barangi. On arriving at the frontier it bends to the west, and precipitating itself down the celebrated Falls of Gersoppa and passing that village (properly Geru-Sappe), which is really some 29 Kilometers distant, discharges into the sea at Honnavar in North Kanara. The name Sharavati, arrow-born, is in allusion to its flowing from the Ambutirtha, which was formed by a stroke of Rama's arrow. The stream is crossed by 70 anicuts, from which small channels are drawn having an aggregate length of 42 Kilometers.

The magnificent Falls of Gersoppa or Jog, that is, the waterfall, are unquestionably the grandest natural beauty in Karnataka, rich as it is in splendid scenery. They eclipse every other fall in India and have few rivals in any part of the world. "While excelled in height by the Cerosoli and Evanson cascades in the Alps, and the Falls of the Arve in Savoy, the Gersoppa cataract surpasses them in volume of water precipitated ; and while much inferior to Niagara in volume, it far excels those celebrated falls of the New World in height. L.Bowring says: - "It may truly be called one of the wonders of the world, for though the volume of water is less than that of the Cauvery, the immense height of the chief fall is almost without a parallel."

Their existence appears to have been unknown at the time of Buchanan's journey in 1900. The Sharavati, flowing over a very rocky bed about 250 yards wide, here reaches a tremendous chasm, 960 feet (290 m) in depth, and "performs (as Captain Newbold has expressed it) this stupendous lover's leap from the chains of the giant Ghats into the arms of his ocean-rescued mistress- prolific Kanara." This is in allusion to the legend of the formation of the western coast by Parasu Rama.

The water comes down in four distinct falls, presenting a scene of transcendent grandeur and sublimity, whose effect is greatly heightened by the wild and beautiful country around, covered with a wealth of luxuriant vegetation. The Raja Fall pours in one unbroken column sheer to the depth of 830 feet (250 m). Half way down it is encountered by the Roarer, another fall, which precipitates itself into a vast cup and then rushes violently downwards at an angle of forty-five degrees to meet its famous compeer. A third fall, the Rocket shoots downwards in a series of jets; while the fourth, called the Rani (Dame Blanche), is an Undine-like cascade gliding quietly over the mountain side in a sheet of foam.

The most favorable time for visiting these glorious works of nature is in the Monsoon season, though it is enveloped in a dense cloud of vapour, through which rises the thunder of the invisible mighty waters in their fearful descent.There are good bungalows on both sides of the falls. Close by the side of Bombay Bungalow is a slab of rock projecting over the verge of the gulf, by lying down on which and peering over, the best view is obtained of the appalling abyss from above, rendered more striking by the continual flight across it of myriads of rock pigeons, which find a congenial home in the face of the cliffs.

Says a visitor in the month of August about 130 years ago “I lay down flat on this shelf and drew myself up to its edge, over which I stretched my head. A sight burst on the view which I shall never forget and can never hope to describe. I have since looked down the fuming and sulphurous craters of Etna and Vesuvius, but have never experienced the sensations which overwhelmed me in the first downward gaze into this (hibernice) volcano of waters; for so it looks; a chaotic scene that rivets with basilisk fascination the gaze of the spectator. It was with great reluctance and with an intense feeling of depression that I withdrew my head, drenched in spray, from the brink of the precipice. One might almost gaze for ever on this abyss in which a mighty mass of water appears eternally burying itself in a mist-shrouded grave. The clouds of spray which continually ascend heavenwards in slow and majestic wreaths appear to typify the shadowy ghosts of the entombed waters."

The Falls are seen to greatest advantage from the selected points of view which have been cleared on the Mysore bank, the most popular being Watkin's platform. From this side a descent may be made to the pool below, the water in which is 130 feet (40 m) in depth. But this is a difficult undertaking and the re-ascent extremely laborious. The view looking upwards from below is generally considered far less impressive than from the other points, as regards the Falls themselves, but the grandly rugged features of the chasm and the winding gorge in which it is prolonged are more clearly seen in all their savage nakedness.

The varying effects of light and shade at different hours are extremely beautiful. A lovely rainbow spans the waters in the afternoon, rising with the declining sun, and even lunar rainbows are said to be formed in certain aspects of the moon. Rockets and blazing torches or bundles of straw, cast over on a dark night, throw out a fitful glare upon the jaws of the abyss, producing weird and solemn effects as viewed from the Raja's Rock. No words can suffice to adequately describe the charms of a scene replete with every element of the sublime, combining in one superb panorama so many varying aspects both of terror and of beauty, all instinct with the life, the force and play of moving waters.