A Travller's Diary - Kanhangad, Payyyanur, Taliparamba & Trichambaram

We (my mother and myself) reached Kanhangad at 7:30 AM by Mangala Lakshadweep Express which ran 5 hours late that day. When I inquired about the tourist guest house in Kanhangad, somebody told that it's in walkable distance from the railway station. So, we walked down with our luggage as per the directions given by that person and reached the guest house in 15 minutes as it was not as close as that person said.

We took a room there and rested a while as we both were tired because of the walk with luggage. Then we had our bath and came out at 9:30 AM. We had a cup of coffee in a hotel which is on the way to the local bus stand. We wanted to visit the Shiva temple which is located in a place called Poongavanam, two kilometers away from the bus stand.

Kanhangad

We hired an auto and reached the temple in 5 minutes. The temple is not so big in size, but is very famous in that part of the country. The temple is at the entrance of a small fort which was destroyed. The temple was also said to have been destroyed by Tipu Sultan, but was reconstructed later. 

The main deity is worshipped as Karpureshwara here. The temple was closed at that time as a special puja was going on. We waited for 15 minutes before the temple was opened. We had our darshan immediately and stayed in the sannidhi for five minutes. 

We then visited the other small temples located in the same complex before we came out. We had to wait for a vehicle to go back and after 10 minutes, we got an auto. We reached the bus stand in Kanhangad and had our breakfast in a restaurant in the same complex.

Our next visit was Payyanur, which is 35 kms away from Kanhangad and, where the famous Subrahmanya Swamy temple is located. We boarded the KSRTC bus and reached Payyanur at 11:50 AM. 

Payyanur

The temple is two kilometers away from the bus stand and we immediately hired an auto and reached the temple as quickly as possible. But, unfortunately, the temple was just closed as it was 12 noon. We saw the priest of the temple going somewhere and asked him regarding the opening time in the evening. Without answering to that, he asked where we came from. I said we came from Hyderabad and would like to wait till the opening time in the evening. He then asked us about our lunch. We said we would go out and have our lunch in any restaurant nearby. He then asked us to follow him and took us to the office room. There is a big hall beside the office room and lunch was being served there for the temple staff. He asked us to have our lunch along with them. We thanked him and had our lunch there considering it as maha prasadam.

After our lunch, the priest told us that the temple would be open from 5 PM and asked us to take rest in the same office room till then. There were a few chairs over there and we stayed there till 4.30 PM.

In the evening, we went out and had one pradakshina (parikrama) around the temple. The temple is so big in area that it was almost one kilometer when we completed it. There is a well inside the temple and it was constructed in a typical shape (like panavattam). We had our evening tea in a hotel beside the temple and started to wait again. 

Finally, the temple was open at 5:00 PM and we were the first ones to get in. The priest told us that the temple was believed to be built by Parasurama , the creator of Kerala. It was destroyed twice during Tipu Sultan's era and was rebuilt again. 

There are a few lines in Brahmanda Purana, where the temple was described by Muni Garga. Payyan is one of the 1008 names of Lord Subrahmanya and Ooru means town. Hence, the town was named after Lord Subrahmanya. The deity in the temple is said to be very powerful and this temple is considered as the Palani of Kerala.

The shrine of Lord Subrahmanya is in standing pose with his left hand on his hip. He holds his Vel (Shool) in the right hand. There are also temples for Maha Ganapati and Dharma Sasta (Ayyappa) in the same complex.

We came out of the temple and reached the bus stand by auto. We boarded a bus and reached the town of Taliparamba at 6:30 PM. There is temple for Lord Shiva in Taliparamba, which is just one kilometer away from the place where the bus stopped. However, there is another temple for Sri Krishna at Trichambaram which is two kilometers away from there in a different direction. We first went to the temple at Trichambaram by auto.

Trichambaram  

The temple in Trichambaram is dedicated to Sri Krishna and is 22 kms away from Kannur. This temple is very sacred for all Vaishnavas and is considered as North Guruvayur. The temple in Guruvayur is famous for elephants. But, the temple in Trichambaram doesn`t have elephants and there is a story behind this. 

The demon king Kansa wanted to kill his nephew Sri Krishna when he knew that Sri Krishna was born only to kill him. He made so many efforts to kill Sri Krishna during his childhood. In one such effort, Kansa sent an elephant named Kuvalayapeeda to kill Krishna. However, Krishna killed that elephant with naked hands. Therefore, no elephant is allowed to enter this temple even now.

This temple enshines Sri Krishna in his child form and he looks angry (roudra) after killing the elephant. As Sri Krishna is in the form of a child, the priests of the temple offer naivedyam to Him immediately after opening the doors of the temple (even before puja). As saint Sambaram performed tapassu here, this place was originally called as Sri Sambaram which later became Trichambaram. 

As the evening puja was going on then, we had to wait for 15 minutes for darshan. In the meantime, the temple staff told me that it's mandatory for all the male devotees going for darshan to wear dhoti. Though, I brought one dhoti from Hyderabad, it was left in my suitcase in the hotel room in Kanhangad. However, there were stalls in the same complex wherein the temple staff themselves were selling dhotis. I bought one dhoti and changed my dress in the trail room. 

By the time I came out, the puja was over and the devotees were allowed for darshan. We went in and had our darshan for ten minutes. The roof of Srikovil (sannithi) was covered with copper and is in two levels. 

When we came out, we noticed one small temple in a pond. When we went there, we understood that it's Durga temple. The pujari offered us theertham. On the left to Durga temple, there is a small temple for Lord Shiva also.

Taliparamba

We hired an auto and reached Taliparamba at 7:45 PM. The temple here is dedicated to Lord Shiva who is worshipped as Raja Rajeshwara. This village was previously called as Lakshmipura as this place was considered as an abode of prosperity. 

Taliparamba is one of the 108 famous Shiva temples in Kerala. It is considered as a prominent place among all the temples in South India. If there is any problem in any of the temples in South India, it is sought out in this temple in the form of a Prashna (question), a traditional method of astrological decision making. The Prashna is conducted on a platform which is outside the temple.

It is the place where the head of Sati fell after Shiva's tandavam following Sati's self immolation. Hence, this place is also considered as a Shaktipeetham. This place is also among the 108 Bhagavati temples built by Parasurama. 

The Shiva Lingam in this temple is thousands of years old. It is a belief that Lord Rama visited the temple on his way back to Ayodhya after the victory over Ravana. He prayed Lord Shiva in the Namaskara Mandapam in this temple. The presence of Rama is felt in the mandapam even now, so, nobody is allowed into the mandapam (There are some temples in South India that I visited where the locals said Lord Rama visited those temples on his way back to Ayodhya from Lanka. But as per Ramayana, Rama went from Lanka to Ayodhya by Pushpak (Plane) and not by walk. Of course, he could still stop the plane wherever he would want). 

The temple is open from at 4:00 AM and remains open till 12:00 noon. Again, it is open from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM. The famous Athazha Puja takes place at 8:00 PM. All male devotees can have their darshan at any time when the temple is open. However, female devotees are allowed for darshan only after the Athazha Puja (only after 8:00 PM). Though it sounds peculiar, it is the unique feature of the temple and is followed over centuries. This was the reason why we visited the temple at Trichambaram first.

It is a belief in this temple that nobody should go to the darshan of Shiva empty handed. Therefore, everybody carries something to offer to the Lord. It could be flowers, milk, ghee, cloths etc. We bought ghee and flowers in the temple complex. It was the only temple in our entire trip where we stood in queue. As everybody was offering something to the Lord, the queue moved slowly.

We came out at 8:45 PM after our darshan. We again hired an auto to go to the highway where the buses stop. We got our bus at 9:15 PM and we reached Kanhangad at 11:00 PM. As all the restaurants between the bus stand and our guest house were closed, we bought fruits from a street vendor and that was our dinner for that night.

A Traveller's Diary - Kannur, Chirakkal, Cherakunnu, Thiruvangad, Peralassery,Makreri & Kadirur

On 25 August 2016, we checked out of our hotel room in Kannur at 6:30 AM. We had only one small bag with us as we left our luggage in Kozhikode on the previous day. 

Kannur

The moment we came out on to the road, one auto driver stopped in front of us to check whether we would hire him. We didn`t even have our morning coffee by then. But, as we wanted to cover as many temples as possible, we immediately boarded the auto and reached Sree Sundareshwara temple in five minutes.

This temple was built in 1916 and is very famous in Kanur. It was consecrated by Narayana Guru, who was a great social reformer in Kerala. He named Lord Shiva as Sundareshwara as this place was beautiful and the people living here were also beautiful. The priest of the temple was from a different caste, though all pujas are done as per Brahmin culture.






The Shiva Lingam is very big and is clearly visible from the entrance of the temple. There was not much crowd as it was not even 7:00 AM. We stood before the Lord for about ten minutes praying him. There is one small hall in the complex which has the idol of Narayana Guru.

When we came out, our auto driver was still waiting there. We asked him if he could take us to Chirakkal, which is 6 kms away from there, and where there is a temple for Sri Krishna. He said ok and took us to that temple in 15 minutes.

Chirakkal

We thought the temple would be overcrowded as it was Krishnastami that day. But, there was not much crowd. We asked the auto driver to stay there till we come back and drop us on the main road. He agreed to that and we went in.

The shrine of Sri Krishna is with four hands and is in standing pose. The shrine was beautifully sculpted though it is not so big in size. We had our darshan in five minutes and were in the temple for another fifteen minutes visiting other small temples in the complex.  

Our next destination was Cherakunnu. The auto driver dropped us at the bus stop. The bus to Cherakunnu came after fifteen minutes. It took almost 45 minutes to reach Cherakunnu. The conductor asked us to get down at a point, from where the temple could be reached by walk. There was a decent restaurant on the other side of the road. We crossed the road and had our first coffee at around 9:00 AM. 

Cherakunnu

We walked down to the temple as everybody said it was just a five minute walk. But, it took fifteen minutes for us as the distance is more than one kilometer. 

The temple at Cherakunnu is dedicated to Goddess Parvati, who is worshipped as Annapurneshwari here. It is also considered to be one of the 108 Devi temples built by Parasurama. Lord Krishna also located here and, hence, it is considered as a special place for both Shaivas and Vaishnavas. The belief is that Annapura came from Kashi and settled down here. 




The Goddess looked very powerful and it was very calm out there. We came back after 20 minutes and reached the bus stop in 5 minutes by auto. We got our bus after another 5 minutes and reached Kannur in 45 minutes. We had our breakfast in Hotel Brindavan, which is on the fourth floor in a building, opposite to the bus station. 

Our next destination was Thalassery, which is around 25 kms from there. We wanted to board a bus after our breakfast, however, the hotel proprietor said that it would be faster if we go by train. He also said the railway station was just 2 kms away from there and there was a train at 11:00 AM. It was 10:45 AM when we came out. We boarded an auto and reached the station in less than 5 minutes. We bought the tickets and the train came immediately when we entered the platform. As it was a fast passenger, there was no reservation. Almost half the compartment was free. We reached Thalassery in 30 minutes. We boarded an auto and reached the temple at Thiruvangad by 11:45 AM. 

Thiruvangad  

The temple at Thiruvangad is dedicated to Sri Rama and is unique due to its historical importance. The shrine in this temple is believed to be installed by Swetha Muni, who was the student of Agastya Muni. There are four famous temples in Kerala dedicated to Sri Rama and it is one among them (One of the remaining three temples is in Triprayar, near Trissur. We visited this temple in 2005). 

The Dhwajasthambham of the temple in Thiruvangad is so tall and there is no permission to erect a Dhwajasthambham taller than this in any other temple.   

After we had our darshan, one of the priests talked to us in Telugu when he noticed me and my mother talking in Telugu. He said he worked for seven years in the Ayyappa temple at Gollapudi, near Vijayawada. He said that it was a special day that day and he told the reason for that which we couldn`t understand as his Telugu was not clear. It was definitely not because of Krishnasthami. He said they prepared a special prasadam called Kalabham that day and gave four big packets to us to distribute to our friends and relatives back in Hyderabad. 

We came out at 12:30 PM after the temple was closed. We walked down a few yards and found a restaurant over there. We had our lunch and boarded an auto to reach the bus station in Thalassery. 

Peralassery

Our next visit was the Subrahmanya temple at Peralassery, which is 15 kms away from Thalassery. We boarded a bus and reached that place in 30 minutes. During this journey, we crossed a small village called Pinarayi, which is the native place of Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala. It was just 2:30 PM when we reached Peralassery and the temple was closed. It would be opened only at 4:00 PM. We waited there patiently and had our evening tea at 3:50 PM in a hotel opposite to the temple. 

This temple is the place where Rama and Lakshmana were said to be halted when they were on their way to Lanka to free Sita from Ravana. The temple tank (Pushkarini) is artistically constructed 
though it is not so big in size.

There were around 50 people gathered by the time the temple was opened. We were among the first ones to have darshan. There were so many copper and bronze idols of snakes all around the temple. 

The priest of the temple told us about another Subrahmanya temple in a small village called Makreri, which is just 5 kms away from there, of course, in the opposite direction to Thalassery. So, we wanted to visit that temple also before going back to Thalassery. 
We hired an auto directly to Makreri temple.

Makreri

We reached Makreri in 15 minutes and got down in front of the temple. The temple is two kilometers away from a small village called Vellachal. We requested the auto driver to wait for us as there was no vehicle found to go back to the main road. 

The main deity of the temple is Lord Subrahmanya who was believed to be installed by Lord Hanuman. As monkey (markat) installed the deity, this village was originally named as Marakatassery and later became Makreri. It is believed that Lord Hanuman performs the first puja to Subrahmanya every morning even now. One Lord is worshipped by another Lord, that's why, the power of the temple is immense.




We had our darshan in five minutes and visited another temple for Lord Vishnu located in the same premises. We spent around 15 minutes in the temple before we came out and boarded our auto.
We reached Vellachal in 5 minutes and the driver dropped us where the bus stops. We got our bus after a 15 minute wait and reached Thalassery at 6:00 PM. We immediately got our bus to Kadirur (which is jut 5 kms from there) and reached Kadirur by 6:20 PM.

Kadirur



The temple at Kadirur is just 200 meters away from the main road where the bus stops. We reached the temple in 5 minutes. The temple is dedicated to the Sun God. Kadirur was originally called as Kadaravanur which means Land of Sun. It is one of the rarest temples in Kerala which is dedicated to Lord Surya (Another famous temple dedicated to Lord Surya is located in a small village called Adityapuram, which is located between Kochi and Kottayam. We visited that temple in 2011).

The temple in Kadirur is clean and silent. The main shrine is beautifully sculpted and is around 3 feet in height (The main idol in Adityapuram is just one foot tall). The deity here is worshipped as Suryanarayana and looked very powerful.

We came out after spending around 25 minutes in the temple. We walked back and reached the main road in Vellachal in 5 minutes. We got our bus back to Thallassery immediately and reached the town at 7:15 PM. We had our evening tea in a hotel in the bus complex before boarding the bus to Kozikode at 7:30 PM. We reached Kozhikode at 9:00 PM after a one and half an hour journey. We had our dinner in a decent restaurant and reached the railway station at 9:45 PM. We claimed our luggage from the cloak room and boarded the West Coast Express to go to Mangalore.

A Traveller's Diary - Kozhikode, Valayanad, Baypore & Lokanarkavu

Though, we (my mother and myself) had been to Kerala number of times, we had not visited the districts of Kozhikode and Kannur in North Kerala. We finally got the chance in August 2016. We reached Kozhikode (which was earlier known as Calicut) on 24 August 2016 at 5:30 AM by Mangalore Express. The train was late by one hour. We took a room in a nearby lodge and took rest for some time. We came out of the room at 7:30 AM after having our bath. 

We hired an auto and reached Thali temple at 7:40 AM. The temple is just one kilometer away from the railway station. This temple is very famous in Kozhikode. All the male devotees have to wear dhoti and remove their shirt and banian before entering the temple. As this is strictly followed in most of the temples in Kerala, I carried one dhoti with me. The temple was crowded as there were around five hundred people inside the temple. 

This temple has lot of deities, but the main deity is Lord Shiva. The walls of the temples are in the shape of Elephant belly with broad base and narrow neck at the end. It took around 10 minutes for darshan as there was a queue. After having our darshan, we went to see the remaining temples in the complex. There is a temple for Sri Krishna and it was crowded as the next day was going to be Krishnasthami. After having the darshan of Sri Krishna, we came out of the temple at around 8:30 AM. We went to a nearby hotel and had a cup of coffee. 

There is another temple dedicated to Lord Ganesha on the right side of Thali temple. Surprisingly, this temple was not constructed in Kerala style. There is a pond in front of this temple. There is a small temple for Subrahmanya also in the same complex. We came out at 9:30 AM after having our darshan of both the deities.  

Our next visit was Varakkal Devi temple which is 6 kms from that place. We boarded an auto and reached the temple at 10:00 AM. 
The temple is located on a small rock which is called West Hill and is very close to the Varakkal beach. There are 28 steps that lead to the temple. 

The deity in this temple is Goddess Durga who is worshiped as Varakkal Devi. It is a belief that Parashurama, who was the creator of Kerala, built 108 temples in Kerala for Goddess Durga. Varakkal Devi temple is considered to be the 108th one. 

There were hardly 10 people inside and we spent around 20 minutes in the temple. We boarded another auto and reached the railway station in 15 minutes. We had our breakfast in a restaurant and boarded the bus to go to Valayanad which is around 8 kms from there (towards Govindapuram).

There is another temple at Valayanad which is dedicated to Bhagavathi who is considered to be the family Goddess of the Zamorin kings who ruled Kozhikode in the 14th century. This temple is also located on a small hill and there are around 30 steps that take us to the temple.

The darshan was stopped for some time as there was a special puja going on at that time. The temple was opened in 15 minutes and we had the darshan of Bhagavathi. We stood in front of her for around 10 minutes as there were not more than 30 people inside the temple. We returned after spending 20 minutes in the temple.  

One of my colleagues in Hyderabad is from Kozhikode. She told me about the Baypore roadway two years back. Since then, it was in my mind to visit that place. When we planned our trip to the Northern part of Kerala, I included that also in my 'must see' list. 

After reaching Kozhikode, we boarded another bus and reached Baypore in 30 minutes. This place is 15 kms away from the town. The local people pronounce Baypore as Baypuray. The beach is 2 kms away from the bus stand and we hired an auto. The beach at Baypore is not so beautiful, but the main attraction there is the roadway which is almost one and a half kilometer into the sea. 

It is definitely not a bridge, though it is described as Baypore bridge in some websites. It is a roadway that was laid down with 15 feet width. We can walk directly into the sea from the beach. I have not heard of any such roadway in any part of the country. That's why it became a primary attraction and tourists (especially foreigners), who visit Kozhikode, include this road also a part of their itinary. However, someone in Kozhikode told me later that there had been another roadway constructed in Kozhikode beach which is similar to Baypore roadway.

There were a few fishermen who were trying their luck on the right side of the sea. On the left side, there is a small rock almost 500 meters away from this roadway which stopped the force of the sea to some extent.  Probably, it made the construction of the roadway easier. 

We wanted to walk for about half a kilometer initially as the end of the roadway looked very far. However, after walking on that roadway for sometime, we started enjoying it. Moreover, the weather was also very pleasant. There were a few rocks thrown at the end of the roadway, probably to protect the roadway from the tides in the sea. 

It was really amazing to get drenched by the tides after they hit the rocks. We spent longer than we planned as we both enjoyed our time over there. The view was simply superb when we looked back at the shore from there.

After spending more than one hour on that roadway, we finally decided to go back at 2:00 PM as we didn`t have our lunch yet. In all our trips, we mainly visit temples. It was one of the exiting times I had like the one I had in the desert near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan in 2009. Fortunately, there was no Tsunami when we were on the roadway, or else, you wouldn`t have been reading this now.

It took around 45 minutes to go back to Kozhikode. We had our lunch in a restaurant which is close to the railway station. After our lunch, we walked down to the station as our next plan was to visit Lokanarkavu temple, near Vadakara.

We boarded the Parasuram Express and reached Vadakara at 5:00 PM. We walked down to the bus stand at it is just half a kilometer away from the railway station. All the buses that go to Memunda stop at Lokanarkavu, which is 5 kms away from the town. We reached the place in 10 minutes. We hired an auto from the highway to go to the temple which is almost one kilometer away. It is again compulsory to wear dhoti before entering the temple.

The temple in Lokanarkavu was dedicated to Goddess Durga. The original name of this place was Lokamalayarkavu. Loka means world, Mala means mountain, Aara means river and Kavu means grove. There are two more temples for Shiva and Vishnu just beside the main temple. 

We returned after having a very good darshan of all these deities. This time we hired an auto directly to go to the railway station in Vadakara as we wanted to stay in Kannur for that night. However, as the next day was Krishnastami, there was a Shobha Yatra going on in Vadakara. There were hundreds of school children dressed up like Sri Krishna. It was like all the school children in Vadakara were involved in that. Thousands of people came on to the roads to watch the Yatra. As a result, our auto was stopped one kilometer away from the railway station. 

We got down and watched the Yatra for some time. The children were dancing and there were a few skits going on. As it looked the Yatra would continue for a few more hours and it was getting late for us, we started walking towards the railway station. We reached the station at 7:30 PM after having our evening tea in a restaurant close to the bus stand. We boarded the Netravati Express and reached Kannur by 8:45 PM. We had our dinner in a restaurant and took a room in a hotel close to the railway station and stayed in Kannur for that night.

A Traveller's Diary - Bidar, Rejintal, Jharasangam, Anantagiri, Bugga & Vikarabad

My mother's cousin lives in Bidar and she had been inviting us for a long time to come to her house. However, the trip was not materialized for a long time due to the reasons beyond our control. 

We made one attempt to go to Bider by bus in March 2013 (during Good Friday). After reaching Humnabad, which is 53 kms away from Bidar, we heard the sad demise of my cousin in an accident (who lived in Hyderabad and was just 32 then). We immediately returned back to Hyderabad from Humnabad.

We got the chance to go to Bidar after two years. We boarded the train to Sai Nagar (Shirdi) at 5:45 PM on 23 May 2015 (as the train was late) and reached Bidar at 9:00 PM. We hired an auto from the railway station and went to my aunt's house. We planned to see the important tourist attractions in and around Bidar on the next day.

24 May 2015

Bidar

We couldn`t wake up early in the morning as my mother and my aunt spent a lot of time talking with each other during the night as they met after a long time. By the time we came out of the house after having our breakfast, it was 10:00 AM. 

We wanted to go to Gurudwara first which is 4 kms away from my aunt's house. It is located exactly between the railway station and my aunt's house (In fact, we saw the arch on the road to Gurudwara in the previous night when we were going to my aunt's house from the railway station). We hired an auto and reached Gurudwara in less than 10 minutes.




The Gurudwara is very big in size and is painted in White colour like any other Gurudwaras. At the entrance (where we left our footwear), I covered my head with a scarf I brought with me as it is the custom that no man should enter the Gurudwara with bare head. All men who do not belong to Sikh community have to wear a piece of cloth on their heads before entering the Gurudwara. All women have to cover their heads either with dupatta of their chudidars or with pallu of their saries.

We had to walk for more than five minutes from the main gate to reach the actual building. The floor was not covered with anything and, as it was core summer, our feet burnt due to the heat. There were two stairways one to go up and the other one to come down. Only the stairway which is meant to come down was covered with carpet. The heat was even worse when we started taking steps to go up as the stairway was made of marble. So we went down quickly and took the other stairway (which was covered) to go upstairs.



There were almost 100 people praying inside the Gurudwara. A few people were sitting aside and singing religious songs. We also sat somewhere and prayed silently for 10 minutes. One volunteer gave us prasadam when we were coming out. He also advised us to go to the langar (kitchen cum dining hall) and have lunch as it was being served then. We said we had heavy breakfast and it was not our lunch time (it was just 10:30 AM then). But, the other devotees who overheard our conversation insisted us to have something as it was prasadam and should not be rejected.

We went to the dining hall where more than 50 people were having their lunch. A few people volunteered to serve rotis and sweet. We tasted one roti (which was served with mixed vegetable curry) and one sweet each. The person who sat beside me told that people from that community voluntarily do service in Gurudwaras during Sundays. When we came out, I noticed a few more volunteers who were washing the dishes.




It was almost 11:00 AM by the time we came out of Gurudwara. I have not removed the scarf from my head even after coming out as it was terribly hot out there. Our next visit was the famous Lakshmi Narasimha temple, located in a cave which is 5 kms away from the town. We again boarded an auto and reached the temple in 15 minutes.

The story behind Lord Narasimha being situated here is, after killing Hiranyakashpu, Narasimha proceeded to kill another demon named Jalasura, who was a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva. After he was killed by Lord Narasimha, Jalasura turned into water and started flowing from Lord's feet. Till this day, water keeps flowing from Lord’s feet and fills the cave. The devotees who want to have the darshan of Lakshmi Narasimha, have to go in water for 300 meters in the cave.

Unfortunately, the temple was under repairs at that time and, as a result, the people were not permitted to enter the cave. However, there is another idol of Lard Lakshmi Narasimha at the entrance of the cave. We had the darshan of Lakshmi Narasmha who is at the entrance along with other devotees.





We went out after spending almost 30 minutes there. A city bus was parked at the entrance of the temple and it was about to leave. We boarded that bus as my aunt said it would go to their colony. The bus was so similar to the Metro Express bus in Hyderabad. However, it has an additional feature of public address system (which is only in the air conditioned buses in Hyderabad). There was an announcement regarding the next stop along with the current stop. This facility is very useful to the people who are new to the town. We reached Bidar in 20 minutes and got down in our colony. My aunt's house is just 5 minutes walk from the bus stop. We skipped our lunch as we were already feeling heavy and took rest for some time.

We took rest till 6:00 PM as it was very hot out there. We came out at 6:30 PM and went to visit Papanasha Shiva temple which is one and a half kilometer away from our house. The temple is located in a place which looks like a small valley. We wanted to board an auto, but our aunt said the way to the temple would look so beautiful and we would miss the view if we go in auto. So we started walking down.

There is a newly constructed Sai Baba temple on the way to this temple. We went in and had the darshan of Sai Baba.




There were a few more small temples on the way and we visited all the temples. Finally, we reached the main temple at 7:30 PM. The main Lingam in the temple was believed to be installed by Lord Rama when he was on his way back to Ayodhya from Lanka. 

The original temple was lost and a new temple was built on the ruins. There is a large pond and it is known as Papanasha, meaning destroyer of sins. Hence many devotees have a holy dip in this pond. 

We returned after spending more than half an hour in the temple. We waited for 10 more minutes as there was no mode of transport available. Fortunately, one auto came after 10 minutes and we boarded it. We reached home at around 8:30 PM.

25 May 2015

Rejintal

We woke up early as we wanted to cover a few more temples on our way back to Hyderabad from Bidar. My aunt prepared breakfast for us, but we couldn`t do proper justice to that as it was just 7:00 AM. We took leave from our aunt and hired an auto to go to the bus station. Our first visit was Rejintal which is in Medak district in Telengana and is 18 kms from Bidar. We boarded a bus and got down at Rejintal at 8:15 AM. The temple is almost one kilometer away from the highway. As there were no transport facilities available, we went to the temple by walk.

The temple at Rejintal was dedicated to Sri Siddhi Vinayaka who was considered as Swayambhu here. The temple is more than 200 year old. We had the darshan of the Lord immediately as there was no crowd. The priest told us that it's the only temple in India with South facing Ganapati (There is another Varasiddhi Vinayaka temple in our colony in Malkajgiri, Hyderabad where the Lord is considered as Swayambhu and also faces South. So, I thought, there could be a few more temples with South facing Ganesha that might not be so famous).

We again walked back to the highway after spending around 30 minutes in the temple. There was a hotel on the other side of the highway. We crossed the highway and went in. As we had our breakfast in my aunt's house, my mother had a cup of coffee and I had a cup of tea there. The tea was very good, but my mother said the coffee was not so good.

We boarded another bus at 9:30 AM and reached Zaheerabad (which is around 30 kms from there) at 10:30 AM. Our next visit was Jharasangam in Medak district which is 15 kms away from Zaheerabad. As there were no frequent buses to Jharasangam, we hired an auto (after waiting for around half an hour for bus) and reached the temple at 11:30 AM .

Jharasangam

The temple at Jharasangam is dedicated to Lord Shiva who is considered as Kethaki Sangameshwara here. The Lingam here was said to be installed by Lord Brahma. There are a few temples in South India which are called Dakshina Kashi and it is one among them.

The temple was still open as it was Monday. There were more than a thousand devotees at that time. We had to stand in a queue for darshan for around 20 minutes. After our darshan, we went to the back side of the temple and there is a pond there. This pond is called as Amritha Kundam. There were a few devotees who were having their bath in the pond.

We came out and boarded the same auto and reached Zaheerabad at 1:00 PM. We had our lunch in a restaurant which is opposite to the bus station. Our next visit was Vikarabad which was around 50 kms away from there (towards Hyderabad). We boarded the bus at around 1:45 PM and reached Vikarabad at 3:30 PM. We immediately got another bus which was going to Tandur via Anantagiri.

Anantagiri

Anantagiri is located in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana and is just 6 kms away from Vikarabad. The temple here is dedicated to Lord Ananta Padmanabha and is located in the deep forest. It is considered as the only Ananta Padmanabha temple in Telangana. The bus stopped exactly in front of the temple at 4:00 PM.





There was not much crowed as the temple was just opened. We first had a pradakshina (parikrama) around the temple and visited all the small temples in that complex. Then we entered the main temple. The Lord here is in standing pose and not in sleeping pose like in most of the Ananta Padmanabha temples (another Ananta Padmanabha temple we visited where the Lord is in standing pose is at Perdur near Udupi, Karnataka).

There are rooms available in the same complex for the devotees to stay. There is a big Hanuman statue at the entrance.

We got our bus back to Vikarabad after a 10 minute wait. Our next visit was the famous Shiva temple in a small village called Bugga which is around 8 kms away from the town. The buses were not so frequent, so we hired an auto and reached the temple at round 5:00 PM. We asked the auto driver to drop us back in Vikarabad as there was no vehicle found.

The temple is just a few steps from the highway and was open at that time. We went in and had the darshan of Lord Shiva who is worshiped as Ramalingeshwara here. The Lingam here was said to be installed by Rama as he installed several Shiva Lingams throughout the way when he was going back to Ayodhya from Lanka. It was to get rid of the sin of killing Ravana who was a great devotee to Shiva. This temple has over 500 year old history.

We were just 15 minutes there as the auto driver was waiting for us. It was 5:45 PM by the time we reached Vikarabad. The driver dropped us in front of Raghavendra Tiffin Center and showed us the place where the bus to Hyderabad would stop. We went into the hotel and had our evening tea.

When we came out of the hotel, our auto driver was still there chitchatting with another driver. As my mother heard of a Balaji temple in Vikarabad, she asked the driver about the temple. He said it's just 2 kms away from that place. He also said he would take us to the temple and drop us back there. We boarded the auto and reached the Balaji temple in 5 minutes.

The temple was newly constructed and was very clean. Around 20 women were sitting in the temple and were singing bhajans. We had the darshan of Lord Venkateshwara and we stood in front of the shrine for more than 10 minutes. To the right of Balaji, there is Lord Ganesha and in the left, there is Goddess Padmavathi. 

We stayed for another 10 minutes in the temple as it was so calm and peaceful out there. The driver dropped us back and we got our bus back to Hyderabad in 5 minutes. It was the same bus that we boarded to go to Anantagiri from Vikarabad. The conductor said that it returned from Tandur. We got down at Mehadipatnam at 9:00 PM and reached our home by 9:45 PM.