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.
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.
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.
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