This was a tour that we had waited for !
Srikoormam was very elusive and we tried to combine it with Puri-Jagannath but alas it was not to be. Hence when Tirthayatra announced this tour, we booked early.
Day 1- 23rd Dec ( Srikoormam & Arasavalli)
Various Yatris reached Vizag from Madurai, Mumbai, Trichy, Chennai and Bengaluru and we arrived in Vishakapatnam around 7:45am by flight from Chennai.
We were all moved to Hotel Dwaraka Inn in a luxury bus from airport.
We were picked up rom the airport and taken to the hotel,very comfortably and in the hotel we were welcomed with hot Vennpongal and sakkarai pongal, which was very soothing to out tummies.
We left the hotel by the AC bus to Srikoormam, after lunch around 2:00pm. It was a pleasant evening and the temple was empty ,with only our tour yatris.
The temple is built in Kalinga architecture type . The main deity is in tortoise ( Koorma) shape. This moola Moorthy is covered in sandal paste. Mahalakshmi thayar sits in a Thani kovil. The huge Pushkarani is known as Swetha Pushkarani.
There are 108 "eka-sila" pillars, with none resembling the other. This temple has two Dwajasthambams , to bless Sri Ramanujacharya. ( original facing east and 2nd facing west).
Then we visited the Suryanarayana koil in Arasavalli.
Suryanarayana stands majestic with his three wives (Usha, Chaya and Padmini standing at his feet.)
The Putras of Brahma stand above forming an umbrella. Sanath, Sanaka, Sanathana and Sanathkumara.
We slept in the Hotel after a nice dinner.
Day 2 , 24th Dec ( Simhachalama & Annavaram)
Morning of 24th saw us all in the bus at 7 and on our way to Simhachalam, where Lord Nrisimha is seen as Varaha Nrisimha fully covered in sandal paste , as he is believed to be very ugra. Only on Akshaya Tritheeya day , the sandal paste is removed, Abisheka is performed ( one can see the third eye) and again sandal paste is applied.It is called nija Roopa darisanam.
Simhachalam is on a hill and the temple is very well maintained. Smaller vehicles go up the small hill, there are government run busses just as in Tirumala and we took that bus.
Thayar is Simhavalli .
Prasadam is laddu.
After that we left for Annavaram where the presiding deity is Satyanarayana perumal ,Shiva with a snake ,and mahalakshmi thayar all on the same pedestal.
There is a separate sannidhi for Brahma here.
Day 3, 25th Dec ( Ryali & Dwaraka-Thirumala)
We left early and enroute had breakfast and reached Ryali, situated between the rivers Vasishta and Gauthami, tributaries of River Godavari.
The exquisite idol is made of black stone depicting Mahavishnu in the front and Mohini in the rear side,
This word in Telugu means 'drop' and the story goes that after Samudra mathana, Vishnu took Mohini avatar. And taken by the beauty of Mohini Shiva walks behind Mohini. They reached this place and Mohini (Vishnu) turning back , makes Shiva realise that (s)he is only Vishnu and drops ( Ryali) a flower .
The moolavar is called Jagan Mohini Keshava perumal. And there is a figure of Mohini behind the moolavar which can be seen only in a mirror because the mohini is
carved in the backside of the moolavar keshava.
The feet of Keshava are always wet with Ganges water .
There is a clean toilet here, for use by public.
At the other end of the street opposite the Keshava temple is a Shiva temple and the Abhisheka water just goes inside the ground and no one knows where. Brahmma installed this Linga .
Then we visited a temple known as Dwaraka- Thirumala ( which is also known as "Chinna Tirupathy) which was as crowded and as well maintained as Tirupati. This kshetram also has Srinivasa as the presiding deity.
Sage Dwaraka prayed to the Lord and HE appeared from the ground. As the sage opened his eyes as The Lord was appearing , HE stopped appearing halfway through. HE is standing with his feet under the ground and is believed to be touching MahaBali's head in Patallok.
In the 11th century the great seer Sri Ramanujacharya installed full vigraha of Srinivasa behind the half Srinivasa and one can see two Srinivasa vigraha in this temple, one behind other.
After a wait we were taken in through a special request as all of us were senior citizens.
Thayar is Alamelu Manga
And after lunch , we were on our way to Badrachalam.
Lunch was mysorepak , Bisbelehoolianna, Thayir Sadam, Mixture
We were on our way to Badrachalam and the cooks who were traveling with us had prepared 'uppitu' for dinner.
As we drove on bad , thick forest roads there were many who had churning stomachs.
We finally stopped at 8pm in a small wayside shop to have dinner.
It is worth mentioning that our young tour director and CEO of Tirthayatra gave a wonderful upanyasa on Aranya kandam and kishkinda Kandam .
We reached Badrachalam at around 10pm and checked onto our allotted rooms.
We fell asleep immediately and woke up early next morning to go into the Temple for thirumanjana seva.
Day 4 , 26th Dec (Bhadracahalam & Parnasala)
Our Director had arranged Abisheka tickets for some of the yatris who were interested and we were seated inside the Sanctum for the Thirumanjanam of the moolava deity, which is performed only on Sundays.
The Deity here is short in height but is very attractive ,holding his wife Sita on his left lap and his brother Lakshmana stands a little away .
The Thirumanjana took few minutes and then after alankara was done, we had a beautiful Darshan of Sri Ramachandramoorthy in all glory, pattu veshti, Sita in a pattu saree and Lakshmana in a pattu veshti as well.
If anyone wants to offer vastram here it has to be silk only and none other for the King Ramachandra, his consort and his brother.
The sannidhi for Garuda and Hanuman is opposite the
main sannidhi.
We came out feeling very satisfied, but there was more to come, as our hotel was very near the temple it was easy for us to keep going in and out.
To go in one has to buy tickets for any sevas.
A group of us went in for Sayana Aarti seva and one pujari sang the Lord to sleep with Echariga ga ga. We were given milk as prasadam.
From Badrachalam we drove to Parnasala ,where Rama and Sita are said to have stayed enjoying the Godavari river ,with Lakshmanan in attendance. Here there is a beautiful temple complex with many sculptures of Ravana and Rama ,Sita and lakshman.
Back to the hotel to sleep.
Day 5- 27th Dec. ( Bhadrachalam)
Early morning at 3.30 a few people went in for suprabatham sevai.
At 6.30 we went in again to have a very good Darshan and also joined the thiruppavai goshti.
The yatris also visited the Ahobilamutt temple near the temple.
Few yatris also had Godavari snanam after sankalpam by the Sri Agrani Krishna Dasa (CEO).
The Ramachandramoorthy is very enchanting here , inviting us again and again for Darshan. We also partook of a Kalyan utsava of Rama and Sita.
That evening Ms Deepthi Mohan, the youmgest yatri in her teens, sang a soothing "Pandureethi" brilliantly.
It was followed by the yatra's young CEO honouring the head priest of the the temple.
In the evenings Rama comes out to take his position as king , this is called Durbar Seva. He sits in durbar instyle and listens to the days income and expenses and also the days happenings .
There is also a regular discourse for dhanur masya. This year it was by Choodamani mam from Khammam.
Day 6 , 28th Dec ( Vedathri, Mattapalli & Vadapalli)
We left Badrachalam early morning at 5am and it was thick fog in Bhadrachalam on that day and we had a long drive to Vedadri, Nrisimha kshetram, Chenchulakshmi thayar, on the banks of river krishna(veni).
From there we went to Mattapalli, another temple on the banks of river Krishna(veni) again a very popular Nrisimha kshetram. The Nrisimhar here stands out with his two resorts Rajyalakshmi and Chenchulakshmi. We had lunch here ,tomato rice and Curd rice.
From Mattapalli to Vadapalli an hour and a half journey. The Nrisimhar here breathes . There is a lamp with two tiers. The lower lamp wick doesn't even flicker, but the lamp that is near the Nrisimha's face wavers as if He is breathing.
We noticed standing vahanas of Garuda and Hanumantha in this temple.
There is a river sangamam here, of rivers Moosi(musukunda river) and krishna. It is considered very important as a sthalam for pinda pradanam.
From Vadapalli,we went to Vijayawada,and checked into a hotel- The Park Iris. This hotel is in the middle of the
busy city ,with markets on either side. It is barely 20 minutes to Mangalagiri from here.
Day 7 , 29th Dec ( Mangalgiri & Kethavaram)
Today the star was Swathi, Nrismha's star and we were on our way to Mangalgiri Nrisimha kshetram. The nrisimha here is offered only panagam (sweetened jaggery water).
The panagam pots are given upon producing a ticket and the archakar takes it and pours it down Nrisimhars throat, believe me when I say that half only goes down! The rest is given as prasadam. People say that many years ago the gurgling noise could be heard from the Nrisimhars throat, but now with so much noise only the archakar can hear it .
Amazingly there are no flies or ants in this temple , for the quantity of jaggery water ( panagam) !!
At the foothills of Mangalagiri, there is one more Nrisimha temple. The Moorthys here were decorated with flowers beautifully, being Swathi.
From the fascinating Mangalagiri, we went on an adventurous trip to Kethavaram. It was a long drive through Guntur where one could smell the spicy chillies in the fields and we saw many cement factories enroute.
We arrived at the Banks of krishna river . The Krishna runs wide, peacefully and serene through AndraPradesh.
Our tour director made arrangements for us all to
be transported to the other bank of the river by boat. 
We took three boats and at the other end an open mini tempo took us uphill through a rough hewn path.
The temple sits precariously atop a hill. The priest waited for us and it was an exercise in adventure for all of us at that age.
We even had lunch there at the temple, and came down, eagerly looking forward to the boat ride across the ever peaceful river.
Back to the hotel at around 10pm , a hot dinner awaited us.
Day 8 , 30th Dec ( Mangalgirir & Undavalli)
Early next morning, we took taxis and went to Mangalgiri temple in batches as it was also ekadeshi day and had darshan of Panga Nrismha once more.
From there we went to see the Undavalli caves , a smaller version of the Ellora caves, dated between 4th and 6th Century AD. A huge Ranganatha lies here , beautifully carved and many other sculptures intricately carved also adorn these caves. The Ranganatha is as smooth as marble.
After a heavy lunch, we rested for a while and made a quick dash to have a dip in Krishna, near the Kanaka Durga temple. As there was heavy crowd at that temple, we did not have darshan.
Evening saw all yatris ready to leave to their homes, all bursting with news and information to share . We saw off many yatris to the airport and made our leisurely.
way to the station to catch our train.It must be mentioned here that our yatra director and CEO of Tirthyatra.org Sri. Krishna Agrani Dasa is very dynamic and well versed in puranas and Ramayana, and gave us wonderful discourses on Aranya kanda and Kishkinda kandam, with so much ease and fluency that none of us felt sleepy on our long bus rides.
Every day began with a Nrisimha stuti, and Vishnu saharanama chanting by everyone. There was also a prabanda goshti that was formed by the Mumbai ladies.
The highlight of the tour was that no one fell sick majorly because food was cooked and served hot after it was offered to the Lord and served as prasad .
Kudos to the cooks who did a wonderful job ,by making hot food even at odd hours.
To the yatra co-ordinators a big thank you for the help and service.
Thanks to Sri PrasannaVenkatesh for his excellant videos.
Thanks to Sri Agrani Krishna Dasa for taking such good care of all Senior citizens.
Thanks to my husband Sri Rangarajan for helping me organize this blog.
My wish is that more young people take part in such tours,learning to serve,help elders,and be polite ,
Beautiful narrative. It was almost I joined the group. I was recollecting my visits with Sampath . Except two three places we also had been to these places. Thanks Vadumathy
ReplyDeleteExcellent i one word I could comment
ReplyDeleteIn just one word I could comment: EXCELLENT.
ReplyDeleteExcellent narrative vasu. Felt as though I was also part of the tour.
ReplyDeleteSuper as though we were again there thanks
ReplyDeleteNice descriptive narration with each and every detail. Enjoyed the trip with you all.
ReplyDeleteVery nice narration Vasu.You took us along with you .
ReplyDeleteYour Energy levels and Enthusiasm is truly an inspiration mami. Am really glad to have the continued association through this Bhadrachalam Yatra. Your narration is very nice and sharp.
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