Blogs from New Santoshnagar, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, Asia

OLD COUPLES YATRA TO HOLY HILLS (7) 28-01-2010 – Thursday After visiting Tallapaka, we proceeded towards Horsley Hills. On the way we had our lunch in Rayachoti. There is only one vegetarian Restaurant near Bus Stand, which is reasonably good. Enjoying the scenic beauty on the way we proceeded towards Horsley Hills. When the destination is about 30 km there are sign boards on either side of the road put up by AP Tourism Department giving Mobile Number of their office in Horsley Hills. We telephoned to the office to enquire about accommodation and the Manager intimated that this is a lean season and accommodation is available without prior reservation. Having assured of accommodation, we slowly proceeded towards Horsley Hills enjoying the journey among hills and forests. We reached the Hills Resort by 5 pm ... read more

OLD COUPLES MINI MAGHA MASA YATRA (4) SIGNIFICANCE OF TWO ICONS OF LORD VENKATESWARA It is a very great and pleasant experience to have darshan of two main idols on the same pedastal and under the same Vimana Sikharam. In no other temple in India we witness such a wonderful feature – two Shiva lingas on the same pana pattam in Kaleswaram temple. The main idol (moola viraat) originally discovered by Sage Dwaraka is a half statue from naval and upwards. In course of time, the Sages and Saints felt that worshipping Lord Venkateswara is not complete unless prayers are offered at his HOLY FEET (Brahma kadigina padamu). Perhaps taking this into account the great Vaishnava Saint Srimad Ramanujacharya installed a full statue of Lord Venkateswara behind the half statue brought to light by Sage Dwaraka ... read more

OLD COUPLES MINI MIGHA MASA YATRA (2) Dt.20th FEBRUARY, 2011 - SUNDAY We proceeded to the temple of Brahma Lingeswara Shiva Temple where priests are performing pujas to Lord Vighneswara and Lord Shiva. We enquired about the temple of Lord Chaturmukha Brahma and the priests informed that this temple is by the side of the Shiva Temple and it is situated in a pushkarini in a low lying area and on account of heavy rains during this year, lot of water accumulated in the pushkarini and the temple is partly submerged in water and there is no way to enter into the temple and hence the sanctum sanctorium was closed and it may likely to be reopened around May when water in the pushkarnini may recede. The priests advised us to visit the temple from ... read more

OLD COUPLES YATRA TO HOLY HILLS (6) AHOBILAM SALAGRAM SHILA - MAY LAKSHMI NARASIMHA BLESS ALL OF US At the time of our visit to Malola Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy, the priest is offering naivedyam to the Lord. We sat there silently till the curtain is opened and had the darshan and prasadam of the Lord. Having very much tired of the trekking journey, climbing up and down the steps from Jwala Narasimhaswamy temple to this temple, we sat there for about 10 minutes and started our jouney. After climbing down about 100 steps, it is stated that one has to travel half a km to and fro for reaching the place where Chandamarka school(where boy Prahlada studied) is located. But we decided to skip the same as we are fully exhausted. We directly proceeded to the temple ... read more

OLD COUPLES YATRA TO HOLY HILLS (4) PRATHAMA NANDI : Of the nine Nandeeswara Temples, this is the fifth Nandi we visited after visiting the Naga Nandeeswara Temple situated in the Anjaneya Swamy temple. Kedareswara Devi is the consort of Prathama Nandeeswara in this temple. This temple is situated in a very wide area and the temple is reasonably big and very well maintained. This temple is very nearer to Nandyala Railway Station. As there was not any rush of pilgrims, we leisurely worshipped Prathama Nandeeswara and Goddess Kedareswari Devi. From there we proceeded to the temple of Sakshi Mallikarjuna Swamy situated at a distance of about 2 km from this temple and in the middle of Nandyala Town. SAKSHI MALLIKARJUNA SWAMY TEMPLE : It is said that pilgrims starting from Nandyal first visit this temple ... read more