OLD COUPLES YATRA TO HOLY HILLS (4)

---

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 and worship Sakshi Mallikarjuna Swamy seeking his blessings for the successful pilgrimage of Nava Nandi Temples. The belief is similar to Sakshi Ganapathi temple in Srisailam. Pilgrims believe that Sakshi Mallikarjuna Swamy records the pilgrimage to Nava Nandi temples. It is about 12-15 pm and the priests in the temple have left the temple closing the pujas for the morning session. So, we had the darshan of Mallikarjuna swamy and other deities situated in the temple and left the place.

We have not so far had our breakfast and as it is already 12-15 pm we decided to proceed to Mahanandi Karivena Satram for lunch, on the way visiting the famous Surya Nandi Temple.

SURYA NANDI TEMPLE : This temple is situated on the Nandyala-Maha Nandi Road about 4 miles from Nandyala. Near U Bollavaram village, we have to take a right turn and proceed about 1 km to reach this temple. This temple is situated in the midst of agricultural fields and a katcha road is laid to reach this temple. We reached this temple by 12-45 pm.

After we reached the Surya Nandi Temple, there came three Ghanapati Pandits from Mahanandi to perform Abhishekam to Surya Nandeeswara as today happened to be the most auspicious Magha Adivaram. Brahmashri Nanduri Nageswara Sarma, Veda Pandit of Mahanandi Devasthanam is one of them. When we expressed our desire to perform abhishekam to moola viraat Surya Nandeeswara Lingam in the garbha gruham along with them, they kindly consented and allowed us to perform abhishekam along with them. So, we had the benefit of performing Abhishekam along with Veda Ghanapatis to Surya Nandeeswara on Magha Bhanuvaram. Perhaps considering that we are on the pilgrimage of visiting Nava Nandis, the Maha Nandeeswara provided us an opportunity to perform Abhishekam and visishta pooja in the company of Veda Pandits in Surya Nandi Temple. With great escasty, the Abhishekam and Pooja was over by 1-45 pm.

In this temple premises is residing child prodigy Sambhavi who came to prominence as descendant of Lord Buddha and an ardent devotee of Dalai Lama of Dharmashala. People informed us that the mother of Sambhavi purchased agricultural lands around Surya Nandi Temple and she is not what she claimed to be. With the permission of the temple priest, my friend VK took photographs of the Surya Nandi temple and also the photo of Sambhavi with the permission of her mother. In the meanwhile, our auto driver telephoned to the Manager of Karivena Satram in Maha Nandi that we five people are coming for lunch within an hour and requested him to make arrange ments.

GARUDA NANDI : On the way we also visited the temple of Garuda Nandi situated just before reaching Karivena Choultry and after crossing the Big Nandi Statue in Mahanandi. This is a very small temple on the main road itself.


MAHA NANDI AND VINAKAYA NANDI : In the evening we again proceeded to Maha Nandi Temple and had the darshan of Maha Nandeeswara and also visited VINAKAYA NANDI temple situated towards northwest of Maha Nandeeswara temple in the same compound. Brahmashri Nanduri Nageswara Sarma, Devasthana Veda Pundit, who is in the temple premises, helped us in worshipping Maha Nandeeswar and Goddess Kameswari Devi.

Thus, according to the traditional belief, we visited and worshipped all the Nava Nandis in the same day before Sunset and in the process personally performed Abhishekam at Maha Nandi, Krishna Nandi and Surya Nandi temples . It is the tradition that pilgrims, in Kartika Masam, starting from Nandyal, perform the Nava Nandi pilgrimage in this order: First they visit Sakshi Mallikarjuna Swamy and from there Prathama Nandi, Naga Nandi, , Soma Nandi, Siva Nandi, Vishnu or Krishna Nandi, Surya Nandi, Garuda Nandi, Vinayaka Nandi and finally Maha Nandi. It is said that an Autowallah charges Rs.800 to Rs.1,000 for taking to Nava Nandi Temples starting from Nandyal and again dropping in Nandyal. It is said that most of the devotees who wish to perform Nava Nandi Yatra reach Nandyal town and engage an Auto or a Taxi to visit Nava Nandi Temples on the same day.

25th JANUARY, 2010 - MONDAY :

After completing Nava Nandi Tirtha Yatra, our next destination is AHOBILAM. The distance from Maha Nandi to Ahobilam is about 90 km. We started at 7-30 am at Maha Nandi and after taking breakfast in Nandyal, we reached lower Ahobilam village by about 10-30 am. The Nallamalai Range of Hills starting from TIRUMALA to SRISAILAM are described as ADISESHA - with his head at Tirumala, middle at Ahobilam and the tail at Srisailam. It is the abode of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha in Kaliyugam, where he had killed the demon king Hiranya Kasipa in Kruta Yugam. Ahobilam is one of the 108 DIVYA VAISHNAVA KSHETRAMS. There are many places in India having temples of Lord Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy but this AHOBILAM is unique in the sense that all the nine forms of Lord Narasimha are situated here and are worshipped by devotees since times immemorial. Just as NANDYALA is the place of Nava Nandeeswaras, AHOBILAM is known as NAVA NARASIMHA KSHETRAM.

JWALA, AHOBILA, MALOLA, KRODHA, KARANCHA
BHARGAVA, YOGANANDA, CHATRAVATA, PAVANAH
NAVA MURTYAH

The temples in Ahobilam are divided into two parts - some situated in Lower Ahobilam and the other in Upper Ahobilam. The Lower Ahobilam which is a village and where many people reside, is the abode of PRHLADA VARADA NARASIMHA SWAMY. This is the form of Lord Narasimha who blessed the child devotee Prahlada, the son of Hiranyakasipa. The main temple is situated in the centre of three Prakarams and is constructed in the Vijayanagara temple style. On reaching Ahobilam, we directly proceeded to the Lower Ahobilam Prahladavarada Narasimha Swamy temple. This is my second visit to this temple. The pillars and Mantapams in the temple are well decorated with beautifully carved sculptures of Yakshas riding on horses and lions, etc. Large figures of dancing girls, muscians etc., are carved on the pillars and till today they are all well preserved and in good shape.



ENTRANCE GOPURAMA OF PRHLADAVARADA NARASIMHA SWAMY TEMPLE AT LOWER AHOBILAM.

At the time of our entrance, Naivedyam is being offered to the Lord and we are blessed with the Prasadam of the God. We had a leisurely darshan of Lord Narasima and his consort and spent about half an hour seeing the sculptures in the Mantapam and the pillars. The statues and scuptures are similar to those seen in Hampi temples. The priests narrating the divine power of Lord Narasimha stated that the Lord appears in the dreams of the devotees and cures diseases as Doctor. Similar belief is present in the temple of Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy in Yadagiri Gutta near Hyderabad.

UPPER AHOBILAM

After visiting the temple in lower Ahobilam, we proceeded to upper Ahobilam which is at a distance of about 10 km. The hill path is laid cutting across hills and we travelled up the hill through thick forest. Lord Ahobaleswar manifested in a natural rock cave in this temple which is located at the western side of a sacred stream known Vavinasi flowing from the upper parts of the Hills. When I visited this place about 20 years ago, a choultry constructed by Vysya Chambers of Commerce of Allagadda, a nearby town, is in existence. Now other choultries have come up. A nityannadana satram maintained by Brahmin community is in existence. Free meals is provided to the pilgrims visiting upper Ahobilam. We registered ourselves for participating in the lunch at noon. We understand, a choultry with about 10 rooms is constructed by the Brahmin community in lower Ahobilam providing accommodation to Brahmin pilgrims. We further proceeded to the temple climbing a few steps and had the darshan of Lord Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy known as Ahobaleswar. We have seen many pilgrims proceeding up the hill through thick forest and streams, to visit the Jwala Narasimhaswamy trekking a distance of about 4 km. They used bamboo sticks as a support to climb the hill which are provided at the entrance of the temple. When enquired, the pilgrims stated that it takes about 2 to 3 hours to reach the cave temple of Jwala Narasimhaswamy trekking the rocks and boulders along the stream and climbing about 400 steps. On the way there are some of the temples of other Nava Narasimha Murtis. It is surprising that dolis (the charges ranges from Rs.1500 to Rs.2000) are available to carry the infirm and old pilgrims who are desirous of visiting Jwala Narasimha Swamy temple. It is believed that at this place, Lord Narasimha emerged from the Pillar and killed demon king Hiranya Kasipa. After seeing that older and infirm persons are also making a trip to the Jwala Narasimha Swamy temple, we had an idea of staying for the day in lower Ahobilam and try our luck to trek upto the Jwala Narasimhaswamy temple, next day starting early in the morning. As it is already 1 pm we proceeded to the Brahmin Choultry and after taking lunch proceeded to lower Ahobilam and took rooms in the newly constructed Brahmin Choultry.


MAY LORD LAKSHMI NARASIMHA OF AHOBILAM BLESS YOU ALL


RAGHAVARAO U.V.G.V. DUGGIRALA,
HYDERABAD, 15th AUGUST, 2010.

---