Tour in Chitoor District and Sripuram/Vellore

Last December 25th, we planned to visit Kanipakam and Ardhagiri. We decided to go some other pilgrim places too in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh and then visit Sripuram golden temple in Tamil Nadu to complete all in a day trip.

We booked a cab and started from Srikalahasti in the morning Via Tirupati, Puttoor. Our plan is to visit Vepanjeri (Near Chitoor) and then to go Kanipakam from there. Vepamjeri is near Gangadhara Nellore and Chitoor which has Asta Lakshmi Temple and Dasavatara temple. Visited Venupopala swami temple in Karvetnagaram, which is on the way to reach Vepamjeri from Puttoor. This is one of the famous temples of historical importance in this district.

Dasavatara temple has idols of Dasavatarams of Lord Vishnu; It also has small temples for many other gods. It has huge 33 feet status of Ranganatha Swami. There is garden with 27 trees representing the 27 stars exercising their sway over the destinies of mankind. And Asta Lakshmi Temple has separate small temples for Asta Lakshmi Matas. Check http://www.vepanjeri.com/ for more details. 

After visiting Vepanjeri we had our breakfast @ Chittoor and went to Kanipakam. As it was weekend and holiday there was huge crowd in the temple, we went for special darshan and completed our puja to Lord Ganesha in an Hour. Then we started our journey to Ardhagiri to visit Ardhagiri Sri Verranjanjaneya Swami Temple.

According to legend about Ardhagiri, during Tretayuga, Hanuman brought Sanjeeva Parvatham in order to save Lakshmana during a war when Lakshmana fell unconscious. During the journey, half of Sanjeeva Parvatham fell, and the place where it landed came is known as Aragonda. Aragonda, initially is called as Arakonda (In Telugu language, "Ara" (sounds A'raw)means 'Half' and "Konda" (sounds Kon'Da) means Hill or Mountain). With the time, the people changed their way of pronouncing this word "Arakonda" as "Aragonda" which is now the name of the village under this hill. This hill is famous with name "Ardhagiri" (Ardha means Half and Ge'ree means mountain). In Ardhagiri, it is believed that Sanjeevaraya Pushkarini (pond containing the holy water) never gets dried nor spoiled, even when kept for long periods of time. When devotees drink this theertham (or holy water) from the Sanjeevaraya Pushkarini, all types of diseases are getting cured. We completed our Darshan here very quickly as they was not much crowd on that day. We took some theertham in a can for home.

Our next destination was Sripurm which has Golden temple of Goddess Lakshmi Devi near Vellore in Tamil Nadu. We reached Vellore around 3.30pm from Aragonda and had of Lunch in Vellore. As it was just 4.00pm and as we want to visit Golden temple during lightings we went to Vellore fort to spend an hour or so…

The Vellore Fort's ownership passed from Vijayanagara Kings, to the Bijapur Sultans, to Marathas, to the Carnatic Nawabs and finally to the British, who held the fort until India gained independence. During British rule, the Tippu Sultan's family and the last king of Sri Lanka, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha were held in as royal prisoners in the fort. The fort houses a Museum, Christian church, a Muslim mosque and a Hindu temple, the latter of which is famous for its magnificent carvings. The Museum was already closed by the time we visited and as we do not have much time we did not visited Temple or Mosque. We just went on thru Fort walls to see surroundings. There is an artificial cannel kinda construction around the fort that might be created as a security measures. Now this cannel is used for Boating.

After the Fort visit, we went to Siripuram Golden Temple. Mobile Phones or any other electronic devices are not allowed inside the temple. You need to walk thru big Star shaped path to reach Golden Temple. The Temple was really beautiful with Lightings around it. And the Shadow of the Golden Temple (Elephants, Pillars etc) in the Small artificial lake surrounding it should not be missed. But one thing I did not like is the high publicity of the ‘Amma’ inside the temple. Check Some photos of the Temple here.

Sullurpeta & Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary

As Dec 17th 2010 was holiday for us we went to our home town Gudur for long weekend. From there we planned to visit Chengalamma temple in Sullurpeta. During the Bus joureny to Sullurpeta i just googled for any other places near-by to visit and decided to go Nelapattu if time permits.

Chengalamma Temple ...

Goddess Chengalamma Parameswari manifested herself in the village of Sullurpeta on the Kolkata-Chennai highway and the temple for her was built on the bank of the Kanlangi River. History tells us that chengalamma idol was found in the river by few boys who were swimming and they brought it to the current location during the fourth or fifth centuries. People also refer to her as the village goddess “Tenkali”. With the passage of time, she is being worshipped regularly by devotees as Chengalamma. Devotees turn up in large number to witness “Chengalamma Jatara” (fair).

The Village goddess who was called Tankali gained reputation as Sullurpeta Chengalamma Thalli and her idol in the temple faces the sea. Devotees from different parts of the State visit the place and fulfill their vows, referring the goddess as the mother who grants boons liberally. The naturally-formed image of the goddess adorning the hanging roots (vooda) of the banyan tree is really an awe-inspiring spectacle.

We visited the temple around 11 am performed pujas and spend some time over there. Then we checked between Pulicat and Nelapattu to visit. As per discussion with some Auto drivers we decided to go Nelapattu as there were many birds available during that time.

After Lunch, we started journey to Doravari satram(on the NH5) from where we need to travel to Nelapattu. We hired an Auto from Doravari satram for the round trip and the drop at Naidu pet.

Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary ...

Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is popular for the largest habitats for pelicans in Southeast Asia, It is home to many other native as well as migratory birds. Some of the readily seen birds of the Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary are Babblers, Pelicans, Flamingos, Open Billed Stork, Coot, Night Heron and Waders. Apart from housing some of the rarest species of the avian population, the Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is home to many mammals like jackals, slender loris and reptiles like monitor lizard, tortoises and snakes. There are some huts and view points along the Sanctuary to view the birds peacefully.

Naturalists here say many of the gorgeous birds here carry on the roosting and breeding activities and they even count and list number of birds they sighted in the sanctuary every day.

The uniqueness of the sanctuary lies in the additional features that are offered. The environmental education centre, small museum, the library offers information for those who are interested in the subject. Tourists can spend some time in the library reading about the different species of birds and animals. The Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary also offers an auditorium which is well equipped with audio-visual systems for seminar and discussions. Based on no. of tourists available, they play some documentaries in this auditorium. See some photos of  Nelapattu here -

You could even spot some Deer in this sanctuary.The ideal time to visit Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is between October and March as the weather then is extremely pleasant which gives greater opportunity to the visitors to enjoy the sight of birds and animals in their natural habitat. Good stay and food facilities are available in Naidu peta or Sulluru peta.

Nagpur - Ramtek

My Brother DS is finishing his studies in Nagpur in this Year. So we thought to visit this place before April, as April and May will be too hot in Nagpur.

DN and I started from Bangalore. Our Parents and Uncle from Chennai joined us in Gudur.

It was around 15 hours journey to Nagpur from Gudur. We reached Nagpur around 11am in the morning. DS was waiting in the railway station to receive us. Then we went to Guest room in VNIT. After refreshing we just walk around VNIT seeing all departments and DS room in hostel.

It was 6PM, we just went for shopping near variety chouk, finished dinner and come back to VNIT.

We initially thought to go to Tadoba National Park from Nagpur. As our visit was during Holi Festival, it was holiday for the Tadoba. Then after searching about many other places near Nagpur, we finally zeroed to Ramtek to visit.

Ramtek is a small town, situated at a distance of 42 km from Nagpur city. It falls under the Nagpur district and is held in high regard by the Hindus. This is because this town is believed to be associated with Lord Rama. There is hill situated near Ramtek, known as the Ramgiri Hill. The hill houses a historical temple of Lord Rama, which is said to be more than 600 years old. This temple has greatly added to the travel attraction of the city. The legend also goes that Lord Rama stopped at Ramtek, along with His wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, while on his exile.

Another fact that adds to the attraction of the town, from tourism point of view, is its association with the Great poet Kalidasa. He wrote his excellent poem, Meghdoot in the hills of Ramtek only. Infact, it is often said that it was the beauty of Ramtek Hills that inspired him to write the poem.

We booked a cab to Ramtek covering some other places on the way. We First visited ‘Zero mile marker’ which is the geographical center of India (Actually it’s just a Traffic signal area :)) then started journey to Ramtek. On the way we had Maharastrian breakfast with Poha, dokhla rabri etc.

Ramtek is a fort Temple. It houses two temples one for Lord Rama and one of Lakshamana. Gopuras of this temple looks nize. See some of the snaps of this temple here.

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There are many Monkeys around this area. But unlike monkeys in Andhra or Karnataka, they look different. Check some snaps. There is a lake with Water sports nearby Ramtek. We could not go for the same as it was already noon and too hot. Then we started our journey back to Nagpur. On the way we went Ramdham. It is a temple having idols of Shiva, Durga etc which can be seen in different places across India. It also has big construction in OM shape. There are paintings and sculpture of Ramayana and Krishna leela in side this construction. There is another temple Krishnadham nearby this, we could not see this. Then we had Lunch in a Rajasthani hotel near Ramdham. And then we visited Dragon Palace which is a Buddhist Temple. Then we came back to Nagpur and started our journey back to Gudur. And finally check how passengers are travelling in this area Facilities available in Ramtek Accomodation - No Accomodation available Food - Below Average Transportation - Self Transportation

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