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.

Hogenakkal Waterfalls

Last Republic Day we went to Hogenakkal Waterfalls.

One of my classmates Suresh called me on Friday night for Hogenakkal Waterfalls trip with his colleagues on that next Tuesday i.e. Republic Day. I simply accepted it without any other thought as I was planning for the same for a year or so.

But on the Monday evening he called up again and said the trip is cancelled as one of his colleagues is not well. I was disappointed. As a last chance we checked with other friends. Finally one other classmate Subbu and our common friend Vardha also joined with us for the trip.

Suresh, Subbu, Vardha and me started on 26th Jan early morning. We cached Ernakulam Express from Bangalore Cantonment railway station to Dharmapuri at 6.30AM. Dharmapuri is the nearest railway station to reach Hogenakkal Waterfalls.

We reached Dharmapuri around 8.30AM. After having good Breakfast with Mottu Dosai (Egg Dosa) and Pongal near Dharmapuri bus station, started journey to Hogenakkal by bus. It was around one and half an hour journey to that place.

After getting out of bus, as usual many localites surrounded us offering boat services and Oil massage services. We did not pick any one of them for the service.

We directly went to waterfalls and started walking around the place. There were many guys having oil massage. But we did not go for that as the surrounding environment looks very dirty.










There is a small waterfall near the entrance. This is not the main Hogenakkal Waterfall. After a walk for 10 mins on the rocks we can see other waterfalls named as Cini Waterfalls and Main waterfalls.









Another view of this waterfalls











You can see main waterfalls atop of these hilly rocks or you can hire a boat service.

We hired a boat service. It is round boat. We call it as teppa in Telugu language. We paid Rs500/- for a 3 hours service.










We got into the boat. Subbu, Suresh, Vardha and Boatwala sit four sides of the boat and I managed in the middle.












First we visited to Main waterfalls. Waterfalls are smaller as it was not a rainy season. We managed to go near the water fall and get wet beneath the falls.












Then we had a circular boat ride near the waterfalls. This was amazing.






There was a shop with cool drinks and snacks in a boat in this lake. We purchased one bottle of Sprite and 2 Lays packets for Rs150/-. After having snacks we went around the lake for some time. During this boat ride we went to a hill. This is Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Border. That side of the Hill is Karnataka and this side is Tamil Nadu. We had some Tender coconuts on top of the hill and come back to boat.








One of our friends wanted to have a bath in the lake. So we went to a place which is convenient for bath. We came out of boat, took some photo graphs and started enjoying high at this place. One friend started swimming (Actually he know very little swimming). Other two started capturing photographs around this place. I started enjoying with Sunbath.




I just started with my sunbath, but I could not enjoy it as one of my friends lost his gold ring while swimming. We searched for that for an hour or so. As you know we could not get it back.

Finally we started our journey back to hill top to catch bus to Dharmapuri. While going back we have seen a small cave where a Tamil/Telugu Film Jaganmohini starring Namitha & Raja was pictured.

We could not catch Train back to Bangalore. So we reached Bangalore around 12.00AM night by bus.

Facilities available in Hogenakkal
Accommodation - No Accommodation available
Food - Average, Roasted fishes are available all over this place
Transportation - State run Buses are available, but not very frequent

Once Chola's Empire

After long time, thought to go out of buzy and boring life in Bangalore. I like journey and visiting places. This time I thought to see places with historical & Architectural values.

After long.. long.. googling, finally I chose Kumbakonam.
Kumbakonam is located around 380 km from Bangalore. Temple City is another name of Kumbakonam. There are many temples around Kumbakonam dated back to Chola kings’ Time. Out of these temples, Gangai konda Cholapuram, Darasuram and Thanjore are in the list of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. I have already visited Thanjore some time back. So I thought to cover other two during this trip.

Out of my googling effort, I got to know there are good beaches nearby. So I decided to visit Poompuhar, a port during Chola’s Empire and Tranquebar, having Danish fort in the beach.

My journey started from Bangalore to Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu’s SETC bus. The next day morning I reached Mayiladuthurai. After a short nap at hotel I started my tour.







First I went to Chidambaram to visit Great Nataraja Temple. Here we can see Lord Shiva in his Ananda Tandava pose.
Visit http://wikitravel.org/en/Chidambaram for more info.

After darshan at Nataraja temple, I went to Poompuhar. For most of the journey in this tour, I used Tamil Nadu Government run buses. Bus fares are very less compare to other state run buses. If you know the route and if you can manage with Tamil language use these buses instead of Auto or taxi.









Poompuhar was a port during Chola’s Empire. Kaveripattinam is another name of this place. It was 4 years completed after Tsunami on the day I was here. Many localities were discussing about this, I understand that many of them still could not forget about that Tsunami.







Bay of Bengal’s waves are of very high and travelling very fast. Big rocks are placed across the coastal line to avoid high flow of water in the land.







Another view of Beach





Old and new Light Houses in the beach



















Nothing much to see here except the beach. I visited Silappathikara Art Gallery apart from the beach.
Visit http://www.travelmasti.com/domestic/tamilnadu/poompuhar.htm for more info












My next destination was Tranquebar. Another name of this place is Tharangambadi.
There was no direct bus to Tharangambadi from Poompuhar. I got down Sirkali bus from Poompuhar at a small village Kurivi. We can see many buses to Nagapattinam from this place which goes via Tharangambadi.






The Danish fort, in the beach of Tharangambadi is dated back to 1620 AD.


It was almost 6.00pm when I reach there. The Danish fort was just about to close. I requested the employees there to see the fort. But I could not make it. So I had some snaps of the fort from outside.










Apart from this I visited Danish Church and The Masilamani Nathar Temple of 1306 AD Pandian era which is heavily eroded by the sea.






Masilamani Nathar Temple









A View of Beach








Danish Church










Visit http://wikitravel.org/en/Tranquebar for more info.

With that first day is completed on my two days tour. Next day I went to Kumbakonam from Mayiladuthurai to see temples around Kumbakonam. My first priority was Gangai konda Cholapuram and Darasuram.
First went to Gangai. This is around 40 km from Kumbakonam, there was no direct bus to this place as bridge on Kollidam River is damaged at Anakarai. Anakarai is an island in Kollidam River. Finally I reached Gangai konda Cholapuram from Anakarai in an auto.
Gangai temple was built by Rajendra Chola during 11th century. Gangai and Darasuram are living temples; still pujas are performed here unlike in my other archaeological sites.






Big Nandhi






View of Temple from entrance






Another view of Temple










Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangaikonda_Cholapuram for more info.

Darasuram temple is located just outside the kumbakonam town about 4 km away and was built in 12 century AD by the Cholas. We can see Kumbeswara Temple in Kumbakonam on the way to Darasuram.






Art in Kudya style






Art in Kudya style in the Museum inside Temple
















There are many Nandhis around temple which were destroyed




















See Elephant and Lion on the same sculpture






Ganapati on copper Dwajastambha






Pillars inside Temple







Look Elephants and Horses in this sculpture










Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darasuram for more info.

After visiting these two World Heritage Sites I visited Famous temples of Kumbakonam. Sarangapani temple, Kumbeswarar temple and Chakrapani temple. All these temples are located around 1 to 2km from Kumbakonam bus stand.







Car of Lord or Radha of Sriramgapani Temple







Inside view of Sriramgapani Temple







Mahamaham Tank. Kumbamela happens here once in every puskaram or 12 years




















Gopura of Kumbeswarar Temple




















Temple's Elephant at Kumbeswarar Temple




Apart from these temples there are many Shiva and Vishnu temples and Navagraha temples are around this temple town.

Facilities available
Accommodation - Good Accommodation facilities are available in Kumbakonam and Mayiladuthurai
Food - Good
Transportation - State run Buses are available in most of the places. Used Autos in Some places

A Visit to Thiruvannamlai...!

Some time back i visiTed ThiruvaNnamali TeMple oF LOrd SHiva iN TamiLNadu.

JUs C tHe pIx anD CultUre Of thiS plaCe.

Significance: Tiruvannamalai the home of Annamalayaar or Arunachaleswarar (Shiva worshipped as a Shiva Lingam) and Unnamulaiyaal (Apitakuchambaal - Parvati), is one of the largest temples in India. It occupies a special place in the Saivite realm and is regarded as one of the Pancha Bhoota Stalams (one of the five grand temples associated with the five basic elements) – associated with the element Fire, the other four being Tiruvanaikkaval (Water), Chidambaram (Space), Kanchipuram (Earth) and Sri Kalahasti (Wind) respectively. Shiva is said to have manifested himself in the form of a massive column of fire, whose crown and feet, Bhramma and Vishnu attempted in vain to reach. A celebration of this manifestation is seen today in the age old traditions observed in the Shivaratri and the Kartikai Deepam Utsavams held here.

A view of the Temple

Architecture : The ancient and vast Arunachaleswarar Temple as it stands today is the result of several centuries of building, alteration and extension. A Nandi faces the main shrine in each of its five prakarams. The outermost prakaram houses the thousand pillared hall and the Shiva Ganga tank and is pierced on four sides with colossal Gopurams. . The fourth prakaram includes the Bhramma Tirtham, and its eastern gateway Vallala Gopuram holds a statue of King Ballala. The third prakaram which dates back to the 12 th century AD has several Linga Shrines, and the Kili Gopura Entrance. In the East side of the prakaram stands the Flag Staff while the Northern side is home to the massive shrine of Unnamulai Amman. The 3 rd prakaram surrounds the roofed 2 nd prakaram which houses the pantheon of deities associated with Shiva, which in turn surrounds the shrine of Annamalaiyar.

Great Architecture - A view of Gopuram

Great Architecture

Festivals : Several festivals dot the Tiruvannamalai temple town's calendar. Each occurrence of the full moon is a celebration in itself, as hundreds of thousands throng to circumambulate the Annamalai Hill, considered to be a reperesentationof Annamalaiyar himself.

Annamalai Hill on a Full Moon Day

People circumambulating the Annamalai Hill

The festivals of the temple are remarkably intertwined with the life of the locals, marking the so called subtle transcendence between the human and the divine states. In addition to the various festivals, Tiruvannamalai celebrates four annual Bhrammotsavams (10 day festivals) the most famous of which is the Kartikai Bhrammotsavam (in the Tamil month of Kartikai Nov 15 - Dec 15). The Arudra Darisanam in the month of Margazhi (Dec 15 through Jan 15) is a celebration of the cosmic dance of Shiva. The Tai Poosam festival which occurs in the month of Tai (Jan 15 through Feb 15) is also of great significance. The Tiruvoodal festival, enacting a mock quarrel between Annamalaiyaar and Unnamulai Amman is enacted in the presence of Sundaramoorthy Nayanaar in the Tiruvoodal Street, a street that has been earmarked for this annual event. During this quarrel, Parvati enters the temple alone by herself, leaving Shiva outside, and Shiva (Annamalaiyaar) circumambulates the Annamalai hill (himself), and during his trip, grants liberation to the rishi Bhringi. His jewels get stolen in the West side of the town and he then recovers stolen jewellery in the eastern side of the town, and then returns to the temple the folowing morning. In the month of Maasi, (Feb 15 through March 15) Shiva is crowned as the King in the absence of a royal heir to King Ballala of the Hoysala dynasty (an early 14th century ruler) whose statue adorns the Vallala Gopuram. Interestingly Ballala's death is announced as an element of the festival tradition during the Tai Poosam celebration season. Associated with these events, Annamalaiyaar visits Pallikondapattu, one of the villages to the east of Tiruvannamalai, where the King's palace is said to have stood. The Parivettai (Royal Hunt) festival is a part of the two Bhrammotsavams celebrated during the winter and summer solstices. This festival represents a royal hunt on the borders of the town.

A view of Karthikai Deepam

The celebration of Kartikai Deepam marks the conclusion of the ten day Bhrammotsavam in the month of Kartikai (Scorpio , Nov 15 through December 15). Each of these festival days is marked by the procession of the Pancha Murthys (Somaskandar (Annamalayar), Unnamulaiyaal, Ganapati, Subramanyar and Chandikeswarar) in gaily decorated mounts. Most noteworthy among these are the Rishabha Vahana Utsavam celebrated on the fifth evening of the festival and the Rathotsavam, celebrated on the seventh day of the festival. Kartikai Deepam is preceeded by the Bharani Deepam celebration when a lamp is lit in the main shrine of the temple following a fire sacrifice before the shrine of Surya. A small bowl of ghee lighted at this fire is used to light five other lamps representing the five aspects of Shiva. Preparations begin for the Kartikai Deepam which is to be celebrated in the afternoon. A group of fishermen carry a portion of this fire inside a container of baked earth to the summit of the mountain where a large copper utensil filled with offerings of ghee and pieces of cloth has been placed. Crowds begin to throng the temple complex, and a discernible order prevails among the crowd as the tens of thousands gathered begin their patient wait for the auspicious moment when the Deepam celebration would reach its peak. In the meanwhile, preparations go on for the afternoon’s climax. Four of the five decorated Pancha Murthys are are brought out from the main shrine of the temple and housed in Vimanams in the 3 rd prakaram of the temple, facing the flag staff and the Annamalai Hill. The last to arrive is Annamalaiyar who comes out of the second prakaram, dancing with his consort. The crowd waits to catch a glimpse of the deepam which is then brought out of the inner shrine towards the Utsavar Annamalayaar. The anticipation of the lakhs gathered there can only be experienced, not described in words. The deepam is brought out in a gait by the bearers and a deeparadanai is offered to the Utsavar, and at this very instant, the lamp on the hill is lighted as the crowd breaks into a frenzied devout cheer, yet retaining the order that was there when it was just beginning to assemble. The human mass gathered within and around the precincts of the temple, along with the residents of the town and neighboring towns catch sight of the flame atop the Annamalai hill, cherishing the age old belief that it is a representation of Shiva himself, who appeared in the form of a flame whose origins could not be deciphered by the other two of the Trinity namely Bhramma and Vishnu. Keeping with tradition, the inner sanctum doors close, with the arrival of the deepam outside, and it is believed Annamalaiyaar is to be worshipped only as the beacon until the next morning when the shrine is reopened. Access and Accomodation: Tiruvannamali (located in the erstwhile North Arcot district of Tamilnadu) has several hotels and ashrams and it attracts visitors from all over the world Ramanashramam and Seshadri Swami ashram being examples. Each occurrence of a full moon attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. The Kartikai Deepam celebration also attracts lakhs (hundreds of thousands) to the extent that all incoming traffic is halted at the boundary of the town on the day of the festival. The government of Tamilnadu runs special bus and train services during the occasion. By car, it is a four to five hour drive from Chennai, and there are several 'point to point' non-stop bus services. Tiruvannamalai is located on the railway line linking Villuppuram and Katpadi, and is therefore connected conveniently by rail to centers such as Tirupati and Thanjavur. Tirukkoilur with the Trivikrama temple and the Veeratteswarar temple, Saathanur Dam, and Vellore with its Jalakanteswarar Fort Temple are some of the nearby attractions.

How to Reach: Train and Bus facilities are available form chennai. Buses are also available from Bangalore in Karnataka and Tirupati in AP

Accommodation : Good Accommodation facilities are available

Food: Good