Here the Vivah Mantap, the hall where the Marriage of Lord Rama and Sita was conducted .
Rama gets Married, Panikgrahana.
“This is Seetha, my daughter, she acquits herself in whatever duty you undertake. Take her wishfully, let safeness betide you, take her palm into your palm…”
Or
iyam= this [or, here]; siitaa= Seetha [stands]; mama sutaa= my, daughter [fair]; tava= thy; saha dharma carii = to share, the duties of life; pratiicCha enaam= take from [father,] her [as bride]; ca= also; te bhadram = bliss betide! you; paaNim gR^ihNiiSva paaNinaa= hand, join, [into your] hand.
Here Síta stands, my daughter fair, / The duties of thy life to share. / Take from her father, take thy bride, / Join hand to hand, and bliss betide! / – Ralph T. H. Griffith( Bala Kanda-Sarga 73)
In the southwest corner of Janaki Mandir is the Vivah Mandap, which has been built at the site where the marriage of Ram and Sita is said to have been taken place. Another well-known temple in the vicinity is Ram Mandir, built in pagoda style, and hence is different from the other temples in Janakpur which generally bear resemblance to Mughal architecture. It houses a female statue, said to be of Yogamaya, which has the reputation of being one of the most beautiful images of female forms in Nepal. Other holy sites of interest include the Laxman Temple, Sankat Mochan Temple and Hanuman Temple.
The small town has interesting locales, Raja’s Seat,Old Fort , where the Government offices are houses now, Nisargadama, a wild life sanctuary, 3 km off Madikeri on the Madikeri Mysore Highway ,Dubare Forest(48 km from Madikeri) Abbi Falls(9 km),Talacauvery(the origin of River Cauvery and Bhaga Mandala(4 km)
In Madikeri the Onkareswara temple is situated.
A small shrine, more influenced by Kerala Architecture( Bhaga Mandala also has the same pattern) is in the center of the town.
The temple has no separate Sannidhi for Ambal.
What is more interesting is the fact that parents of the bride and the bride groom, on the day of betrothal, declare the terms of marriage, accompanied
by their relatives(!) state openly the terms for the marriage including the Monetary ones, before Lord Onkareswara , have the blessings of Lord Shiva.
I understand that this the custom among the Kodava Community, who are ardent worshipers of Shiva.
The temple is very clean and has a beautiful tank.
It is open from 7 am 12 and between 4 and 8 pm.
It is just a km from Bus station , Madikere.
Madikere can be reached from Bangalore by Bus(267 km), Mysore 9210 km)
These caves are in Satpura range in Madhya Pradesh at Pachmarhi.
Pachmarhi is a hill station and has other tourist attractions
Pandava CavesOne of the Caves of The Pandavas
Draupadi Kund
It is widely known as Satpura ki Rani (“Queen ofSatpura“), situated at a height of 1100 m in a valley of the Satpura Range in Hoshangabaddistrict. Dhupgarh, the highest point (1,350 m) in the central India region and the Vindhyaand Satpura range, is located here.
The Legend:
These caves were built by five Pandavabrothers of Mahabharatha era during their fourteen years of exile.
The caves are situated on a hilltop and provide an excellent vantage point.
How to Reach Pachmarhi.
Amongst these five caves, the most well ventilated and the spacious one is the ‘Draupadi Kuti’, named after Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brothers. The darkest of all the caves is the ‘Bhim Kothari’, named after the toughest of the five brothers – Bhima. All the five caves are hewed in a rough manner, which however do not mar their beauty or attraction. People visit the humble sanctuaries that relate their name with the Mahabharata, round the year.
Though Pandava caves proudly associate with Mahabharata, many archaeologists contradict the fact. They believe that these caves belong to the Gupta period (9th or 10th century AD) and even predict their construction by Buddhist monks. Traces of an ancient brick-built stupa have been unearthed on top of the caves, which dates back these caves to the Buddhist period. Archeologists believe the stupa is a remnant of the regime of King Ashoka.
Airport . Bhopal 144 Kms.
Railway Station. Bhopal.
Bus station.Bhopal,Chhindwara.
Buses start from Habibganj ISBT of Bhopal and generally take close to 5–6 hours to reach Pachmarhi.
Other Tourist spots in Pachmarhi and around.
Pachmarhi is blessed with very rich flora and fauna. It has endless nature spots, lush greenery, breath-taking views, waterfalls, mountain streams, rich and rare wildlife. Some of the popular spots are as follows
Dhupgarh
Highest point of Satpura ranges. It is known for sunrise and sunset view point. At night one can see the lights of the neighboring towns such as Itarsi. At the day time the view of the lush green valley offers a captivating view. One can reach the top either by road or by trekking.
Chauragarh
This the second highest peak. It is a pilgrimage site with Lord Siva’s temple at the top.
B-Hill and B-Falls
This is another hill very close to the township. On the hind side of this hill a big waterfall called B-fall. It is a popular picnic spot as it offers pristine water flowing down this fall.
PanarPani
Panarpani has a natural fresh water lake with forest around.
Sangam
This is a conflux of mountain streams behind Dhupgarh. The water in these streams is crystal clear in all seasons except of course autumn.
Jatashankar and Mahadeo caves
These are mountain caves with fresh water dripping from them. One can witness ecosystem at work out here with mountains feeding the streams with fresh water, the water that they soak-in during autumn. As the name suggests, these caves and many others like these are abode of lord Siva.
Silver Falls
Also called Rajat Prapat/Big Fall. The falls comes 2800+ feet roaring down the gorge creating a sliver streak that gives its name. The view of dense, serene, virgin forest and stream is simply mesmerizing.
Apsara Vihar
This is a mountain stream that creates a beautiful natural water pool, cascades and waterfall in its a course.
Other waterfalls
Pachmarhi’s ecosystem is blessed with many waterfalls. To name a few are Silver Fall, B-Fall, Little Fall, Duchess Fall etc.
Rich Biosphere
One would love to get lost in the forests of Pachmarhi, particularly in the summer, as it is full of fruit trees such as – mangoes, jamun, custard fruit and lesser known but very delicious local fruits such khatua, tendu, chunna, khinni and chaar. The forest is also known for its richness in medicinal plants and herbs.
Wildlife
The jungle has tigers, panthers, bear, deer, bison, wide variety of birds etc. Tigers have retreated deeper in the forest though.
‘There are more things in Heaven and earth’, said Shakespeare.
There are instances where Science fails to reason it out but instead of admitting it says it is a natural phenomenon.
Some brand of Atheists say they do not believe in God but Nature.
What is it they call Nature?
Panakalu Narasimha, Mangalgiri
Stones,Rivers,Tress, Forests or The Ocean?
It is better to believe and looks more rational to believe in an Entity than believing in Tress or Forests per se.
Let me leave these Geniuses to their Intelligence.
Many, in fact my son calls me superstitious, but some times I come across things which I can not explain
I have narrated some of these in my posts under Paranormal.
Though I am not a religious person in the strictest t sense of the term, I believe in Reality as es-pounded by Adi Shankaracharya and I am an Advaitin by conviction, with little time for Temples and Gods.
I do visit temples and in fact blogged about them.
The reason is that it gives me pleasure to visit these places whenever I feel like and I do not Pray but enjoy the visit.
I have posted on this.
Now to the issue at hand.
Of around six thousand posts I have written I have not written a single post about Anjaneya,Hanumanji
This morning I recollected an incidence on Hanuman and posted an article ‘Hanuman Sheds tears of Joy’
Then out of the blue I wanted to write on Sundara Kandam Parayan.
I did.
Usually I do not watch Television in the afternoons.
Today I just switched on the TV, a Tamil Channel which was set earlier by some one at my Home.
The screen opened with the Giant Image of Anjaneya baring his chest to reveal Lord Ram.
It was the Producer’s Logo for His Film in Tamil!
When I went for my usual nap, as is my habit, I hunted for any book or magazine.
I came across a Tamil Magazine of June 2006(Gnana Aalayam), which featured my article.
As I skipped through it , I came across a brief outline of Panakalu Narasimha temple, where The God Narasimha drinks Panaka, Jaggery water Daily.
I want to share this with my readers.
Here it is.
“It is said that here, god is self-existent. In the temple, there will be no statue of the god, but there is only mouth, widely opened to 15 cms. The mouth is covered by metal face of the god. The temple will be opened till afternoon only, with the belief that devatas will perform pujas in the night. The God takes jaggery water as offering by a conch. The Jaggery water is actually poured into the mouth of the Lord, a gargling sound is clearly audible as if the Lord is actually drinking it and the sound becomes shriller and shriller as and when the Lord is drinking. The sound will come to a stop after sometime and the balance of the jaggery water is thrown out. This phenomenon happens not once in a day but is a recurring feature during the course of the day as and when devotees offer panakam (jaggery water). It will be interesting to note that even a single ant is not traceable near the Lord nor around the temple in spite of the offering of so much jaggery water. As the offering of the panakam to the Lord is peculiar, the Lord here is called panakala Narasimhaswamy. There is a legend about the offering of the panakam (jaggery water) to the Lord. It is said that the hill was once a volcano. Sugar or jaggery water, it is said, neutralizes sulphur compounds found in a volcano and prevents a volcanic eruption.
Behind the temple there is the temple of Sri Lakshmi, to the west of which there is a natural cave. It is believed that it will lead to Undavalli caves on the banks of the Krishna river and the sages used to go to take bath in Krishna River. Now, the cave is very dark and the way could not be seen. We can reach the temple through steps-way on foot and also by road-way. The steps to the temple were constructed by Sri Channapragada Balarama Dasu in 1890. In 2004, ghat road had been constructed through which the pilgrims can reach the temple easily. ”
Mangalagiri means The Auspicious Hill. This place is one of the 8 important Mahakshetrams (sacred places) in India. The eight places where Lord Vishnu manifested himself are (1) Sri Rangam (2) Srimushnam (3) Naimisam (4) Pushkaram (5) Salagamadri (6) Thothadri (7) Narayanasramam (8) Venkatadri.Thotadri is the present Mangalagiri. Lakshmi Devi has done tapas on this hill. That’s why it got this name (The auspicious hill). There are three Narasimha Swamy temples in Mangalagiri. One is Panakala Narasimha Swamy on the hill. Another one is Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at the foot of the temple. Third one is Gandala Narasimha Swamy at the top of the hill.
This shape of the hill looks like an elephant. From all the directions, the hill appears in the elephant shape only. There is an interesting legend to show as to how the mountain came into existence. Pariyatra, an ancient king had a son Hrasva Srungi visited all holy and sacred places to regain normal bodily stature and finally visited this holy place of Mangalagiri and stayed for three years performing penance. All the Devathas (Gods) advised him to stay at Mangalagiri and continue to do penance in praise of Lord Vishnu. The father of Hrasva Srungi came with his retinue to take back his son to his kingdom. But Hrasva Srungi took the shape of an elephant to become the abode of Lord Vishnu who is locally known as Panakala Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy.
Ahobilam is located in Karnool district of Andhra Pradesh in the hills of the eastern ghats, about 400 KM northwest of Chennai.
The temple consists of nine shrines to Lord Nrisimha located around a 5 KM circle. In addition to the nine shrines, there is a temple for Prahaladavarada Varadhan in the foothills of the mountain. Due to security reasons and the difficulty in performing daily worship, many of the utsava vigrahasof the nine shrines are kept in this temple.
Garuda wished for a vision of Lord Nrisimha in the form of the Avathara. To fulfill his wish, the Lord settled in the hills around Ahobilam in the midst of dense forests in nine different forms. For this reason this hill came to be known as Garudadri, Garudachalam, and Garudasailam.
Ahobilam is the place where the Lord killed Hiranyakasipu and saved Prahalada. Mahalakshmi took avathar as Senjulakshmi among the Senju, tribal hunters of the hills, and married the Lord.
Sri Ahobila Muth, one of the most important Sri Vaishnava religious institutions in India, was established by Sri Athivan Satakopan at the instructions of Lord Lakshmi Nrisimha of Ahobilam. In fact, the utsava moorthy of the Malola Nrisimha temple, one of the nine shrines of Ahobilam, is the presiding deity of Sri Ahobila Mutham. Sri Malolan accompanies Srimad Azhagiya Singar, the spiritual and titular head of Sri Ahobila Mutham, on his travels.
Thirumangai Azhvaar has sung ten verses about this temple in Periya Thirumozhi.
It can be reached from Nandyl,Cuddappah or Kurnool Andhra Pradesh.
There is no railway link direct to Ahobilam.
One can reach by reaching any of the places mentioned here or through Dhone from where one reach Ahobilam through Baganpalle and Koilkuntla.
How To reach Ahobilam.
By Train from Chennai to Ahobilam Bombay mail leaves Chennai at about 9:55 p.m. and reaches Kadappa at about 3:15 a.m. You can take Bombay mail going to Chennai for the return journey. Chennai bound Bombay mail arrives Kadappa at 10:25 p.m. and leaves at 10:30. It reaches Chennai at about 5:40 a.m. Reservations may be made for round trip from Chennai to Kadappa and back. Quota for Kadappa is available in Bombay mail.
From Kadappa, Ahobilam is about 100 KM. If you can afford it you can hire a taxi for the day to go to Ahobilam and return. The approximate cost would be Rs. 1000 for the round trip. If you are a group you can hire a van for a day. In either of these two cases, you will be able to finish all the Dharshan and return to Kadappa at night in time to catch Bombay mail back to Chennai.
If you are in a position to hire a taxi, you can take a bus to Ahobilam. There may be direct bus to Ahobilam, but frequency may be limited. In stead, take a bus to Allagadda, and then from Allagadda you can take another bus to Ahobilam. If you have to travel bus you may have difficulty covering all the temples in one day.
By bus from Chennai to Ahobilam
There is an overnight bus from Madras to Nandiyal leaving at about 8:00 p.m. Nandiyal is a big town past Allagadda. Buy your ticket to Allagadda. The bus will reach Allagadda at about 6 a.m. Get down at Allagadda. From Allagadda, Ahobilam is about 30 KM. Town busses ply between Allagadda and Ahobilam every 45 minutes. The last bus leaves Ahobilam to Allagadda at 9:45 p.m. You may also hire a taxi from Allagadda. The same bus returns to Chennai. It leaves Allagadda at about 7:00 a.m. Check locally for exact time. By car from Chennai to Ahobilam
The drive from Chennai is through Renigunta, Kadappa, and Allagadda. It will take about 9 to 10 hours of hard driving. Avoid night driving if you can.
Traveling to Ahobilam from Hyderabad
The distance between Hyderabad and Ahobilam is about 380 KM. By train, take Thungabadra Express from Hyderabad (Kacheguda) to Kurnool. This train leaves Hyderabad (Kacheguda) at 7:00 p.m. and reaches Kurnool 10:30 p.m. From Karnool, Ahobilam is about 150 KM. You may hire a taxi or take a bus for this part of the journey. The approximate cost would be Rs. 1400 for the round trip. The return train arrives Kurnool at 1:15 a.m. and reaches Hyderabad at 5:20 a.m.
You may also take a bus from Hyderabad to Allagadda. From Allagadda, Ahobilam is about 30 KM. Town busses ply between Allagadda and Ahobilam every 45 minutes. The last bus leaves Ahobilam to Allagadda at 9:45 p.m. You may also hire a taxi from Allagadda.
Traveling to Ahobilam from Bangalore
From Bangalore, Ahobilam is about 350 K.m. The train timing is not very convenient from Bangalore. Prasant Express leaves Bangalore at 2:00 p.m. and reaches Nandiyal at about 11:50 p.m. From Nandiyal, Ahobilam is about 60 KM via Allagadda. The return train to Bangalore leaves Nandiyal at about 11:10 p.m. and reaches Bangalore at 10 a.m.
By road, the travel is via Madanapalli, Cuddapah, and Allagadda. The drive is about 7:30 hours.
Facilities for Stay at Ahobilam.
Sri Ahobila Mutt maintains a Guest House called Malola Guest House. There are a total of 14 rooms, 4 single rooms, 6 double rooms, and 4 triple rooms. Of these, two double rooms and two triple rooms are air conditioned. In addition, there are 10 dormitory type rooms.
Normally reservations are not undertaken by the Ahobila Mutt authorities.
But one can always try.
Mr. Badri Narayanan
PH:-08519-252045/252024
9490515284.
Food.
A privately run canteen is located adjacent to Malola Guest House. Vegetarian food is sold at this canteen.
In addition, Sri Ahobila Matam has established a trust called Annamacharya Nitya Annadanam Trust. The goal of this trust is to provide free food to devotees of Sri Lakshmi Nrisimha. Free prasadam is offered three time a day. Dadiyannam (Curd rice) is offered morning and evening. At noon time Tadiyaradhanam (full course meals) is offered.
The monthly expense for this exceeds Rs. 20,000. Contributions to the trust is welcome. Please contact the Malola Guest House manager at 8519-232045 for detail.
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