Ratheesh KrishnaVadhyar (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ratheesh) wrote,@ 2008-03-17 20:19:00 |
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Tirupathi and Kalahasthi
We had a visit to Tirupathi this weekend. This was my first visit to the Lord Venkateshwara temple - It was a long pending trip, which I had to postpone many times because of various reasons.
We took the three-day package from KSTDC and started on Friday (March 14) evening (KSTDC likes to maximize the number of days in their packages as they appear in their pamphlet. For example, if a tour starts from Bangalore at 10PM on the first day and reaches back at 5AM on the third day, they would still insist on calling it as a "3-day tour package"). We were supposed to start at 7PM, but four of the passengers were stuck in traffic jam and were unable to reach the KSTDC office at Badami House, from where the bus started, by 7. They called the KSTDC office and requested to wait for them, so it was 8:15PM by the time we started. The bus was comfortable; The only inconvenience I had was that my seat was positioned in a very awkward location in the first row, just near the door, and I had to fold and bend my legs every now and then to make way for other passengers getting in and out throughout the trip.
It took an hour for us to come out of Bangalore city. We had a break for dinner at Kamat Upachar restaurant (the food there was just okay) after Hosakote at 10PM. After a smooth journey, we reached Tirupathi at 2AM. We were provided accommodation at Ramee Guestline hotel. Since my experiences with accommodation provided by KSTDC in my earlier trips with them were not that good, I was prejudiced against this one too, but Guestline turned out to be a decent one. We were asked to get ready by 3AM. Thankfully, there was hot water available in the hotel that time. After taking bath, etc., we were ready by 3, and then went to Tirumala Devasthanams counter for taking the passes for entering the temple. The token counters open at 5AM only, but it seems people wait there in queue from 12AM itself. When we reached there, we could see some 20-30 people "sleeping in the queue". There are separate queues for "free darshana" and "special darshana", for which we have to pay 50 rupees. We joined the queue for special darshana. Sharp at 5, the counter opened and after taking our thumb impression, passes (called "Sudarsanam Token") were issued to us. We got our tokens within fifteen minutes.
The Sudarsanam Token has three parts - one is for entry to the temple, second is for the laddoo prasadam, and the third is for the free meals at the temple, which is served from 9AM to 11AM. The tokens are not issued on top of Tirumala, so the devotees who want to take a second darshana have to come down and take the pass again (I don't know if there is some other method to enter the temple, by offering special puja, etc.). It seems this is designed like this to control the enormous number of devotees who otherwise would have camped on top of the hill for repeated darshanas.
The KSTDC tourist bus wouldn't go to the top of Tirumala; So an APSRTC bus was arranged for our commutation to the hilltop. It arrived at 5:30AM, and we reached Tirumala bus stand at 6:30, after a scary ride through several hairpin drives. I was half asleep during the bus-ride, but at some point of time when I opened my eyes, I could see the symbol of Lord Venkateshwara - The shape of the special signature thilaka on his forehead with images of chakra and shankha on both sides, installed on top of one of the hills surrounding the temple, illuminated with several fluorescent lamps. The huge symbol looked magnificent as it stood on the peak of the hill, and the white rays emanating from it, breaking the pre-dawn darkness, added a special glow to it.
In the tokens we got, our reporting time was given as 8AM, so we had plenty of time with us. Our KSTDC tourist guide advised us to take breakfast from the shops near the bus stand. There were quite a few small shops in the TTD tourist complex, selling hot breakfast. We went to an elderly lady, who was serving idli-vada for 10 rupees per plate. She was showing great efficiency, managing the preparation of the food, serving it and collecting money. The customers have to collect idli-vada or dosa from her, and then serve sambar or chutney from large steel buckets kept on one side, and then eat the food standing at any place nearby which they found convenient. There were flies near the shop, but I assured myself thinking that the food looked hot and so it would be safe. Indeed, the soft, cream-white, steaming idlis, crisp brown vadas and sambar were all very hot, and they were homely and delicious too, along with the coconut chutney. I just wished that she should have used banana leaf instead of thin plastic sheet to cover plates, to help it from getting oily.
At 7:30, we started walking to the temple, which is just 5 minute walk from the bus stand. There are several "waiting rooms" for the devotees, and we all went and sat in one room. These rooms are all built as part of some sort of an amphitheater. Television sets are installed in each room, showing programs related to various ceremonies in the temple. On one side of the room, there is a locked iron gate, and we all waited there anxiously for the door to open, which would signal our further advance into the temple. At some point of time, I slumped into sleep, but soon I woke up hearing the sound of an earthquake -The sound of all devotees in our room rushing to the door, responding to the sound of the iron doors opening. We also wanted to run, in order not to fall behind. The next moment, we realized that there was some confusion, as the door in the room looked closed as it was before. Apparently, what got opened was the door of room number one, which was on our right side. It wasn't occupied by anyone, so we were thinking that it was unused. In an amazing display of spiritual effervescence, all the devotees made an about-turn, and started frantically jumping over the chairs to run to the other room. We quickly moved to one corner to avoid injury. After a few minutes, we also ran to the other room, to join the others in the queue that had developed outside. If we had thought that everything would go in an orderly fashion once those high-voltage devotees had made their way, we were mistaken; Many more people pushed us and overtook us in the queue to meet their urgent appointments with the Lord, and by the time we reached the main entrance of the temple, there was a major chaos. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait for too long near the entrance, and were allowed to go inside at 9:30.
The situation of the queue inside the temple was much better, even though in front of the beautiful sacred sanctum, things were difficult again. The TTD employees were standing there and pushing the devotees, asking them to hurry up. But we somehow managed to stick around in front of the Lord's idol for a minute and have the darshana peacefully amidst the rush and push. Then we relaxed for a few minutes sitting near the sanctum, and after taking a pradakshina around it, and eating the prasada (tasty tamarind rice that was served in leaf cups), we came out of the temple. We went to the laddoo counter, to collect our laddoos. Even though I had eaten the famous Tirupathi laddoos several times before, I had never eaten it so fresh. I ate a piece from one laddoo, and then I couldn't control myself until I finished one completely.
Our tourist guide had asked us not to go for the "free meals" as he said that it may get delayed and break the time-table of the tour package. So, we went back to the Tirumala bus stand after doing some minor shopping. Our Guide was waiting there for us (it seems every other passenger in our bus had come back already). I think there were a hundred hairpin drives on the downhill trip, and the APSRTC drivers would be having "nerves of steal" to drive at such a high speed through the sharp turns, even though it would be a routine work for them.
The APSRTC bus dropped us at Kapila Theertha, an ancient temple at Tirupathi. Our guide told us that this is one of the most ancient temples of Tirupathi, though most of the temple structure has been renovated, except for the shikhara of the sanctum. It seems the Archeology department hasn't yet identified the exact age of this structure, and they wouldn't allow for its renovation. We were given twenty minutes at Kapila Theertha, which was just enough to have a quick run around the temple. Our KSTDC bus came to pick us up from there, and then took us to the Sri Kalyana Venkateshwara temple at a village called Srinivasa Mangapuram, 12Km from Tirupathi. There was no rush at this temple. We could have the darshana quickly, and got another cup of Tamarind rice from there.
We returned to Tirupathi town, and after a disappointing and expensive lunch (I think Bhima Paradise was that restaurant) we went to Alamelu Mangapuram, to visit the Padmavati temple. It took an hour for us here to get the darshana. I was in a half-asleep state by the time we came out of the temple, and was happy to hear from the Guide that the day's programs were over. We reached our room at 4PM and I had a sound sleep.
On Sunday, we were asked to get ready at 5AM. We reached Govindarajaswami Temple by 5:30. Located in the center of Tirupathi town, this temple is dedicated to Govindarajaswami, the elder brother of Lord Venkateshwara, and the huge idol in the sanctum is in a reclining position. The temple itself is vast, and has several smaller temples inside the main compound, dedicated to various other deities. The gopuram of the temple is the tallest among all the temples we visited at Tirupathi, and the multiple granite walls surrounding the temple have engravings in Telugu (?) and Tamil. We had to rush through the temple, as there were parking restrictions near the temple starting from 6AM and we were asked to come back to our bus before that.
An hour drive, and then we reached Kalahasthi, the next temple in our itinerary. Kalahasthi is one of the holiest places for Hindus, and it is given various titles like Dakshina Kasi, Dakshina Kailasa, and so on. The place is named after Sri the spider, Kala the serpent and Hasthi the elephant, who were all devotees of Shiva and achieved salvation through their innocent devotion, and the Linga inside the Kalahastheeswara temple has elephant tusks on its both sides, a serpent's image on its top, and a spider on its base. There are several other legends associated with the place, and the beautiful story of Kannappa's devotion is just one among them. Also, at this temple the lord is worshiped as an embodiment of Vayu among the Panchabhoothas, and it seems the lamps inside the sanctum never stop flickering.
We could see a tall gopuram as we approach Kalahasthi, but apparently this structure just serves as a landmark, and it is not an entrance to the temple. The temple complex is on the left side of the gopuram as we approach towards it from the main road, and it covers a vast area, with several smaller temples inside it. Many Lingas, said to be installed by other Gods and mythological and historical characters are located at various places inside the temple complex. There is also a Linga made of sphatika (glass), which said to be installed by Adi Shankaracharya, and is one among only two in its kind (the other one being at Rameshwaram).
After the darshana, we came out and purchased some vadas from the temple counter, which were sold as prasadam. They were tasty, and since I was hungry, I soon finished two of them. We could see a long queue in front of the Pathala Vinayaka temple which is outside the inner temple compound. The sanctum of this temple is in an underground chamber, and only a few people are allowed to go inside at a time. We decided to just offer our prayers standing outside, and then went to Vishwanatha temple, which is close-by. I was amused to see a tall, strange-looking granite statue kept near the entrance of this temple - The statue of a man in sitting position, who has some sort of a Chinese-style beard and a peculiar turban. I could not make a guess on who he could be!
We later had breakfast at a nearby Swarna restaurant that was recommended by our tourist guide, and then roamed around for a while. The temple is situated in a picturesque landscape in the middle of two small hills (one is named after Kannappa), near the banks of a calm and beautiful river, the holy Swarnamukhi, which unfortunately looks like has become a place for dumping garbage now. A snake-charmer who moves around with a bleeding cobra that tried to raise its hood with great difficulty arousing pity, children begging for alms, saffron-clad bearded men who look mysterious, mahout of the temple elephant (?) making the animal bless the devotees for a small fee, pushcarts filled with tender coconut covered with flies, numerous foot-path shops managed by women, selling idli and dosas - The surroundings of the temple show us multitude of characters, not to forget the several devotees who wait in queues to do the special pujas for Rahu, Kethu and Naga.
The return drive to Bangalore was slow but smooth. As we passed through Palamaner, I looked for the beautiful sunflower farms which I had seen during my trip to the place few years back; but I couldn't see much of them. I could see lots of trees being cut and granite formations being demolished on both sides of the road for a long stretch, to make space for the expansion of the highway. At 4:30PM, we reached Hosakote, and soon we could inhale the familiar and unpleasant smell of Bangalore again.
We had a visit to Tirupathi this weekend. This was my first visit to the Lord Venkateshwara temple - It was a long pending trip, which I had to postpone many times because of various reasons.
We took the three-day package from KSTDC and started on Friday (March 14) evening (KSTDC likes to maximize the number of days in their packages as they appear in their pamphlet. For example, if a tour starts from Bangalore at 10PM on the first day and reaches back at 5AM on the third day, they would still insist on calling it as a "3-day tour package"). We were supposed to start at 7PM, but four of the passengers were stuck in traffic jam and were unable to reach the KSTDC office at Badami House, from where the bus started, by 7. They called the KSTDC office and requested to wait for them, so it was 8:15PM by the time we started. The bus was comfortable; The only inconvenience I had was that my seat was positioned in a very awkward location in the first row, just near the door, and I had to fold and bend my legs every now and then to make way for other passengers getting in and out throughout the trip.
It took an hour for us to come out of Bangalore city. We had a break for dinner at Kamat Upachar restaurant (the food there was just okay) after Hosakote at 10PM. After a smooth journey, we reached Tirupathi at 2AM. We were provided accommodation at Ramee Guestline hotel. Since my experiences with accommodation provided by KSTDC in my earlier trips with them were not that good, I was prejudiced against this one too, but Guestline turned out to be a decent one. We were asked to get ready by 3AM. Thankfully, there was hot water available in the hotel that time. After taking bath, etc., we were ready by 3, and then went to Tirumala Devasthanams counter for taking the passes for entering the temple. The token counters open at 5AM only, but it seems people wait there in queue from 12AM itself. When we reached there, we could see some 20-30 people "sleeping in the queue". There are separate queues for "free darshana" and "special darshana", for which we have to pay 50 rupees. We joined the queue for special darshana. Sharp at 5, the counter opened and after taking our thumb impression, passes (called "Sudarsanam Token") were issued to us. We got our tokens within fifteen minutes.
The Sudarsanam Token has three parts - one is for entry to the temple, second is for the laddoo prasadam, and the third is for the free meals at the temple, which is served from 9AM to 11AM. The tokens are not issued on top of Tirumala, so the devotees who want to take a second darshana have to come down and take the pass again (I don't know if there is some other method to enter the temple, by offering special puja, etc.). It seems this is designed like this to control the enormous number of devotees who otherwise would have camped on top of the hill for repeated darshanas.
The KSTDC tourist bus wouldn't go to the top of Tirumala; So an APSRTC bus was arranged for our commutation to the hilltop. It arrived at 5:30AM, and we reached Tirumala bus stand at 6:30, after a scary ride through several hairpin drives. I was half asleep during the bus-ride, but at some point of time when I opened my eyes, I could see the symbol of Lord Venkateshwara - The shape of the special signature thilaka on his forehead with images of chakra and shankha on both sides, installed on top of one of the hills surrounding the temple, illuminated with several fluorescent lamps. The huge symbol looked magnificent as it stood on the peak of the hill, and the white rays emanating from it, breaking the pre-dawn darkness, added a special glow to it.
In the tokens we got, our reporting time was given as 8AM, so we had plenty of time with us. Our KSTDC tourist guide advised us to take breakfast from the shops near the bus stand. There were quite a few small shops in the TTD tourist complex, selling hot breakfast. We went to an elderly lady, who was serving idli-vada for 10 rupees per plate. She was showing great efficiency, managing the preparation of the food, serving it and collecting money. The customers have to collect idli-vada or dosa from her, and then serve sambar or chutney from large steel buckets kept on one side, and then eat the food standing at any place nearby which they found convenient. There were flies near the shop, but I assured myself thinking that the food looked hot and so it would be safe. Indeed, the soft, cream-white, steaming idlis, crisp brown vadas and sambar were all very hot, and they were homely and delicious too, along with the coconut chutney. I just wished that she should have used banana leaf instead of thin plastic sheet to cover plates, to help it from getting oily.
At 7:30, we started walking to the temple, which is just 5 minute walk from the bus stand. There are several "waiting rooms" for the devotees, and we all went and sat in one room. These rooms are all built as part of some sort of an amphitheater. Television sets are installed in each room, showing programs related to various ceremonies in the temple. On one side of the room, there is a locked iron gate, and we all waited there anxiously for the door to open, which would signal our further advance into the temple. At some point of time, I slumped into sleep, but soon I woke up hearing the sound of an earthquake -The sound of all devotees in our room rushing to the door, responding to the sound of the iron doors opening. We also wanted to run, in order not to fall behind. The next moment, we realized that there was some confusion, as the door in the room looked closed as it was before. Apparently, what got opened was the door of room number one, which was on our right side. It wasn't occupied by anyone, so we were thinking that it was unused. In an amazing display of spiritual effervescence, all the devotees made an about-turn, and started frantically jumping over the chairs to run to the other room. We quickly moved to one corner to avoid injury. After a few minutes, we also ran to the other room, to join the others in the queue that had developed outside. If we had thought that everything would go in an orderly fashion once those high-voltage devotees had made their way, we were mistaken; Many more people pushed us and overtook us in the queue to meet their urgent appointments with the Lord, and by the time we reached the main entrance of the temple, there was a major chaos. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait for too long near the entrance, and were allowed to go inside at 9:30.
The situation of the queue inside the temple was much better, even though in front of the beautiful sacred sanctum, things were difficult again. The TTD employees were standing there and pushing the devotees, asking them to hurry up. But we somehow managed to stick around in front of the Lord's idol for a minute and have the darshana peacefully amidst the rush and push. Then we relaxed for a few minutes sitting near the sanctum, and after taking a pradakshina around it, and eating the prasada (tasty tamarind rice that was served in leaf cups), we came out of the temple. We went to the laddoo counter, to collect our laddoos. Even though I had eaten the famous Tirupathi laddoos several times before, I had never eaten it so fresh. I ate a piece from one laddoo, and then I couldn't control myself until I finished one completely.
Our tourist guide had asked us not to go for the "free meals" as he said that it may get delayed and break the time-table of the tour package. So, we went back to the Tirumala bus stand after doing some minor shopping. Our Guide was waiting there for us (it seems every other passenger in our bus had come back already). I think there were a hundred hairpin drives on the downhill trip, and the APSRTC drivers would be having "nerves of steal" to drive at such a high speed through the sharp turns, even though it would be a routine work for them.
The APSRTC bus dropped us at Kapila Theertha, an ancient temple at Tirupathi. Our guide told us that this is one of the most ancient temples of Tirupathi, though most of the temple structure has been renovated, except for the shikhara of the sanctum. It seems the Archeology department hasn't yet identified the exact age of this structure, and they wouldn't allow for its renovation. We were given twenty minutes at Kapila Theertha, which was just enough to have a quick run around the temple. Our KSTDC bus came to pick us up from there, and then took us to the Sri Kalyana Venkateshwara temple at a village called Srinivasa Mangapuram, 12Km from Tirupathi. There was no rush at this temple. We could have the darshana quickly, and got another cup of Tamarind rice from there.
We returned to Tirupathi town, and after a disappointing and expensive lunch (I think Bhima Paradise was that restaurant) we went to Alamelu Mangapuram, to visit the Padmavati temple. It took an hour for us here to get the darshana. I was in a half-asleep state by the time we came out of the temple, and was happy to hear from the Guide that the day's programs were over. We reached our room at 4PM and I had a sound sleep.
On Sunday, we were asked to get ready at 5AM. We reached Govindarajaswami Temple by 5:30. Located in the center of Tirupathi town, this temple is dedicated to Govindarajaswami, the elder brother of Lord Venkateshwara, and the huge idol in the sanctum is in a reclining position. The temple itself is vast, and has several smaller temples inside the main compound, dedicated to various other deities. The gopuram of the temple is the tallest among all the temples we visited at Tirupathi, and the multiple granite walls surrounding the temple have engravings in Telugu (?) and Tamil. We had to rush through the temple, as there were parking restrictions near the temple starting from 6AM and we were asked to come back to our bus before that.
An hour drive, and then we reached Kalahasthi, the next temple in our itinerary. Kalahasthi is one of the holiest places for Hindus, and it is given various titles like Dakshina Kasi, Dakshina Kailasa, and so on. The place is named after Sri the spider, Kala the serpent and Hasthi the elephant, who were all devotees of Shiva and achieved salvation through their innocent devotion, and the Linga inside the Kalahastheeswara temple has elephant tusks on its both sides, a serpent's image on its top, and a spider on its base. There are several other legends associated with the place, and the beautiful story of Kannappa's devotion is just one among them. Also, at this temple the lord is worshiped as an embodiment of Vayu among the Panchabhoothas, and it seems the lamps inside the sanctum never stop flickering.
We could see a tall gopuram as we approach Kalahasthi, but apparently this structure just serves as a landmark, and it is not an entrance to the temple. The temple complex is on the left side of the gopuram as we approach towards it from the main road, and it covers a vast area, with several smaller temples inside it. Many Lingas, said to be installed by other Gods and mythological and historical characters are located at various places inside the temple complex. There is also a Linga made of sphatika (glass), which said to be installed by Adi Shankaracharya, and is one among only two in its kind (the other one being at Rameshwaram).
After the darshana, we came out and purchased some vadas from the temple counter, which were sold as prasadam. They were tasty, and since I was hungry, I soon finished two of them. We could see a long queue in front of the Pathala Vinayaka temple which is outside the inner temple compound. The sanctum of this temple is in an underground chamber, and only a few people are allowed to go inside at a time. We decided to just offer our prayers standing outside, and then went to Vishwanatha temple, which is close-by. I was amused to see a tall, strange-looking granite statue kept near the entrance of this temple - The statue of a man in sitting position, who has some sort of a Chinese-style beard and a peculiar turban. I could not make a guess on who he could be!
View from the Road to Tirupathi
We later had breakfast at a nearby Swarna restaurant that was recommended by our tourist guide, and then roamed around for a while. The temple is situated in a picturesque landscape in the middle of two small hills (one is named after Kannappa), near the banks of a calm and beautiful river, the holy Swarnamukhi, which unfortunately looks like has become a place for dumping garbage now. A snake-charmer who moves around with a bleeding cobra that tried to raise its hood with great difficulty arousing pity, children begging for alms, saffron-clad bearded men who look mysterious, mahout of the temple elephant (?) making the animal bless the devotees for a small fee, pushcarts filled with tender coconut covered with flies, numerous foot-path shops managed by women, selling idli and dosas - The surroundings of the temple show us multitude of characters, not to forget the several devotees who wait in queues to do the special pujas for Rahu, Kethu and Naga.
The return drive to Bangalore was slow but smooth. As we passed through Palamaner, I looked for the beautiful sunflower farms which I had seen during my trip to the place few years back; but I couldn't see much of them. I could see lots of trees being cut and granite formations being demolished on both sides of the road for a long stretch, to make space for the expansion of the highway. At 4:30PM, we reached Hosakote, and soon we could inhale the familiar and unpleasant smell of Bangalore again.
