G10-THE TEMPLE AT PATHAGUTTA-2

THE   ANCIENT   ORIGINAL  LORD NARASIMHA   TEMPLE 

 By PragyanSharma Polavarapu

 As mentioned earlier the area of Pathagutta temple is a vast stony surface formed by a series of big horizontally-lying boulders buried deep in the ground. Each boulder may perhaps be fifty meters long and only a little less wide! At some places two or three small room-size boulders are stacked one above the other by nature. Seeing the stacked boulders every person wonders how such gigantic stones were lifted at all. No humans can lift them. Simple rural people feel that it is nothing but one of god's great visible miracles. They feel that if they similarly arrange a little stack of stones one above another somewhere on the stony ground they surely would get god's grace. We can see scores of such tiny stone-stacks created with much devotion by devotees on the stony ground in isolated areas. Large numbers of people worship at pathagutta temple daily. The temple history says that Patha gutta was the main temple of Lord Narasimha before the large temples with huge gopurams were constructed 100 or 150 years back on the high Yadagirigutta hill (yadadri hill). The road level temple at Pathagutta is spacious inside. The entrance is by a few wide cement steps. There are big statues of "Dwarapalas" on either side. There are strong iron doors and iron railings all painted in bright orange and yellow. Inside the temple there are wide spacious halls with all facilities. The temple lies under a huge tree. On the other side of the tree and on a flat ground-level stony surface --( really a long horizontally lying and meters-long and meters-wide boulder lying buried in the ground for thousands of years)---requiring climbing of about a 100 stairs the temple of the mighty Lord Hanuman all painted in orange can be reached. The stairs are painted on front side in wide stripes of orange and white. The orange and white stripes are religious symbols imitating the very holy “Urdhwa Pundram” worn on the forehead by traditional Hindus of the Vishnu cult. Some beggars sit near the stairs under the cool shade. A few monkeys play among the low branches while a steady stream of devotees moves up and down the stairs . Near the stairway there are also two small temples—one for the Great Mother Goddess and the other for "Nava Grahas"(sun god and other gods guarding all directions of the universe). Innumerable great old temples like Patha Gutta existed in rural areas all over India since last two thousand years and had been giving spiritual solace to millions of people. There is no need to visit huge temples like Madurai and Varanasi (Kasi) and spend thousands of rupees. The great god can be worshipped with equal satisfaction and equal spiritual joy at these small temples in rural areas. ****** For further developing Yadadri town from spiritual angle , boarding and lodging facilities for the tens of thousands of devotees that would be coming everyday have to be provided. New shopping centers, new recreation centers, new spiritual centers etc. have to be developed. Both governmental and private investment is needed on a large scale for infrastructure development. Many building ventures are coming up all around the new Yadadri temple for permanent residential colonies and new townships. For the people of the megacity of Hyderabad which is hardly an hour's journey away the great new heaven-like temple complex on Yadadri hill is a great boon. Many devotees, after visiting the main Yadadri temple( the newly inaugurated temple complex inaugurated on----) , are likely to visit the other important temples, monasteries existing in the town. Pathagutta temple ---being for centuries before great temple gopurams came up on the Yadagirigutta hill top about 100,150 years ago--- should be treated as the most important place in Yadadri town next in importance to the new temple complex on the hill top. As such one feels that Pathagutta has to be developed as a big modern temple complex at the ground level so that pilgrims make a visit here without fail after visiting the hill top temples. Gardens and clusters of shade giving trees can be developed in temple area. Modern shopping malls and restaurants can be developed around Pathaguuta temple .