1.Mallur Gutta is a
long hill first in
a thickly forested hill range on
the banks of river Godavari in Warangal district of Telangana near Mulug town which
lies in the forest region. The state highway connecting Hyderabad city to
Vijayawada city(Andhra Pradesh) passes touching
this long forested hill. After we walk for about two kilometers
on the wide spine of the first hill there
is a small but highly revered temple for Lord Narasimha the angry lion form of Lord
Vishnu (the name by which god amighty of universe is called by traditional
Hindus ). There are other temples in the group. All are temples of the
great gods and are greatly loved and revered.
I visited this temple only about 30 years back!
But I remember as if my visit was just recent.The place is extremely beautiful in forest environment. Small
forest streams flow throughout year starting from the distant high peaks under the thick growth of green bushes and flow down to
the temple hill through a thick growth
of medicinal plants and form a big pool of
fragrant pure chrystal- clear water which is invisible under the bushes near
the temples. There are two or three giant size mango trees of unusual
height with thick branches and they
provide cool pleasant shade even in hot summers .
We can imagine how this spot looked a thousand years ago .This
was surely a favorite place of rest for the army bands of powerful kings who ruled the
area. The kings and chieftains and religious men must have surely liked this
beautiful place and had a temple built
for the great Lion God (Lord Vishnu) . They might have planted mango saplings
which later grew to giant size trees which gave great shade. The present set of
giant mango trees might be third or fourth generation trees. Many agricultural
villages must have existed in this fertile area near banks of river Godavari since
untold generations . Now this road is
part of the present busy national highway.
Now ,daily a few hundred people visit the
temple from neighboring towns and villages. There is now a nice motorable winding
road up the hill direct upto to the near
the main temple .People come by car, motor byke and auto cabs
to spend a few hours in the holy and pleasant forest atmosphere .People
here believe that none should remain in this forest spot after sunset as the
angry lion god wanders in the area.
Lord Narasimha is venerated by traditional Hindus throughout India . At
times of annual festivals tens of thousands of people visit every day. The priests
daily come from the big village below and perform the holy services.The place is so
beautiful and holy. Even some films were shot in this picturesque place.
2.There is another great and majestic
most holy temple for Lord Narasimha at YadagiriGutta about 65 kilometers from the
mega city of Hyderabad. We visited this temple a number of times during last 50
years during our visits from Warangal city
to Hyderabad city. The old temple was entirely reconstructed in 2016 in black granite by great sculptors to
resemble the world famous south Indian
rock temples like Srirangam and Madurai. But even in its old form the temple
was majestic and drew millions of devotees from all over Telengana state.
The temple being very near to
Hyderabad is one of the most favored
temple destination for dwellers of Hyderabad. People believe that Lord Narasimha in his angry lion form punishes villainous people and establishes order in society.
3. We visited about nine years ago the
great ancient magnificient rock temple of Nasika Triumbak( modern Nashik in
Maharashtra) on high hills in the green heaven of lush evergreen forests of Western
Ghats. The temple is located at the place where the river Godavari originates as a hill stream in a most beautiful green forest environment
with frequent rains. The stream is
joined by many streams and become the
mighty Godavari river descending from
the high hills. Godavari flows for a thousand miles to join the eastern sea near
the city of Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh state and forms a very delta full of
numberless temples of grest fame.
River Godavari descending from high hills of western ranges and visited by
frequent heavy rains in its source area and is considered as a River of Heaven
. It is treated as holy as River Ganges
descending down the ice- capped Himamalayan ranges .It is stated that Lord Shiva
advised Goddess Godavari to flow down to earth and sanctify and irrigate vast
lands in central India.
4. We visited the great awe-
inspiring most holy temples of south
India during last week of July ‘24 and 1st week of Aug ‘24. These colossal
sized old temples of south India are examples of most wonderful and most poetic artistic architecture . Our trip included(1)the great Tanjavur Brihadeswara
temple(which can thrill as great engineering wonder in stone ),(2) the great Srirangam
temple (a true heaven on earth),(3) the great Shiva temple(Jambukeswara temple
) with sky high towers and long pillared corridors (4)the great temple of Srivilliputhur
also with awe-inspiring sky high towers, (5)the Madurai Meenakskshi Amma temple of inexplicable beauty and spiritual and architectural spleandor(6) Sri Rameswaram
temple (7) the most beautiful Thiruchendur temple with high tower and right on the sea coast with
the endless sea barely 50 meters away(8) Sri Padmanabha swamy temple at Thiruvananthapuram
Kerala famed for its hidden riches besides the high towers and long pillared
corridors.
5. On 20-12-24 we visited the holy city Varanasi . We flew from Mumbai to
Varanasi direct. Our destinations were the
great Lord Shiva temple at Varanasi and Lord Rama temple at Ayodhya. Visiting
Varanasi is a spiritual fulfillment of a lifetime. Lord Shiva ,almighty god of
universe who is said to be every minute
visited by gods of heaven , resides here with Goddess Parvathi among the
mortals of earth. Saints and kings visited
Varanasi since immemorial times. Common people too visited
even at great risks to their
lives. It was a life’s wish for every one.Our visit to Varanasi thrilled me immensely and I could not believe
my eyes when our plane descended in the holy city.
We were also most lucky to visit the world famous Buddhist
pilgrim center Saranath on 22-12-24
during our visit to Varanasi.Saranath the most holy place where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon is just 15 kilometers from Varanasi . Simply I
could not believe myself that I could visit the place where Lord Budha --an incarnation of Lord
Vishnu the lord almighty of universe---trod
and gave his Divine Message.
Then on 23-12-24 we had the great
luck and fortune of visiting the capital of Lord Rama’s kingdom Ayodhya. We journeyed by road from Varanasi
to Ajodhya a distance of about 220 kms . It was simply unbelievable that I was visiting Lord Rama’s Ayodhya
a part of heaven for every traditional Hindu. Lord Rama,though he was a king and emperor ,was also a most glorious saintly person who hinted through his actions that this material world is unreal and only the
god’s heavens are the real world. To visit the Holy Land where his kingdom
existed is the rarest of rare luck. We also visited the holy river Sarayu on the banks of which existed Ayodhya . we greatly
enjoyed ride on a motorboat on the holy river.
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