Ranjus travel blog

Today ( 6.1.2020 ) being Ekadesi decided to go to Lord Vishnu temple as last year went to Thirukachi Nambi temple in Poonthamallee , this time wanted to visit Pachaivarna Perumal temple in Agaramel village near Nazarath pettai , Thiruvallur district in Tamilnadu .

This temple is between Poonthamallee and Thirumazhisai .

Though we are near could not make up in the early morning due to rains and heavy traffic after 8am so went in the evening .

Admist the very busy Poonthamallee high road is a calm and quiet Agaramel village of Nazareth pettai .

This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu . Moolavar is in sitting posture with Goddess Sridevi and Bhumidevi. The Lord Vishnu is named as Harithavarna or Pachaivarana Perumal and Haritha means green in sanskrit . The consort of this Lord Pachaivarna Perumal is Goddess Amruthavalli .

Sthalapuranam : when the elephant named Aswathama was killed in Mahabharata battle , Yudhistra shouted Aswathama was killed loudly and uttered the elephant . Dronacharya ( Dronacharya’s sons name too was Aswathama ) was distracted and shocked . Using this opportunity Dronacharya was beheaded by Dritadyumna ( Draupadhi’s brother ). As Yudhistra lied to get rid of this sin he asked Narada . Narada asked him to pray Lord Vishnu . So Yudhistra performed yagna at this site , a green colour elephant ( which was the Lord Vishnu himself ) appeared before him and relieved Yudhistra from his sin . Yudhistra requested the Lord Vishnu to stay here and bless all his devotees .

Historic importance of this place is Mudaliyandan avatara sthalam. Born to Ananda Narayana Dikshithar and Nachiyaramma , who was the sister of illustrious Sri Ramanujar , Daasarathi was his name Mudaliyandan was the name given to him by Sri Ramanujar . He along with Koorathalwar was a prominent disciples of Sri Ramanujar .There is a seperate sanctum to Mudaliyandan acharya here .

Had divine dharshan went through Parampadhavaasal and came home with his blessings.

The other shrines in this temple are Lord Sriranganathar , Goddess Andal , Lord Rama Lakshman Seetha and Lord Anjineyar .

Pandurangar ( Lord Krishna) is the main deity of Pandarpur . He is also known as Vithalla or Vithoba and his consort as Rukmani .

Pandarpur is on the banks of chandrabagha river in Sholapur district of Maharashtra .

The uniqueness of this temple is one could touch the Lord Pandurangars feet and its known as padha sparsha dharshan .

Ashada and karthiga ekadesi and during Jenmastami rituals are done in a grandeur manner and lakhs of devotees come to get the blessings of Lord Pandurangar .

Here the Lord Pandurangar stands with his hands on his hip enjoying the bhajans of his devotees .

Here the lord is swayambu and there is a story behind it . Once Pundalik on his way to kashi asks Kukkut maharishi to guide him Kukkut Maharishi says he has not been to Kashi so he could not help him hearing this Pundalik teases him “being such wise and old you dint visit Kashi yet” Kukkut Maharishi did not react . Pundalik sleeps that night in Kukkut Maharishis ashram and next day morning he sees 3 women cleaning the ashram , when he finds the 3 women are the 3 rivers Ganga , Yamuna and Saraswathi , he asks them why you come to cleanse the ashram as this wise man has not yet been to kashi . The 3 rivers replied piousness spirituality and devotion does not depend on costly rituals but depends on performing ones Karma (fulfilling ones duties and responsibilities) correctly . Pundalik realizes his mistakes , he has left his elderly parents at home and was on the way to Kashi to attain moksha . He returns back and serves his parents with much devotion . Lord Pandurangar wanted to test him . So one day he visits Pundalik house and calls him Pundalik throws a stone and ask the Lord to stand on that ( he did not know its the Lord Pandurangar himself has come to see him) as he was feeding his parents . In the service to his parents Pundalik forgets thoroughly he has asked to wait , when he remembers he sees Pandurangar himself standing on the stone he asks for forgiveness. Lord Pandurangar pleased by his devotion towards his parents gives a boon . Pundalik asks Lord to stay there itself and bless all those come to see him .

There is a mandir of Pundalik too in Pandarpur .

VISHNUPAD

Vishnupad is a temple on the banks of Chandrabagha river just 5kms from Lord Pandurangar temple . It’s a open massive hall with 16 pillars . Lord Krishna and Lord Vishnu in different postures are being carved on the pillars .

SAKKUBAI MANDIR

Sakkubai mandir is in Gopalpur 2 kms from Pandarpur . Sakkubai was a holy woman who worshiped Lord Krishna of Pandharapur. She was ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. She was married to a cruel family , where everyone ill treated her . But she was stuck to her homely duties and was finding happiness only in worshiping the Lord. One day , she plans to visit Pandarapur, but her in-laws ties her to a pillar. Lord krishna comes in the form of a woman , and releases her. He lets her go to Pandarapur and takes the form of Sakkubai and stays at home. Sakkubai visits Pandarapur and immediately after the darshan , she dies and gets released from the bonds of life . One of her neighbour seeing her dead does her cremation there . Meanwhile the Lord Pandurangar at Sakkubhai home does all the household works . The neighbour comes from Pandarpur seeing Sakkubai says she’s a devil as he only did her final rituals after her death . Meanwhile Rukmini, the consort of Krishna, re-creates Sakkubai, with her yogic power, and this Sakkubai gets Immortalized , blessed by Lord . The whole family then realizes that the Lord himself was in the place of Sakkubai and asks for forgiveness and becomes Lord Pandurangar’s devotees . The household of Sakkubai and chakli she used for grinding are still kept in the temple .

MUSEUM

The museum here is little fascinating , once entered till the exit is like a maze going 4 steps up and 4 step down so those who enters take a water bottle so that you are not exhausted before you finish as you can’t come away half way back . Beautiful and colorful idols of Gods will take 2 hours to finish .

Namdev was an ardent devotee of Lord Pandurangar . One day his mother asks him to complete the ritual of “neivedya” (any food made in the house is first offered to God, the ritual of placing the offering plate before the deity and sprinkling water and flowers around the plate and with a prayer to God). Namdev faithfully does “naivedya” and waits for God to appear and take the offerings . But he is disheartened. He keeps praying and requests God to come in person and accept the offering. With no answer , the child starts banging his head at the feet of God. Seeing this utmost devotion and innocence of the child , God appears eats the offering and blesses Namdev. Namdev asks for being present in the “first step” at His temple, so that his innumerable devotees will touch him before having the “darshan” (view).  Thats why first step of Vittal Rukmini temple is called “Namdevachi Payari”  and one of the entrance to Vittal Mandir is also dedicated to Namdev’s name .

This temple is in Bengaluru to Mysore highway .

It’s an ancient temple . Here the main deity is Lord Vishnu known as Ramaprameya and his consort Aravindavalli Thayar .

I travelled from Bengaluru in bus got down in channapatna bus stop from there took a auto to this temple . It’s just 3 kms from Channapatna bus stop .

This is a prathana sthalam in the pragharam is an idol of Navaneetha Krishnan in crawling posture with butter on a hand . Those couples , wanting for a child boon offer butter to this Navaneetha Krishnan and keep their prayers . Once their prayers are answered , they do butter abhishegam to this Navaneetha Krishnan . Such a cute idol with a beautiful eyes with butter in one hand in a crawling posture .

Jenmastami is celebrated in a grandeur manner in this temple with festivities commencing before a month .

Childless couples from various states come here to offer butter to Navaneetha Krishnan and to get his blessings .

Near this temple are shop that sell wooden toys wall hangings indoor games and art pieces I bought nadavandi (walker) for my grand daughter .

This is a Lakshmi Narasimhar sthethram , here the diety is santha swarupi .This place is 55 kms from chennai in Thiruvallur district. The main diety here is Lord Narasimhar with Goddess Lakshmi on his lap and in a alinganam posture .The idol of the Lord Narasimhar is about 8 feet and the thayar named Maragathavalli is about 5 feet both together in veetrirundha (sitting) posture .

The Garudan opposite to the Lord Narasimhar has 16 serpents on his body as ornaments , hence this is the prathana sthalam for naga doshas and sevvai dosham peoples.

The Lord Narasimhar here hugs closely ( alinganam ) the Goddess Lakshmi (Maragathavalli Thayar) those who has problems in their married life by seeking the blessings of this Lord Lakshmi Narasimhar will be relieved of those problems .

This is a pilgrimage place in Kurnool district in Andrapradesh .

It’s the jeeva sammadhi of Raghavendra swamy , (its believed that Raghavendra swamy was born as Prahaladh in his first incarnation).This holy place is also called as Brindhavan .

The temple is serene and divine . There is Lord Hanuman idol opposite to Raghavendrar Brindhavana its said first to seek the blessings of the Hanuman then to worship Raghavendra Swami as the idol of Hanuman is installed by Raghavendra swamy himself and his jeeva sammadhi is too made out of the same stone .

The temple has 3 chariots- wooden, silver and gold every day by evening 7pm the three chariots comes around the temple and there is a manchallamman temple inside this temple and they allow us to show arathy to the Amman by ourselves.

After visiting Mantralaya one should see Pichalaya the place where Raghavendra swamy after attaining moksha appeared to Appanacharya his first and foremost disciple on the banks of Tungabhadra.

Near this place is Appanacharyas house to see .

Panchamukhi Anjineyar temple is a swambu Anjineyar temple just 10 kms from Mantralayam . This place is where Raghavendra Swamy was in penance for many years . At the back of Anjineyar temple is Yerukalamma temple the krama devatha of this village .

Poojyaya Raghavendraya Satya Dharma Ratayacha,
Bhajatam Kalpavrikshaya Namatam Kamadhenave

From Hampi we travelled to Mantralayam on the way we visited kallur Mahalakshmi temple .

After Hampi visit we reached Anegundi a small village .

Anjanadri hill is a small hillock in Anegundi ( the birth place of Lord Hanuman ). Nearby is a Durga mandir and Pampasarover a sacred pond opposite to it is a Goddess Mahalakshmi temple , Lord Ramar padham , seetha padham and Sabari padham are there in this temple .

Food and night halt was arranged in vaibhav guest house opposite to Raghavendra mutt .

Early morning we started to Navabrindavan ,which is the jeeva sammadhi of nine Madwa saints from Anegundi. It is a small island,can be reached by a ferry ride . Our tour organizer had arranged for abhishegam so by 7 am we were ready and in a motor boat we reached Navabrindhavan enjoying the scenic beauty on the banks of Tungabhadra river .

The nine Madwa saints names are

1. Padmanabha theerthar
2. Kavindra theerthar
3. Vyasa theerthar
4. Vyasaraja theerthar
5. Rama theerthar
6. Raghu or Jaya theerthar
7. Srinivasa theerthar
8. Sudhindhar theerthar
9. Govinda theerthar

Along with these saints jeeva sammadhi there is a Lord Anjineyar temple and a Sriranganathar temple .

The other side of the nava brindhavan is a Lord Hanuman temple named avatara Hanuman . The idol face is like a Hanuman ,body like Bheeman in yoga pose with a script and pen in his hand of Madwacharya .

Pooja rituals were done by this time we lighted the lamps and came nine rounds around the nine jeeva sammadhis (without crossing the yellow line drawn). No one is allowed inside the caution line it’s better to go in traditional dress both men and women .

Slogan:
Padmanabham kavindracha vyakeesam vyasarajakam raghuvaryam srinivasam rama theertham thathavacha
Sri sudhindracha govindham nava brindhavanam bhaje bhajeThis slogan has all the nine madwa saints names .

Do visit this calm serene n divine Navabrindhavan your wishes and dreams will become true as I have experienced myself.

There is a Ranganathar temple too in Anegundi we worshipped there too and left to Mantralayam.

That’s how our day 2 at Hampi ended.

It was our long term dream to visit Hampi . We visited Hampi in June 2018.

As we are from Chennai we travelled to Bengaluru in train ,from Bengaluru to Hospet, we reached Hospet early morning from station we travelled by jeep to Heritage group of Hotels to freshen up, took bath in the sacred river Tungabhadra near Virupaksha temple .

Virupaksha temple the main significance is that the shadow of the gopuram falls upside down at the back entrance wall of the temple . The main deity is Lord Shiva and his consort is goddess Pampadevi . There are seperate sannithis for Goddess Durga, Lord Hanuman , Goddess Lakshmi. Near the dwajasthambam there are 3 Nandis in this temple . Everyday the pooja and rituals are done here. This temple is built in such a way at the backside of the main sanctum there is a wall ,the shadow of the main gopuram falls inverted on the wall .

After worshipping the Virupaksha temple we went to Ugra Narasimhar and Badavi Lingam temple which are adjacent to each other ,all attacked by invaders and remains ruined .No pooja rituals are done here .

Then we visited Vithalla mandir they took us in a battery car for that they charge Rs . 20 and entry ticket being charged 40 per person . Here is the famous stone chariot of Hampi and the musical pillars.

This temple is not under worship the main deity is absent and no clear information about it .
Though the main gopuram is half destroyed some renovation works were been undergoing . With this we took a lunch break .

After 3 pm we visited chakra theertham through trek and coracle ride reached the other side visited Kothandaramar temple , Surya Narayanan temple and Yantharo tharaga Hanuman temple .

Its said Lord Rama met Lord Hanuman at this place hence this Kothandaramar temple is built .

Yantharo tharaga Hanuman temple is a few steps ahead of Kothandaramar temple and Lord Hanuman is in yoga position inside a yantra surrounded by 12 monkeys ,one monkey catching the other tail which came in the dream of Vyasarajar ( a Madva saint) who installed this Yantharo tharaga Hanuman idol and slogan .

Throughout the roads we travelled we were able to see carved stones and could imagine how those times tradings were done . There are many places of interests like Queens bath , Elephants stable , row of shops much more feeling amazed by the royal ruins of Hampi we left to Anegundi .

One can plan Hampi visit along with Badami Aihole and Pattadakal .

Anjanadri hill is a small hillock in Anegundi(small village just 5 kms from Hampi)which is the birthplace of Lord Hanuman.

The view from the top of the hill is awesome. The view of Tungabhadra river flowing, paddy and plantain trees all over.
It is a very scenic and breezy place .
All the Hampi river side ruins can be viewed from top.

There are 575 steps to reach the temple.The steps are though uneven it’s well protected as there are lots of monkeys .One should plan to climb either in the early morning or in the evenings before 6 pm ( closing time of the temple is 7 pm )

On top of the hill is a small gopuram with an Anjineyar , Anjanadevi (mother of Lord Hanuman) , Lord Ram and Lakshman with Seethadevi temples are there. Daily pooja and bhajans are being done .