Lepakshi Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, Andhra Pradesh

While returning from Belum Caves (Read about this in my previous post), we stayed in Anantapur at Hotel Sapthagiri Balla.  It is a very good hotel in this town with attached veg (Chutnees) and multi-cuisine (Spice) restaurants.  After a nice rest, we had breakfast at the attached Chutnees restaurant (buffet breakfast was included in the room charge), we started towards Lepakshi.

Lepakshi is a small village located in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.  It is around 120km north of Bangalore.  The Veerabhadra Swamy temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is located here.  The temple is built in Vijayanagar architecture style and has excellent sculptures built by Vijayanagar empire artisans.  The temple also has a repository of mural paintings of Vijayanagar kings and gods.  A reference to this temple is made in the 'Skandapurana' as one of the hundred and eight important Shiva temples. This temple is a visual treat to anyone interested in historic sculptures and architecture showing the skill of the our predecessors.

Sree Padmanabaswamy Temple, Trivandrum

Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Trivandrum

The Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple is one of my favorite temples, mainly because I lived around the temple for so many years and the festivals of the temple were my childhood fantasies.  The notable festival is the Aaarattu festival and Navarathri festival during which we used to regularly visit.  The city of Thiruvananthapuram received its name from the temple - Thiru Anantha Puram, the Adobe of Lord Anantha Padmanabha.

Attukal Temple, Trivandrum

View of the sculptures on top of the entrance to temple.

Attukal Bhagavathi Temple in Trivandrum is one of the prominent religious places of Kerala. It is called Sabarimala of Women due to the annual Attukal Pongala (offering) festival solely participated by Women from Kerala and neighboring Tamilnadu.  The temple structure is built with sculptures from story of Kannagi who is believed to be the deity here. 

Attukal Pongala Festival at Trivandrum

Attukal Temple Main Entrance

Today is the Attukal Pongala Festival.  That is when the "largest gathering of women in the World" happens.  There is a Guinness world record registered for this festival.  During my childhood days, this was a time of joy and festivities.  The days leading to the "Pongala" festival were very eventful with lot of programs and activities planned by local clubs and temples.  Everyone in the city irrespective of their religion participated in them.  We used to have "Ganamela" during the nights near my place at Karamana.  Singers used to sing popular Malayalam and Tamil songs throughout the night.  The temple also use do have daily music and dance programs all the 10 days. On the day of Pongala, the local clubs and residents used to serve "Panakkam" (a drink made of jaggery, cardomom and sugar) and "Sambaram" (a drink made of curd, water, curry leaves, ginger and salt) to devotees.

Attukal Temple

Trivandrum city itself paints a festive look with no vehicle movement and full of devotees who comes from different parts of the city, state and neighboring states.  The story of Attukal Temple is linked to Tamilnadu.  It is believed that Kannaki, the central character of Tamil epic Silapathikaram, came to Trivandrum on the way to Kodungallur.  Kannaki is the diety in the Attukal Temple.  The temple is situated in the banks of Killi river and is very near to the city center.

Ladies making Pongala in mud pots using brick stoves

During the Pongala Festival, millions of ladies get together to pray the goddess and offer her "Pongala" (rice cooked with jaggery, ghee, coconut as well as other ingredients).  It is cooked in earth pots around the temple.  During recent times due to high number of devotees coming to the temple, the area where pongala is prepared has grown to few kilometers around the temple covering most parts of the city.  There were around 2.5 million ladies performed pongala last year, and this year is said to surpass this mark.  During this day, only ladies and kids are allowed near the temple where pongala is performed. 

Pongala getting prepared

When I see the live telecast of this festival in the Malayalam TV channels today, it takes me back to good old days.  It has been a while since I could participate in the Pongala.  I tried to remember when was the last time.  No, I can't remember it.  It has been that far back since I was in Trivandrum during this time.  May be I should plan to attend it next year.

Attukal Temple Pond

Excellent pictures about Attukal Pongala can be found at http://attukalpongala.blogspot.com/

ISKCON Temple, Bangalore

It is a very modern temple which a futuristic architecture. The ISKCON Temple is situated in North Bangalore near Mahalakshmi Layout and Rajaji Nagar. It is around 7 Kms from Majestic. They seems to have plans to build a new one in Kanakpura Road.

The temple is on a hill top having magnificent view of the surrounding which includes few other temples. Camera is not allowed inside the temple and hence some of those views (especially in the dawn and dusk) are to be seen directly. Before entering the temple you have an option (yes, you can bypass this) of going through a 108 stone passage chanting Krishna praise. Then you go up to the temple where there are some supplementary deities and they are simple and beautiful to see. Passing this level you reach the majestic center hall of the temple. The roof of the temple is decorated with paintings from Krishna's life. The deities are made of gold (I guess plated) and are beautiful to see. The enclosure is also covered with Gold. (Update provided by an anonymous reader: The deities of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna Candra; Sri Sri Krishna Balaram and Sri Nitai Gauranga are made of Panchaloha with brass outer layer.)

You can also see the statue of the founder of ISKCON and get to buy a wide range of literature on Krishna including the famous Bhagavat Gita is many languages.

Night view of ISKCON temple

Once you come down after darshan, the feeling of visiting a temple ends and you enter into a miniature "Mall" with all kind of shops selling artifacts, souvenirs and food. You do get different items to buy here normally not available in a shop outside. They also run a charitable organization towards which many of the sale proceedings go. When you get down from the temple, you are provided with a bowl of "Prasadam", normally very delicious porridge.

The CAR parking fee is Rs.10/- and they do security check before allowing people inside the temple. There is no religious affiliations required to enter the temple and people of all religions are welcomed there.

ISKCON also conducts a charity program called "Akshaya Patra". I came to know about the full scale of operations recently and was impressed at this. They do noon meal program for scores of school children in and around Bangalore. Meal for lakhs of children are prepared in very modern hygienic environment.

Read more on this at MustseeIndia.com

New Hanuman Statue near Agara, Bangalore

In Bangalore, you can see many high rising Hanuman (Maruthi) statues. I have not seen such statues in other cities. There was a new statue built at Agara Junction (on outer ring road) and it was recently commissioned. It is a real big statue.

The statue is built very nicely and is decorated colorfully. Standing on a high pedestal, the statue looks majestic and this site could soon become a landmark. The interesting fact is that this is just besides a Mosque on one side and Temples on other side. A nice piece of communal harmony if I can call it that way.


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Kotilingeswara Temple, Karnataka

Updated: 29 Dec 2009 after a subsequent visit.

It is stated that there are 87 Lakhs (8.7 million) Shivlings in this temple. They are looking at 13 Lakhs (1.3 million) more to reach one crore (10 million) shivlings at this temple. Devotees can sponsor installation of Lingas.

The Kotilingeswara Temple is situated at Kammasandra near Kolar Gold Fields in Karnataka. You can reach here by taking the Old Madras Road from Bangalore. Follow the OMR till BangaKolar when you have to take diversion just before Kolar towards Bangarapet. After crossing Bangarapet (around 6 kms) the road will split to Kolar Gold Fields (right) and Kotilinga Temple (straight). Follow this road and you will see the temple on the right side after 3-4 kms. There is also Karnataka Tourism direction boards along the way at many places. The distance is around 115Kms from Bangalore. On our second trip on Dec 29th, we saw the roads are getting widened and the traveling distance has reduced by an hour. It took us 3.5 hours to reach the temple with ample breaks in between. You can also reach here by train to Bangarapet station and then by taxi/bus.

This is a unique temple where you see Shivlings everywhere you turn. The main temple complex has two temples, the main Shiva temple houses the first Shivlinga installed here and the other has Shiva, Vishnu and Bhrama deities. You can see many shivlings all over the temple complex.

There is an outer complex which is bigger and houses the remaining shivlings. There is a huge 108ft high Shivling (suppose to be the biggest in the world) and a 40ft high Nandi within this complex (picture above). There is also a temple housing Ganesha and Hanuman.

Free meals are provided to the pilgrims everyday in the noon. More details can be found at http://kotilinga.org/index.htm




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Kempfort Shiva Temple, Bangalore

This magnificent Shiva Temple is situated on the old airport road inside the old Kempfort campus. Kempfort has been demolished recently and Total Mall has come in its place. Behind it is the grand Shiva temple in a very serene environment. This is open 24 hours a day and is a good place to visit while in Bangalore. There is also a giant Ganesha statue in the temple.

The Shiva statue is around 65ft high and is considered to be one of the highest in India. The background is made to resemble Kailas mountain and give a feeling like in Himalaya. River Ganga flows from the head of Shiva on to the mountains. At night the Shiva statue shines majestically in the bright light. They also have a small tour of different Shiva pilgrimage centers across India made into a miniature exhibition. The temple is kept very neat and you will also find music concerts happening here in the evening.

Shiva statue at night

Look at the people standing at the bottom of the picture to gauge the height of the statue. Read more on this temple at Mustseeindia.com. They have used photos by me in the site.


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