Punyagiri-Dharmavaram

My mother-in-law wanted to visit the Punyagiri and Dharmavaram temples in Vizianagaram. She said that it is a popular saying in Telugu "Puttiki Punyagiri, Dhaggiki Dharmavaram", meaning, for childless couple, Punyagiri Lord blesses couples with Children and Dharmavaram blesses these children with long life.

Punyagiri is 65 kms from Vishakapatnam (Vizag) in Vizianagaram District. From our home in Vizag it is just 55 kms. We started at 7:15 am in Vizag and reached Punyagiri by 8:30. S. Kota is a junction at which we need to turn left to reach Punyagiri. We have to climb for 20 minutes. The steps are neatly maintained and not very tough to climb. On the way we can see the waterfalls. There is a linga on the way on which water drops from the falls keeps falling.

The deity is Uma Kotilingeswara swamy and it is said that if one dies in the hills or his ashes are immersed in the water of the stream, then one reaches Kailasa. There is a path, which is a difficult trek to a place where you can find lots of lingas (a crore and hence kotilingeswara). There is another trek path called Parvathi dhari. We did not do these treks. People perform annual rites and last rites in this place. The hills are called Virata Parvatha, and it is said that this is the place where the Pandavas were on Agyana Vaasam.

Directly across the temple in the Valley is Dharmavaram. Legend goes that there lived a demon who used to kill and devour children. When people prayed to Uma Kotilingeswara to save their children, Lord Shiva went to Dharmavaram in the form of a Sanyasi or sage. The demon told Shiva that he will not kill any children if Shiva agrees to stay in Dharmavaram forever. So Shiva stayed in Dharmavaram, and hence the temple with the deity Sri Sanyaseswara.

The linga here has a well defined face with eyes. There is also a Suyambu Vinayaka. Dharmavaram is 6 kilometers from Punyagiri, and 3 kilometers from S. Kota.

The temples are developed to a small extent and are not managed privately using funds available from the Hundi. A lot neeeds to be done in improving the temples and the people around.

Photos from:
Vizianagaram Website: http://vizianagaram.ap.nic.in
Photos@Family Website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/21538358@N04/

Tirumala

I think it is a good thing to start this blog with my latest tour to Tirumala. This is the first time I am climbing up the hill by foot.

We went by AP Tourism package to tirumala. The tour started at 6:30 pm from Burkitt Road, T. Nagar. It was an AC volvo bus and my husband kept insisting that I sleep the entire journey, since we had a tiring night ahead. But, I was unable to sleep.

We reached Tirupathi at around 11:00 pm where AP tourism gave us a room to freshen up. The others were asked to reassemble at 2:30 am. But, we told our tour guide that we are climbing up by foot. He asked us to meet him at 4:15 at Ram Bagicha bus stop shop number 37. We had bath in hot water, and started at 11:40 and took an auto to reach Alipiri gate. We prayed to the feet of Lord Venkateshwara to make this trek a successful one and started climbing at around 12:00 am.

The first one hour was very steep, and we had to take lot of breaks. There was a huge 'Namam' that marks the end of the steep climb. It was visible right from the foot hills, but seemed to be moving far.

We did not take our camera with us. I borrowed these picture from the internet. Imagine this steps during night. On both sides we only could see darkness of the forests.

At last we reached this spot, and shared one cup of tea served by a telugu guy suffering from vitiligo. He was a very friendly chap and told us that the rest of the climb is pretty easy and is less than 300 steps, and that too in the last part of the trek only.

At this point we saw a milestone that said that we had climbed 2 kilometers and still had 7 kilometers to go. From this point the climb was easy with long walks and small steps every feet. There is a deer park along the way. We also spotted a wild boar and 3 wild black bucks.

At around 2:30 we heard the managala vadhyam which indicates that Suprabhata Seva has started. We walked upto 3 and met two couple who were resting near a tea shop, and were scared to proceed, because the tea stall owner warned them of spooting cheetas, especially in a small stretch where there are valleys on both sides.

We decided that we will climb together after this. At this point, we need to climb uphill on the road that vehicles use to come downhill. The side of the road is devoted to foot pilgirms. We reached the stretch where cheetas are spotted, but we were lucky (or unlucky) to find any.

After this stretch there are steep steps once again for fifteen minutes, following which the climb is smooth. We reached uphill at exactly 3:15 am, and proceeded to the Ram Bagicha bus stop and waited for the rest of the AP Tourism pilgrims.

We had darshan in the Archana Anantara Seva and then proceeded downhills by bus to Ammavaru Temple and then to Kalahasthi and back to Chennai. We reached Chennai at around 4:00 pm.

In all, it was such a memorable trip.

Blogs from which I borrowed the photos:
http://eagersnap.blogspot.com/2007/04/pilgrimage-walk-to-tirumala.html
http://www.princeroy.org/?p=299