Discover Temples of Andhra Pradesh
India is land of discovery. Its history is dated from unknown, and we constantly find new archeological evidence challenges the established theory of human evolution.
On such place is Andhra Pradesh which is bound by the coastal India with Bay of Bengal on one side, eternal lifeline rivers of Krishna and Godavari flowing through mainland and abode of oldest temples in India.
Month of Kartika is most auspicious time for people of India. As per scriptures this is the time to travel to rivers, visit temples, orient focus on nature, prayer, gifting and seek the blessings from Gods who blessed this country for ages. It’s the time of Shiva who destroys the ignorance with light of knowledge. People symbolize the time by lighting up Diyas everywhere as ritual. Looking at rational side, in Karthik masa climate get colder and days get darker soon in evenings, lighting up Diya gives comfort of warmth and blissful evening.
Our temple trip started from Hyderabad to discover Andhra Pradesh and its temples especially visiting the most prominent and historical sites
5 Days, 17 places, 1600 KMs, powerful temples, lovely friends with lots of lifetime memories captured in one trip
Thanks to Lalit and Swati for initiating the trip which was in our agenda for very long time. Finally, this year trip materialized during November month of 2022 which makes it even more special because it’s Karthik masa
Our trip starts from Hyderabad to Vijayawada as the first destination.
Vijayawada is one of the very famous and center of action for Andhra Pradesh. This place is surrounded by magnificent hills and the lifeline river Krishna flows through the city.
The famous Krishna barrage has been the iconic bridge of the city Vijayawada from my child memories. While Vijayawada has grown with population new developments but it’s still has not lost its identity. Anyone who thinks about Vijayawada the first memory is to get the blessings of the Maha Shakti Sri Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Devi. In fact our trip also starts with blessings of Sri Vijayawada Kanaka Durga Devi as our first stop.
As per the legend, this temple is called Durga Malleswara Swamy temple on the mountain called Indrakeeladri. Long ago a sage called “Keela” performed penance and asked Sri Kanaka Durga Devi to reside in his heart. Sri Kanaka Durga Devi was happy about his desire. In the next life same sage has reborn as a mountain Keeladri. Sri Kanaka Durga Devi emerged as Swayambhu devata on the mountain and stayed as per sage wish. After some time, lord Indra consecrated Maha Shiva on the same mountain bringing in the power of Shiva and Shakti at the same place. That’s how this place is named as Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy temple on IndraKeeladri.
Sri Durga Malleshwara Temple over the years became popular as Sri Indra Keeladri Temple. Krishna river flows just below the hill and there are number of ghats to get the bath in Krishna River. Inside the temple one can see a beautiful architecture with fine carvings. Special attraction are the paintings of all the 8 Avatars of Maha shakti with beautiful colors installed inside the sanctum sanatorium. The main deity of Sri Kanaka Durga Devi makes you spell bond with graceful smile and blissful eyes showering love of mother. On the top of the temple door, poem from Sri Bammera Pothana Bhagavatam is displayed on a brass plate, i think no other praise can match to these powerful words
అమ్మలగన్నయమ్మ ముగురమ్మల మూలపుటమ్మ
చాలపెద్దమ్మ సురారులమ్మ కడుపారడి బుచ్చినయమ్మ
తన్నులోనమ్మిన వేల్పుటమ్మల మనమ్ములయున్డెడియమ్మ
దుర్గ మాయమ్మ కృపాబ్ధి నిచ్చుత మహత్వ కవిత్వ పటుత్వ సమ్పదల్
While going into the temple, I was thinking, what should I ask the mother? but as soon as I saw her, mind just went blank, and I just stood there watching my mother and she is looking at me as though she also wanted to see me. When we visited the temple, crowd was relatively low because we reached in the morning around 11:00 AM, this helped to have more time with mother, maybe it’s a sign of her wish too. She even granted opportunity to do parikrama of the main temple. After darshan, we met one of the main archaka of the temple who gave us brief history and his journey of learning Vedic scriptures and divine experiences of Sri Kanaka Durga Devi in his life.
In fact he gave us special prasad and blessed us saying that your first darshan of Sri Kanaka Durga Devi will be your power. She takes you to the rest of the trip without any hassles. You yourself will experience that mother will be protecting you at every step of the trip and now you don’t have anything to worry just go and enjoy the trip.
This blessing gave us boost of energy and enthusiasm to start our next leg to visit Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at Mangalagiri
