28 June 2014,
Seeking hiatus from prolonged work schedule, I decided to visit few places nearby my house. Since my parents were in Bangalore, the car proved to be favourable for travel. My father had been to native for short work and myself and mother decided to travel to Chikka Tirupathi to seek blessings of Lord Venkateshwara for peace. The distance from my house is mere 35kms and we predicted around an hour of journey on lazy Saturday afternoon. The stage was set to visit the temple town and we started around 2:20PM, 2 hours delayed than planned. The drive was smooth till Sarjapura while fantastic thereafter till Chikka-Tirupathi.
It took more time to reach Sarjapur primarily due to the presence of humps and traffic. Even the town of Sarjapur has narrow roadways which makes it difficult to negotiate car along with a mini truck simultaneously. Fortunately due to renovation work, the heavy vehicles were directed along the outskirts of town. The road along the town seemed like a residential path with tightly knit shops with the goods protruding towards the main highway. The absurd parking by tempos added to further misery to traffic snarls. We wasted almost 20 minutes within town limits battling through traffic mayhem. Later on, it was fantastic drive along well laid NH-207 with beautiful rural landscape. The width of highway did not seem to be adhering to NH standards but was manageable due to feeble traffic. In matter of 10 minutes we covered 13kms and reached Chikka-Tirupathi.
The temple had different look than the one I viewed it 2-3 years back. It might have drawn attention for renovation by Government. The renovation work is still under progress. We parked car in parking place (not sure it was designated) and left for temple. Being Saturday, there was sufficient crowd in temple. May be the crowd would grow further during evening. After a while, we entered temple premises. Crowd in temple was not huge however the disciplined worship for every batch of crowd by priest, delays the darshan of Lord. Even though someone feels impatient at slow moving queue, during your turn, the soul will be filled with devotion due to the disciplined, systematic worship of priest. The deity along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi on either sides, was well decorated and adorned with ornaments. A short pooja thereafter, we left the sanctum sanatarium. Sequel to our darshan, we spent some time around temple reading the fable and enjoying with monkeys. Beware of any food belongings, monkeys will mercilessly try to snatch them. The notice in front of temple prohibited the photography inside temple premises. However, I captured few of them for memory. Later, I spotted few more people snapping the temple which broke my shackles and grabbed many without hesitation. Fortunately temple authorities also did not object. Once we were out of temple, its time to head back to home which was an hour of smooth journey except along aforementioned Sarjapura town.
Seeking hiatus from prolonged work schedule, I decided to visit few places nearby my house. Since my parents were in Bangalore, the car proved to be favourable for travel. My father had been to native for short work and myself and mother decided to travel to Chikka Tirupathi to seek blessings of Lord Venkateshwara for peace. The distance from my house is mere 35kms and we predicted around an hour of journey on lazy Saturday afternoon. The stage was set to visit the temple town and we started around 2:20PM, 2 hours delayed than planned. The drive was smooth till Sarjapura while fantastic thereafter till Chikka-Tirupathi.
It took more time to reach Sarjapur primarily due to the presence of humps and traffic. Even the town of Sarjapur has narrow roadways which makes it difficult to negotiate car along with a mini truck simultaneously. Fortunately due to renovation work, the heavy vehicles were directed along the outskirts of town. The road along the town seemed like a residential path with tightly knit shops with the goods protruding towards the main highway. The absurd parking by tempos added to further misery to traffic snarls. We wasted almost 20 minutes within town limits battling through traffic mayhem. Later on, it was fantastic drive along well laid NH-207 with beautiful rural landscape. The width of highway did not seem to be adhering to NH standards but was manageable due to feeble traffic. In matter of 10 minutes we covered 13kms and reached Chikka-Tirupathi.
The temple had different look than the one I viewed it 2-3 years back. It might have drawn attention for renovation by Government. The renovation work is still under progress. We parked car in parking place (not sure it was designated) and left for temple. Being Saturday, there was sufficient crowd in temple. May be the crowd would grow further during evening. After a while, we entered temple premises. Crowd in temple was not huge however the disciplined worship for every batch of crowd by priest, delays the darshan of Lord. Even though someone feels impatient at slow moving queue, during your turn, the soul will be filled with devotion due to the disciplined, systematic worship of priest. The deity along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi on either sides, was well decorated and adorned with ornaments. A short pooja thereafter, we left the sanctum sanatarium. Sequel to our darshan, we spent some time around temple reading the fable and enjoying with monkeys. Beware of any food belongings, monkeys will mercilessly try to snatch them. The notice in front of temple prohibited the photography inside temple premises. However, I captured few of them for memory. Later, I spotted few more people snapping the temple which broke my shackles and grabbed many without hesitation. Fortunately temple authorities also did not object. Once we were out of temple, its time to head back to home which was an hour of smooth journey except along aforementioned Sarjapura town.
The fable as narrated in placard. The fable is printed in Kannada and here is my translation to English. Hope it is meaningful.
Filled with religious traditions, India consists of widespread temples, rivers. One among them is the Chikka-Tirupathi located in Malur Taluk of Kolar district. The place is situated 40kms from heart of Bangalore city, 15 kms from Kolar town and 15kms from Malur town. The place has ample transport connectivity from all these locations.
Kolar was ruled by gangas during 2nd and 3rd centuries. In their regime, the place was divided into small territories. Out of them, KolalaNaadu was prominent and famous. Based on vaastu and genre of temple, it is believed to be renovated during Chola's regime. As per the mythology, when the Kandavavana caught fire, a serpent named Takshaka had cursed Agni to be all vorous & be devoid of radiance. This has happened during Mahabharata times. Agni to liberate the curse, carried out fierce penace to pacify lord vishnu. Drawn by this, Lord Vishnu along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi appeared in front of Agni as Venkateshwara and liberated the malison on Agni. In memory of the incident, it is belived that Agni instated the idols of Lord Venkateshwara along with Sridevi and Bhoodevi. The lord here is known for tendering helping hand for the devotees. Residents nearby precede their journey to Tirumala Tirupathi by visiting Chikka Tirupathi.
The place is near to TamilNaadu border. The poojas are offered as per "Vaikhaanana Aagama" tradition. Every year pushpa pallakki is offered to Lord during Full moon of chaitra maasa and brahma rathothsava is performed on Pubba nakshatra of same month. During Shravana Maasa, the annual car festival is celebrated with pomp and glory. Every english new year and Ekaadashi of Margashira maasa (known as Vaikunta Ekadashi), devotees throng in great numbers to seek blessings of Lord Srinivasa.
Temple timings:
6:30AM to 7PM without break.
Distance:
40kms from Bangalore city bus stand via ulsoor, whitefield.
35kms from HSR Layout via Sarjapura
Beautiful pics.
ReplyDeleteInformative post on your visit to Tirupati. Its a famous tourist destination. The places to visit in Tirupati are popular among devotees and have spiritual significance.
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