While in High school, the beauty of Dwaraka that was described in Bhagavatham by the great Telugu poet Pothana was repeatedly sung by my Telugu teacher and I really enjoyed it. In addition, we were able to add one Jyothirlingam visit and one of Adi Shankara's Sharada peetham which we wanted to cover in this trip.
Nageshwara Jyotirlingam, one of the 12 holy shrines of Lord Shiva, is located near Dwaraka. We covered that. And then, the famous Somanath Temple. I will detail it in a different post.
Dwarka is one of the four Shankara peethams and this one is also called Dwaraka Peetham. We already visited Sringeri in our yatra 2. We went to Chardham on our first yatra, but since it was a package tour, they did not take us to the Shankara Math there. We will be covering Puri Peetham at the end of this yatra.
Sri Krishna and his community migrated to Dwaraka from Mathura area where He was born and raised.
When we got off the train in Dwaraka, there was a Railway Police employee by name I think, Raghuvir, was standing outside the station. One of our helper passengers suggested that we talk to him. He assured us that the Auto rickshaw people are very honest and have a fixed fee to take us to the hotel that is to our liking. We hired one for 20 rupees (this would never happen in Andhra Pradesh, where all of them appear to be so greedy). The first one we checked was Shivam. We made sure, there was hot water for bathing and western style toilet attached to the room. Both were there. The rate was only 375 rupees per night.Also, there was a free shuttle van to take us to the Temple premises. We didn't want to check any more hotels. We liked the name shivam, even though modest, the amenities were there and for Nirmala's sake, coffee was available from 6 a.m. with room service. WOW!!! What a luxury, finally!!
The receptionist gave us a flyer about other tours and explained to us how the tours worked. Our knowledge of spoken Hindi was ok. Chandni travels was recommended for the next day's bus tour. We freshened up in the room and were at the Temple for the 7:30 p.m. Aarathi. The inside shrine was packed with people - but no shouting, pushing, cursing. We had a very peaceful darsan.
As suggested by our Auto driver, we went to a family owned place called Ammami's place to eat. The meals were simple with lot of personal attention and the cost was nominal. It was pure vegetarian (suddha saakhahari) with hot rotis. It felt like we were at home with our family. We purchased our tickets for the other tours - one was 60 rupees each. The second one was 140 rupees.
The night was very peaceful, hottest water for bath and a good night's sleep.
We were ready in the morning for our bus tours.
Perhaps I should write about those tours in my next post.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Valsad to Dwaraka
The driver was very happy to see us. Got us good seats. The 'boys' of the hotel helped us carry our luggage to the Bus station becuse we had to cross the busy road to take a short cut to the station. The bus left Shirdi at 2 p.m.
Now, it was Friday the 13th, right? Suddenly, there was a traffic jam. Mostly, there were buses and pick-up(lorry) types. We could see a huge truck stuck at the intersection.It was a narrow (high way??) road and there was a ditch to our right. There were already two stranded buses full of passengers on the road. All passengers were concerned - fortunately, there were no panicky ones. Our bus driver was excellent. He was able to turn right on to the only(narrow) street available avoiding the huge ditch and we were on the road, going through unknown villages and streets. he consulted some local residents on the way and suddenly, we saw civilization again. We all applauded!!!!
As we had brought some sandwiches from our hotel restaurant, we ate that on the bus, bought some Limca (lime soda) at one of the halts and I had my first soda in a long time. In spite of all these adventures, we arrived in Valsad on time!! Amazing drivers!!!
WE happily got on the train, the Sourashtra Mail from Mumbai. Witnessed our usual treats of sunset, sunrise, went past Thana, Ahmadabad(remembered some of my friends from this city living in the USA) and Rajkot. The fellow passengers were very helpful giving advice about dos and don'ts and some guarateed good times for us in Dwaraka.
Next post is about Dwaraka.
Now, it was Friday the 13th, right? Suddenly, there was a traffic jam. Mostly, there were buses and pick-up(lorry) types. We could see a huge truck stuck at the intersection.It was a narrow (high way??) road and there was a ditch to our right. There were already two stranded buses full of passengers on the road. All passengers were concerned - fortunately, there were no panicky ones. Our bus driver was excellent. He was able to turn right on to the only(narrow) street available avoiding the huge ditch and we were on the road, going through unknown villages and streets. he consulted some local residents on the way and suddenly, we saw civilization again. We all applauded!!!!
As we had brought some sandwiches from our hotel restaurant, we ate that on the bus, bought some Limca (lime soda) at one of the halts and I had my first soda in a long time. In spite of all these adventures, we arrived in Valsad on time!! Amazing drivers!!!
WE happily got on the train, the Sourashtra Mail from Mumbai. Witnessed our usual treats of sunset, sunrise, went past Thana, Ahmadabad(remembered some of my friends from this city living in the USA) and Rajkot. The fellow passengers were very helpful giving advice about dos and don'ts and some guarateed good times for us in Dwaraka.
Next post is about Dwaraka.
In and around Shirdi Feb 12th and 13th
The next day, the 12th was a Thursday. We went for the morning darsan. The wait was long, about 2 hours because of some special abhishekam going on. Nirmala wasn't too pleased with the wait. But for us, it was much less than the Tirumala wait.
We spent extra day in Shirdi to have more darsans and relax after the first hectic week of travel. Nirmala stayed back in the hotel on Friday. Rao and I went for the darsan again. The security was pushing and shoving and were very rude. That happened on Thurday also and that was what turned Nirmala off. She was happy with the attached restaurant to the hotel and the meals that were served there.
We visited Baba's samadhi and the book store etc. Rao made a separate trip to visit the Wada and the Temple store to buy some diaries and have them mailed to his brother in Hyderabad.
On Friday, the 13th, We went to the bus station, could not get accurate information about the buses to Valsad for the next day. We already made train reservation from Valsad to Dwaraka in Gujarat. So, we did not want to miss that. Well, after a few hours, we met with the future driver of the bus who was able to get us reservations on his bus.
The one person at the front desk of the hotel spoke both Telugu and Tamil. He and the others gave Rao a lot of information about the afternoon trip that we were thinking to visit that afternoon. I called Sanjay, the owner of our Taxi and thanked him for arranging such a great driver and to tell him that Shakeel was paid in full and he was on his way back to Poona.
The afternoon trip on Friday included Sakuri and Panchavinayaka.
Sakuri is a small village and the Temple was about 5km. from our hotel. The road was rough. We travelled by an Auto (cheapest) and hence the road felt rougher!!
Ekamukha Ganapathi (but I read somewhere that it is called Ekamukhi because the Dattatreya idol has only one face instead of the usual three faces) was the main deity here. This was supposedly swayambhoo in a tree. But Kanyakumari was there too. Hanuman had a place and I was happily surprised to see Sri Sathya Sai baba's picture there.
Now the panchamukha (five faced) was in the opposite direction from our hotel and we passed our hotel in the Auto rickshaw. We were again fortunate to see the wheat fields, the rural life and the magnificient sunset. This, the priest said was the only Vinayaka with Vishnu and Lakshmi included in the idol. The priest spoke Telugu and said that he was from Proddutoor of Cuddapah district and performed a very elaborate pooja for us and gave some akshathas(sacred rice coated with turmeric) to be used for any auspecious occasion in the family in the future. We paid 51 rupees per Gothram.
Now, those who know about vinayaka, also know that his vahanam (vehicle) is the mouse. We were each asked to whisper our wish into the ear of the mouse there and never tell anyone what the wish was about!! I haven't told any and my wish is still pending!! But I do have hopes!!!
We returned to the hotel happy. Nirmala and I ate at the attached restaurant and Rao went to check out the Andhra Guntur hotel.
We spent extra day in Shirdi to have more darsans and relax after the first hectic week of travel. Nirmala stayed back in the hotel on Friday. Rao and I went for the darsan again. The security was pushing and shoving and were very rude. That happened on Thurday also and that was what turned Nirmala off. She was happy with the attached restaurant to the hotel and the meals that were served there.
We visited Baba's samadhi and the book store etc. Rao made a separate trip to visit the Wada and the Temple store to buy some diaries and have them mailed to his brother in Hyderabad.
On Friday, the 13th, We went to the bus station, could not get accurate information about the buses to Valsad for the next day. We already made train reservation from Valsad to Dwaraka in Gujarat. So, we did not want to miss that. Well, after a few hours, we met with the future driver of the bus who was able to get us reservations on his bus.
The one person at the front desk of the hotel spoke both Telugu and Tamil. He and the others gave Rao a lot of information about the afternoon trip that we were thinking to visit that afternoon. I called Sanjay, the owner of our Taxi and thanked him for arranging such a great driver and to tell him that Shakeel was paid in full and he was on his way back to Poona.
The afternoon trip on Friday included Sakuri and Panchavinayaka.
Sakuri is a small village and the Temple was about 5km. from our hotel. The road was rough. We travelled by an Auto (cheapest) and hence the road felt rougher!!
Ekamukha Ganapathi (but I read somewhere that it is called Ekamukhi because the Dattatreya idol has only one face instead of the usual three faces) was the main deity here. This was supposedly swayambhoo in a tree. But Kanyakumari was there too. Hanuman had a place and I was happily surprised to see Sri Sathya Sai baba's picture there.
Now the panchamukha (five faced) was in the opposite direction from our hotel and we passed our hotel in the Auto rickshaw. We were again fortunate to see the wheat fields, the rural life and the magnificient sunset. This, the priest said was the only Vinayaka with Vishnu and Lakshmi included in the idol. The priest spoke Telugu and said that he was from Proddutoor of Cuddapah district and performed a very elaborate pooja for us and gave some akshathas(sacred rice coated with turmeric) to be used for any auspecious occasion in the family in the future. We paid 51 rupees per Gothram.
Now, those who know about vinayaka, also know that his vahanam (vehicle) is the mouse. We were each asked to whisper our wish into the ear of the mouse there and never tell anyone what the wish was about!! I haven't told any and my wish is still pending!! But I do have hopes!!!
We returned to the hotel happy. Nirmala and I ate at the attached restaurant and Rao went to check out the Andhra Guntur hotel.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Shani Temple in Shinganapur and Shirdi
Before we left Aurangabad,Shakeel suggested we see Bibi Ka Mukhbara (Muqbara). This visit broke the monotony and none of us had any objection to visit a tomb.
Bibi ka Mukbara resembled Taj Mahal, but lacked the richness and the crowd. It is a tourist attraction in Aurangabad. It was built by Prince Azam Shah, son of Emperor Aurangzeb, in the late 17th century. But this one was a tribute to his mother, Dilras Bano Begam. Both the Taj Mahal in Agra(built in 1629 by a husband) and Bibi Ka Mukhbara (built in 1679 by a son)are monuments of love.
We were able to take photos in and around the structures. There was a small fee for entrance - do not remember how much.
Now we are driving towards Shirdi. Shinganapur is famous for the Shani Temple. It is half way from Aurangabad to Shirdi. This was my second visit to this place. The first one was in 1997 by bus from Hyderabad with my friends. We visited both Shirdi and Shinganapur.
From Ellora, it was a long drive to get a meal. Shakeel probably wasn't that hungry and kept on driving. Finally found a place on the highway and the meals were great. The drive was beautiful and pleasant with lots of fruit trees, cotton fields, sugar cane, wheat etc.
First about the pooja at the Shani Temple. It was an abhishekam with sesame oil. Only men are allowed to do it. This I knew even before. But this time, we fell for the agent who approached us, did not give even time to breathe and we paid 250 rupees each for each pooja sponsorship. Rao was supposed to wrap a special cloth around and go to the Shani statue with the items given by the shop owner and was not to look back. When Shakeel found out that we paid 250 rupees, he was much concerned and went to the shop and brought back 100 rupees refund for each sponsorship!!! He proudly handed over the 200 rupees to me which when we settled the taxi account with him on the final day, I gave it to him as a gift. He refused at first, but took the money.
We reached Shirdi by 7 p.m. The first hotel we saw was Saichatra and we checked in. It was 2 km from the Sai Temple and the bus stand was just accross from the hotel. We said 'good bye' to Shakeel at this point and made reservations to go to Valsad by bus for Feb 13th. I will write about that later.
By the way, that hotel was solar powered excepting the elevator which was powered by electricity and naturally with power cut etc. the elevators were not functioning most of the time. By now, we were able to climb three levels easily.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
The map again
I should have posted one like this long time ago when I started writing my 2008 - 2009 blog
Better late than never. I will highlight the places we visited.
View Larger Map
Better late than never. I will highlight the places we visited.
View Larger Map
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Ellora caves on Feb 11th, 2009
From Aurangabad, we drove to Ellora caves. It was about 30 km. drive. By now, we have gotten used to waking up very early in the morning. Most of the times, we would wait for the driver. It is the 'Indian puncuality' for the others. Always later than the time that was fixed.
The parking fee for Indians was 10 rupees per person. Rao paid thirty rupees for the 3 of us. For non-Indians the fee is 100 rupees. We parked the car and then we were asked to hire an auto-rickshaw to take us from one group of caves to the other.
The total number of caves were 35 all structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. They consist of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries dating back to the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist caves were 1-12, 17 Hindu caves 13-29 and 5 Jain caves 30-34 - you can see the religious harmony that was prevalent then.
I walked the least in these caves. Rao walked the most. But this gave me an opportunity to take some photos and also observe other tourists, talk to some and also, to contemplate more on my life in general. Shakeel kept company with me.
Most of the sculptures were ruined by the Muslim fanatics.
I was impressed by the fact that all those temples, balconies and sculptures have been carved out of one piece of rock.
The Kailasa Temple is the masterpiece of all. It is the Shiva Temple and is the world’s largest monolithic sculpture, supposedly built by 7000 laborers over a 150-year period. Over 200.000 tons of rock has been removed to create the temple. I wondered how someone even could think of destroying and defiguring those sculptures!
It is awe inspiring and a must see for all. I am still trying to upload some photos that I have taken in this trip.
The parking fee for Indians was 10 rupees per person. Rao paid thirty rupees for the 3 of us. For non-Indians the fee is 100 rupees. We parked the car and then we were asked to hire an auto-rickshaw to take us from one group of caves to the other.
The total number of caves were 35 all structures excavated out of the vertical face of the Charanandri hills. They consist of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain cave temples and monasteries dating back to the 5th century and 10th century. The 12 Buddhist caves were 1-12, 17 Hindu caves 13-29 and 5 Jain caves 30-34 - you can see the religious harmony that was prevalent then.
I walked the least in these caves. Rao walked the most. But this gave me an opportunity to take some photos and also observe other tourists, talk to some and also, to contemplate more on my life in general. Shakeel kept company with me.
Most of the sculptures were ruined by the Muslim fanatics.
I was impressed by the fact that all those temples, balconies and sculptures have been carved out of one piece of rock.
The Kailasa Temple is the masterpiece of all. It is the Shiva Temple and is the world’s largest monolithic sculpture, supposedly built by 7000 laborers over a 150-year period. Over 200.000 tons of rock has been removed to create the temple. I wondered how someone even could think of destroying and defiguring those sculptures!
It is awe inspiring and a must see for all. I am still trying to upload some photos that I have taken in this trip.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Feb 10th - Thriyambakam, Ghrishneswar, Ellora caves
We covered two Jyotirlingams and Panchavati and Seetha guha on this day. As Rao was on his own somewhere around, only we, the two ladies went to see Seetha guha. It was really in an underground cave. We entered just with curiosity and it was an adventure. We had to crawl a small distance before we got out. I wonder how they even built a shrine inside and how they carry pooja items inside the temple!!!
I was thrilled when I heard that Hanuman's birth place was in the vicinity. But, as it was 2 km. walk, I backed off. Recently, I read somewhere that if Mars is in the fifth house of your birth chart, you worship God in the form of Hanuman. Now, I have to check my horoscope!!!. I seem to call on Him a lot!!
Thriyambakeswar is not only the abode of the jyothir lingam,(the 8th one in the order),but also, the origin of river Godavari. The Goddess in this temple is called Trimbakeshwari. Papaharini Theertam is located here and this is where Rao took bath before visiting the temple (which is considered as a holy bath). This Theertham is formed by Godavari waters after falling from Brahmagiri. (If you see my previous yatra's Karnataka post,I mentioned Tala Kaveri,which is the beginning of the Kaveri river).The region of these hills is called Sahya giri. The belief being that the Sun, Moon and Agni form the 3 eyes of Shiva and by worshipping to this lingam, one has worshipped the Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Rao had a dip in river Godavari, his long cherished wish - by taking a bath in the Paapaharini Theertham. Nirmala and I did not venture the public bath.
The links above show the map of Rama's travel path in those forests.
The Thrayambakam lingam was really huge (wide base). We were able to touch most of the lingams. The spelling of the names may vary. I spelled the way I pronounced the word.
By the time we finished our darsans, it was 5;30 p.m. and we were told that the Ellora caves were closed. Well, what can you see in the dark, anyway. Moreover, we were exhausted too!! We decided to drive upto Aurangabad for night stay.
Called my son to tell him about the Hanuman's birthplace etc. He was in a conference in Montreal and could not talk. Tried calling my sister in Nellore, could not get connected. We had a 'half-plate' meal in an adjacent hotel.
Our next visit was to the Ellora caves, whose hours were from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
I was thrilled when I heard that Hanuman's birth place was in the vicinity. But, as it was 2 km. walk, I backed off. Recently, I read somewhere that if Mars is in the fifth house of your birth chart, you worship God in the form of Hanuman. Now, I have to check my horoscope!!!. I seem to call on Him a lot!!
Thriyambakeswar is not only the abode of the jyothir lingam,(the 8th one in the order),but also, the origin of river Godavari. The Goddess in this temple is called Trimbakeshwari. Papaharini Theertam is located here and this is where Rao took bath before visiting the temple (which is considered as a holy bath). This Theertham is formed by Godavari waters after falling from Brahmagiri. (If you see my previous yatra's Karnataka post,I mentioned Tala Kaveri,which is the beginning of the Kaveri river).The region of these hills is called Sahya giri. The belief being that the Sun, Moon and Agni form the 3 eyes of Shiva and by worshipping to this lingam, one has worshipped the Trinity Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Rao had a dip in river Godavari, his long cherished wish - by taking a bath in the Paapaharini Theertham. Nirmala and I did not venture the public bath.
The links above show the map of Rama's travel path in those forests.
The Thrayambakam lingam was really huge (wide base). We were able to touch most of the lingams. The spelling of the names may vary. I spelled the way I pronounced the word.
By the time we finished our darsans, it was 5;30 p.m. and we were told that the Ellora caves were closed. Well, what can you see in the dark, anyway. Moreover, we were exhausted too!! We decided to drive upto Aurangabad for night stay.
Called my son to tell him about the Hanuman's birthplace etc. He was in a conference in Montreal and could not talk. Tried calling my sister in Nellore, could not get connected. We had a 'half-plate' meal in an adjacent hotel.
Our next visit was to the Ellora caves, whose hours were from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Visit to Narayanapur Balaji Temple - Feb 7th
Narayanapur is about 50 km. from Pune. There are buses also from Swargate bus station about 3 km. from Pune and it would be 3 to 4 hour journey by bus. Nirmala knew the priest's family and his parents who lived there. We very much wanted to get the blessings of that elderly and very pious couple. It appeared as though Shakeel knew every corner of Maharashtra. He drove us there which was a tiny and remote village. The parking lot was a good long walk from the temple.
The Temple looked like a replica to the Tirumalai Temple - but less crowded. The security was not rude (unlike Tirupathi where they push you, sqeeze your arm and so on unless you have a TTD badge hanging on your body). Laddu prasadam was given to each devotee after the darsan, which, we could finish in half an hour. Rao, gave his share of laddu to Shakeel as usual and Shakeel finished the whole laddu!!!. They were very systematic here with separate lines for men and women. No cameras or cell phones were allowed inside the temple, but you could leave them at the counter with security people.
The other temples inside the compound were of Padmavathi, Mahalakshmi, Goda devi and SriKrishna. There was one for Kubera outside the compound. The pooja pattern is similat to the one at Tirumalai.
One word of caution. If you ever travel to this place try to reach before dusk for your safety on the winding ghat roads.
After the wonderful darsan, we visited our friends who gave two more laddus. We were fortunate that we got the blessings of that elderly couple also.
As this was part of my previous post, I need to comment here that after re-visiting Chintamani Vinayaka and Bheema Shankar Jyothir lingam, we drove to Nasik. Rao spent hours before our departure planning the most efficient and economical way to cover all these places. That saved us lot of money and stress.
The Temple looked like a replica to the Tirumalai Temple - but less crowded. The security was not rude (unlike Tirupathi where they push you, sqeeze your arm and so on unless you have a TTD badge hanging on your body). Laddu prasadam was given to each devotee after the darsan, which, we could finish in half an hour. Rao, gave his share of laddu to Shakeel as usual and Shakeel finished the whole laddu!!!. They were very systematic here with separate lines for men and women. No cameras or cell phones were allowed inside the temple, but you could leave them at the counter with security people.
The other temples inside the compound were of Padmavathi, Mahalakshmi, Goda devi and SriKrishna. There was one for Kubera outside the compound. The pooja pattern is similat to the one at Tirumalai.
One word of caution. If you ever travel to this place try to reach before dusk for your safety on the winding ghat roads.
After the wonderful darsan, we visited our friends who gave two more laddus. We were fortunate that we got the blessings of that elderly couple also.
As this was part of my previous post, I need to comment here that after re-visiting Chintamani Vinayaka and Bheema Shankar Jyothir lingam, we drove to Nasik. Rao spent hours before our departure planning the most efficient and economical way to cover all these places. That saved us lot of money and stress.
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