Draksharamam Temples and special opportunities for Rao

From Visakhapatnam, we took the same Taxi to Rajahmundry, early in the morning. Once reaching the hotel there, we engaged another Taxi which Nirmala arranged through another friend of hers. I called my firiend, another Nirmala who was staying there with her son and family. She was thrilled, I was thrilled. We visited them, had a meal with them and her son Narasimha is a wonderful young man. Rao and he had a lot to talk about the Temples. He suggested that Rao should wear a silk dhoti to perform the Linga Abhishekam in Bhimeswara Temple in Draksharamam. We did not carry one. But Narasimha was very generous. He had a new one at home given to him by Sri Nagaphanindra Sarma garu as a blessing. He convinced Rao to wear that to the Temples. 
Rao sponsored Linga Abhishekam to the Crystal Lingam there. We watched him from the outside of the shrine. No priest was there. Rao was allowed to do Rudra abhishekam all by himself. Since he knew the whole procedure by heart, he had absolutely no problem.

I was asked to go out to the shop and buy the necessary paraphernalia that Rao needed for the poojas. That is another adventure in a new town.
The next pooja he did was the Kumkuma pooja to Sri Manikyamba. They let him inside the innermost area to do the Kumkuma Pooja. We were not allowed to take any photos. I bent down to see Rao from my Darsan line. I asked the priest that was controlling the queue whether I can click the Camera. He said 'no' and added " He is not a priest. He is a retired Engineer from Machilipatnam" I just smiled. Did not tell him that it was my husband in the inner shrine. Rao's face was glowing. I never saw like that. He gave karpoora arati to the Devi and showed it to us. The total time at that Sakthi Peetham was about two hours. Worth the trip!!!

Draksharamam is also called Dakshina Kasi and is located in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. The Siva Linga in this temple is said to be one large crystal about 2.6 meters long, they said. It is one of the five Arama Kshetras.

It is located at about 40 km from Rajahmundry and is considered to be a sacred pilgrimage destination in Andhra.  The architecture of the temple is a blend of both the Chalukya and Chola style. There are inscriptions dating from 1080 AD to 1434 AD,. 

Try the link below to get more information. If not clickable, please copy and paste the URL>
http://temples.weebly.com/draksharamam.html

Araku valley and Borra caves

I heard about the Araku valley long long ago from my sister when she was a student of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. They used to go for plant collection in their Botanical excursions. It was an interesting life for them - unlike us, Mathematics students whose life was dry - books, pen and paper!!!!!.

There were many suggestions from so many people  for this trip. Some suggested going by train in the caves. Nirmala wanted that. But to get the train tickets, you have to go to the station and make advance reservations. It was costly also. Personally, I thought that the excitement was only of the train going in the tunnels. You may miss out on the scenic beauty. There were some teachers and children who were visiting on an excursion. They brought lot of excitement into the caves. I manages to go up and down the uneven steps. The Taxi driver took some photos with my Mobile phone camera. I will try to add them once I locate them.


Nirmala said that she is not impressed with the Araku valley.

The valley is very scenic, but nothing extra ordinary for someone who has seen the National parks of North America. But the Borra caves were interesting. Nirmala was not interested in walking around the caves. I just picked up courage and went down the caves.

Overall, the trip was good.

You may see this link for a lot of information.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borra_Caves

In and around Srikakulam. Srikurmam, The Sun God, Sangameswara etc.

Srikakulam - Nagavalli river Sangameswara, Arasavalli, Srimukha Lingam

Koti Madhava and Srikoormam Temples at Padmanabhapuram

Srikurmam - is situated about 12 miles from Srikakulam, in Padmanabha puram if I remember correctly. I think this is the only Temple in India where the deity is in the form of Vishnu's Kurma (Tortoise) avathara. We did our usual whispering of our special request here also, by touching the idol with bhakthi. My camera ran out of battery during this tour and no hotel had the charger available. The photos are from Wikipedia.

File:Srikurmam_Temple_view_Srikakulam.jpg

1. Srimukhalingam.

Srimukhalingam lies on the banks of Vamsadhara River. It is about 30 miles north of Srikakulam. The Temple is dedicated to Shiva. The architecture resembles that of Orissa Temples. Orissa being the neighboring Province, this makes sense.

File:Mukhalingeshwara_temple_,_srimukhalingam_srikakulam.jpgsuryanarayana temple

2. The Suryanarayana Temple - This is the closest one to Srikakulam. Less than a mile and is situated in Arasavalli. The drive in this part of Godavari district was beautiful. Being in December, a cooler time, the vegetation was in full bloom. I loved the Coconut palm trees.

File:Arasavilli_Suryanarayana_Temple_Entrance.jpg

More of Srimukha lingam - Sri Mukheswara Temple. See the architecture, slightly different from the typical Andhra style.

We did go to the sangam, where the three rivers Vegavathi, Swarnamukhi and Nagavalli meet. One of the 5 lingas Sangameswara is located here. This is about 35 miles from Srikakulam. This Temple definitely needs money for renovation and to be better maintained.

I don't remember what else we visited here.