Srinivasa Mangapuram, Tirupati

Srinivasa Mangapuram, also known as Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy Temple is a very famous temple in Tirupati, Chittor district. As per legends Lord Venkateswara after his marriage with Godess Padmavathi stayed here for sometime before proceeding to Tirumala, as per Hindu customs newly married couples are not supposed to climb hills, such devotees can have darshan of Lord at this temple and attain moksh.

After celebrating the marriage of Lord Venkateswara Swamy with Goddess Padmavathi, he did not immediately return to the Tirumala hills. But instead he visited the sage Agasthya’s ashram to seek blessings. As it was scientifically wrong for the newlyweds to scale the hill for six months, the lord was unable to immediately return to the Tirumala mountain-temple. Hence the sage Agastya suggested that Swamy Venkateswara along with his wife could stay at his humble ashram. The Lord graciously accepted this request and blessed with the ashram with his presence for the entire six months.

After completion of six months Lord Srinivasa returned back to Tirumala, before returning he blessed the place with two boons:

1. The newlyweds and elderly who are not able to visit Tirumala can get the same benefits by visiting Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swamy Temple.
2. A devotee who takes part in the Kalyna utsasvam and ties a ‘kaappu’ on their hand, can find their best, most beloved life-partner or find new happiness from their existing relationship.

Kalyana Utsavam to the Lord is performed here every day in the temple. Devotees from all over the country to get the blessing of lord by attending this ritual. At the end of ritual the Priest ties kankana (Yellow thread) to the right hand of the Devotees which is believed to solve all there problems and individuals having trouble getting into wedlock would soon get their life partner.

Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam

Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Temple is one of the famous Hindu temple of South India. Lord Venkateshwara (a form of Lord Vishnu) also known as Balaji, Govinda and Srinivasa is worshiped in this temple. Balaji Temple is located on the seventh peak of Venkatadri hill also known as Venkatachala or Venkata Hill, hence it is also called as the “Temple of Seven Hills”. The Tirumala Hill comprises seven peaks, representing the seven heads of Adisesha (king of serpent) hence the place is known as Seshachalam. The names of the seven peaks are as follows Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The temple lies on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini, a holy water tank. The main deity of the lord Srinivasa is in the main sanctum (Garbha Gruha) beneath a gold plated dome Ananda Nilaya Divya Vimanam also known as Vimana Gopuram.

1. UshaKala — worship should start and finish before sunrise
2. Prathakala — worship should start after sunrise and finish before noon
3. Madhyanika — worship should start and finish at noon
4. Aparahana — worship should start when the sun starts to descend
5. SandhyaKala — worship should start and finish around the sunset
6. Ardharatri — worship should start after the horizon is completely dark

The temple is the most-visited place of worship in the world and the richest pilgrimage center, after the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The reason for this is devotees offer money and gold to Venkateshwara Hundi (Donation Pot) as a token of their love towards lord and also to relieve the lord from the commitment of paying back the loan taken by him from Kubera. As per legend it is believed as Srinivasa had taken loan from Kubera for his marriage with Padmavathi.

‘Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ popularly known as TTD, an independent trust manages Tirumala Tirupati Sri Venkateshwara Temple. You can book Special Entry Darshan, Accommodation and Seva’s online through the trust portal at “TTD Online”.

Temple offers world famous Tirupati Laddu as prasadam to all devotees and the Trust has taken Geographical Indication of Laddu prasaddam, hence, no one can prepare the same Laddu.

Tirumala, Tiru means ‘Holy’ or ‘Sacred’ and mala means hills/mountain. Tirumala hills are located in Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is around 600 km (370 mi) from Hyderabad, 138 km (86 mi) from Chennai and 291 km (181 mi) from Bangalore.

Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi

Lepakshi is a small village located at around 15-km to the east of Hindupur in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh.  Lepakshi village is famous for the Veerabhadra Temple, where lord Veerabhadra Swamy is worshiped as the main deity. The temple was built by the two brothers Viranna and Virupanna and is one of the masterpiece of the Vijayanagar Style of Architecture. It is famous for its sculptures and archaeological beauty created by the artisans of Vijayanagara empire.

 

Hanging Pillar

The hanging pillar is one of the 70 pillars which is hanging well almost on its edge speaking aloud the genius of Vijayanagar architects. There is a story about it – A British engineer who was keen on knowing how the temple was supported by the pillars and tried to displace one of the pillar and it caused the movement of as many as 10 pillars around to maintain the balance.

As per the legend, it is believed as one of the important incident of Ramayana occurred in this place. Ravana while he was kidnapping Sita Devi and heading towards Lanka a bird called Jatayu had battle with Ravana, it could not fight for long and fell in this place. It is believed as the foot print in the below picture is of Sita Devi’s and the same can be seen in the temple premisis.

There are two red spots on the western wall of the inner enclosure and it is believed that Virupanna, the treasurer of the Vijayanagar empire was accused of using the funds without kings permission to build these monuments and build mantapam behind the temple.  When the construction was almost complete the king realized that he has used the treasure without his permission and ordered a punishment to be blinded.

The dark mar0on stains on the wall near the ‘Kalyana Mantapa’ is believed as marks from his bleeding eyes and hence the village is called “Lepa-akshi” i.e., a village of the blinded eye.

Hanuman temple at Lepakshi

Nandi statue at Lepakshi
A huge statue of a bull made out of a single granite stone is one of the biggest attractions in Lepakshi, located less than 1km from Veerabadhra Temple.

Dimentions :  4.5 m high and 8.23m long.

Some wonderful pictures in and around Lepakshi temple :

Shiva linga at lepakshi

Unfinished Kalyana Mandapam

Vinayaka Statue near temple

Sri Vishnu statue near temple

Shiva linga at Lepakshi

3 head cow

Temple pillars art

Lepakshi temple inner view

Ramba Dancing statue

Footprint of Sita Devi

How to reach Lepakshi from Bangalore

By Road
From Bangalore there are two ways to reach Lekapshi, One is via Hindupur and other through Hyderabad highway.
Both involve NH7 (Hyderabad/ Ballary/ Yelahanka road, starting from Hebbal flyover in outer ring road) uptill Yelahanka.

• via Hindupur: Head to Hindupur straight. From their take a diversion towards Kodikonda.Its just 15 Km from here.
• via Chikballapur : Head towards Hyderabad till Kodikonda ( AP Border ) and then turn left and from their Lepakshi is just 16 KM.

KSRTC buses run so frequently between Bangalore and Hindupur.

By Train:
Nearest railway station : Hindupur.

Reference :
http://www.lepakshitemple.com/
http://www.anantapur.com/travel/lepakshi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerabhadra_Temple,_Lepakshi

Veerabhadra Temple, Lepakshi