Team-BHP > Travelogues


Reply
  Search this Thread
18,214 views
Old 16th February 2010, 18:00   #1
BHPian
 
hotstuff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Campus @ IIMA !
Posts: 368
Thanked: 120 Times
'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...

Route map:
'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-mahanandi_trip.gif

Quote:
Sri Anjaneya at Gandi Kshetra
... On the right bank is the temple of Veera Anjaneya situated in serine atmosphere presenting a picturesque scene. The legend of how the temple of Lord Anjaneya had come to being here is very interesting.

During the Ramayana period Sri Vayudeva was on mediation here. Sri Rama had passed through this place while going southwards in search of Sri Sitadevi. While Sri Vayudeva wanted Sri Rama to stay here as his host, Sri Rama had told that he will accept his hospitality on his way back to Ayodhya from Lanka.

On hearing of Sri Rama's victory over Ravana in Lanka, Sri Vayudeva had prepared this place to welcome him and flung a wreath (garland) of golden flowers across the ravine through which the conqueror should pass on his way northwards to Ayodhya.

The golden flowers arranged in the thoranam form by Sri Vayudeva for welcoming the victorious Sri Rama are true and could be visible between the two hills. Even in this Kaliyuga it was visible for those who had faith on Lord. It is believed that those who had done their karma during this janma in full and truly are blessed to see the golden thoranam during their last days. It is also believed that for those who had the dharshan of this golden festoon are free from rebirth.

It is in record that Sir Thomas Munroe the District Collector of Cuddapah was one of the blessed to have seen the golden festoon (Bangaru thoranam) during his last visit to "Gandi". It has been recorded in the Madras District Gazetteer Cuddapah District Vol I - Chapter I - Page 3 & Chapter XV - Page 217 dated 01.10.1914.

Source: Gandi Veera Anjaneya Devastanam, Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh
This story of the legendary golden garland was one of the bedtime stories I had heard from my Grandparents. Over the years I have visited or driven through Kadapa umpteen number of times but a trip to Gandi never happened.

More recently, while browsing for information on the current status of Mantralayam (after the floods in Oct 2009), I came across an article with a mention of the same Sir Thomas Munroe.

Quote:
...When Sir Thomas Munroe was the Collector of Bellary in 1800, the Madras Government ordered him to procure the entire income from the Math and Manthralaya village.

When the Revenue officials were unable to comply with this order, Sir Thomas Munroe visited the Math for investigation. He removed his hat and shoes and entered the sacred precincts. Sri Raghavendraswamy emerged from the Brindavan and conversed with him for sometime, about the resumption of endowment.

The Saint was visible and audible only to Munroe who received Manthraksha. The Collector went back and wrote an order in favour of the Math and the village.

This notification was published in the Madras Government Gazette in Chapter XI and page 213, with the caption ``Manchali Adoni Taluka''. This order is still preserved in Fort St. George and Manthralayam.

Source: Story of Sri Raghavendra Swamy (Mantralaya)
This mention of Sir Munroe triggered some old memories about Gandi and the legend of the golden garland. Did a little more research and I came across a snippet from Sir Munroe's biography, which also mentioned about Munroe's sighting of the garland and his death soon after. Now, this was much too interesting to ignore... and a visit to Gandi was on my 'to-do' list for the next time I drove towards Kadapa.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-munro.gif


The day after Shivaratri, we were planning to head out somewhere for the weekend with my parents. On a whim, we decided to do a trip towards Kadapa and visit a couple of places. Hmmm... this would be as good a time as any to do a trip to Gandi. The other places visited were Mahanandi, Kadapa, Idupulapaya & Rayachoti

Started from Bangalore at 7.15am on the 13th of Feb 2010 and returned back to base at around 9.30pm on the evening of the 14th of Feb 2010. Total distance covered on the trip meter was 909kms in two days.

Though we did think of visiting Ahobilam on the way back from Mahanandi (We drove through Allagadda, which is just 24kms from Ahobilam), we decided to give it a skip since the place would have been heavily crowded. Also, Ahobilam is best done as a separate two day trip, covering all the 9 Narasimha temples, which will require a good amount of trekking. So Ahobilam needs to be done some other time.

Our original plan was to cover the places in the reverse order and drive back to Blr in a continuous stretch from Mahanandi, which is why we went via Kadapa, else I would have probably taken NH7 (Hyderabad route) till somewhere close to Peapalli and turned towards Nandyala from there... anyway, the Kadapa route was not bad, so no regrets.

Overall the trip was good, though it was probably quite tiring for my parents; it was still acceptable since we are just about going into the summer temperatures. Anyway, we were running with the AC on for the entire trip.

Only one small hiccup during the trip - on the morning of the 14th, when we were about to start off for the day from Kadapa, I noticed that the rear-left tyre was almost flat. Instead of changing the tyre, I just pumped in air with the foot-pump and we headed out with an idea of getting the puncture fixed. But most of the puncture shops we came across along the way were either shut (Sunday morning) or did not know how to work on a Tubeless tyre.

Not wanting to waste time we just continued ahead and covered Gandi and Idupulapaya...on the way back we stopped at Vempalli and found a puncture shop where I got the tyre taken out and we found quite a big nail stuck right in the middle. Since I was carrying a tube-less puncture kit, I could guide the puncture shop guy to fix it up. Thank God for tubeless tyres!


Quote:
Mahanandi

Mahanandi is a village located east of the Nallamala Hills in Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is a picturesque village surrounded by thick forests. Within 15 km of Mahanandi, there are nine Nandi shrines known as Nava Nandis. Mahanandi is one of the Nava Nandis.The Mahanandiswara Swamy Temple, an important shrine, is located here.
This ancient temple dates back over 1,500 years. The inscriptions of 10th century tablets speak of the temple being repaired and rebuilt several times.

Mahanandi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Quote:
Ameen Peer Dargah - Kadapa

Ameen Peer Dargah (Asthana-e-Magdoom Ilahi Dargah complex) (Badi Dargah, Pedda Dargah) in Kadapa (Cuddapah) is an example of the communal harmony preached by great saints and sages in ancient days. Come Thursday and Friday, scores of pilgrims cutting across religious faiths, throng the 300-year-old shrine seeking blessings of saints Peerullah Hussaini and Arifullah Hussaini II who lie buried here.

Followers of the dargah believe that any wish that one makes at the shrine is always fulfilled. A large number of Hindus, Muslims and people of different faiths are disciples of the shrine. The family’s descendants identify themselves with a saffron dress and the disciples wear a saffron cap.

Quote:
Gandi - Sri Veera Anjaneya Swamy temple.

Gandi is a small village located in Veerannagattupalle village, amidst the beautiful surroundings, on the banks of Papaghni river near Vempalle in Kadapa District. This is a valley like place formed by the Palakonda hills and is called as Gandi, which in Telugu means ‘a narrow valley with running river’. This small place is popularly known as Gandi Kshetram (region) and is famous for the temple of Lord Hanuman.

It is said that Sri Ramakrishna Anandha Swami of Boomanandha Ashram had given the name Gandi Kshetram to this place. The temple of Lord Veera Anjaneya or Hanuman was said to be built by Swami Vasanthaacharyalu, a follower of Sri Madwa cult.

More info on the temple and the legends surrounding it:
Gandi

Quote:
Idupulapaya
This is a sort of an oasis in the middle of nowhere, around 6kms from Gandi; the late YSR's estate is located here and the area has seen a lot of development in the form of the Rajiv Gandhi Knowledge Valley - IIIT complex etc.
Quote:
Rayachoti - Sri Veerabhadreshwara Swamy temple
More info:
Rayachoti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Started off at 7.15am from Blr and it was a smooth drive out of the city, other than the normal bottle-necks on old-Madras road and near Hoskote. The Karnataka stretch of the road has fresh tarmac.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-1.jpg


We have driven past this hill quite a few times in the past; the peak of which is supposed to resemble a 'Nandi' from a certain angle...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-2.jpg


We were in Madanapalle by around 9.15am. Stopped for a quick breakfast and headed towards Kadapa. Somewhere along the way we changed our plan and decided to drive through without stopping Kadapa and see Mahanandi first.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-3.jpg


Came across lots of Egrets in the rice paddies alongside the road...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-4.jpg


And also this interesting sight of the Egrets combing through the paddies in a systematic line...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-5.jpg


This was the 13th of Feb, just the day after Shivaratri... though the crowds had reduced significantly, Mahanandi was still filled with lots and lots of pilgrims! Since most of the crowd would also be visiting the nearby Ahobilam temples, we decided to skip them for this trip.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-6.jpg


Normally the temple is not too crowded and you can wander around exploring the place, but this time the temple was barricaded up for the Shivaratri crowd and bathing in the inner pool was not allowed.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-10.jpg

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-7.jpg


The crystal clear waters of the inner pool, where you can see coins at the bottom of the Kalyani...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-8.jpg


Bathing was being allowed in the two outer pools and they were quite crowded. This one for gents and the other pool for the ladies...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-9.jpg


The huge Nandi. A very recent construction, this is a hollow concrete structure. Supposed to be the 'biggest' Nandi in the world...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-11.jpg


A robotic fortune teller :-) Thought of giving it a try, but the ear-phones were absolutely filthy... so I chose to remain ignorant of my fortunes.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-12.jpg


The route from Nandyala to Mahanandi is lined with brick kilns...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-13.jpg


We reached Kadapa quite late in the evening and stayed back overnight at my uncle's place. After a light dinner, we bedded down for the night.

Next morning we started out for the day at around 9.00am. Our first stop was the Ameen Peer dargah in the center of the town. Preparations were underway for the 'Urs' which was starting from the next day, i.e. the 15th of Feb.

A number of celebrities & politicians were expected to visit the place over the next few days... and someone mentioned that the highlight was going to be a musical evening by A.R.Rahman.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-13a.jpg


Next we headed out on the Pulivendala road towards Vempalle and then to Gandi. There is a highway almost all the way till Gandi, and the road continues till Idupulapaya. Lined on both the sides by Sunflower fields...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-14.jpg

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-15.jpg

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-16.jpg


The Papagni river, which is quite seasonal, had completely dried up by this time.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-17.jpg


Not much of a crowd at the temple. We could quickly finish darshan and head back to Kadapa for lunch.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-18.jpg


The legendary golden garland is supposed to exist somewhere across these two cliffs... thankfully I could not see anything! (Those who see the garland are destined to pass away soon after...)

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-19.jpg


Next, we took the turn towards Idupulapaya, which has a 4 lane highway leading to it...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-20.jpg


The road which leads to the IIIT campus...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-21.jpg


This is part of the same hill range that continues to Tirupati...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-22.jpg


After Idupulapaya we headed back to Kadapa for lunch and a brief rest stop before heading back to Bangalore. We reached Kadapa by around 1.30pm and had lunch.

While Sangeetha and my parents were relaxing for a while, I was busy cleaning up the air-filter since we had driven through some extremely dusty roads recently.

Just a random flower pic from the trip :-)

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-23.jpg


Contd...

Last edited by hotstuff : 16th February 2010 at 18:09. Reason: Spelling.
hotstuff is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 18:06   #2
BHPian
 
hotstuff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Campus @ IIMA !
Posts: 368
Thanked: 120 Times
Contd... Mahanandi, Kadapa, Gandi, Idupulapaya & Rayachoti trip.

Started from Kadapa at around 3.15pm and reached Rayachoti. Stopping here was not on our original plans, but given the fact that we would be passing just a couple of Kms from the temple, we might as well stop over for a few minutes.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-24.jpg


This temple is frequented by a lot of pilgrims from Karnataka. So, all the instructions and other writings in the temple are both in Telugu, as well as Kannada.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-24a.jpg


Some pics from the temple...

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-25.jpg

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-26.jpg


Silhouettes of the distant hills in the evening mist. Pic clicked somewhere close to Rayachoti.

'Xing'ing around ! - The legend of the Golden Garland...-27.jpg


From Rayachoti, it was a almost non-stop drive all the way to Bangalore, stopping only for a couple of bio-breaks. Reached Blr by around 9.30pm, a quick dinner and by around 11.00pm it was lights out!
hotstuff is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 18:16   #3
BHPian
 
ssengo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Chennai
Posts: 149
Thanked: 37 Times

Hotstuff, as usual, an excellent travelogue written in your fashion.
ssengo is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 18:34   #4
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 86
Thanked: 36 Times
Desolate

The strecth between Raychoti & Madanapalli is very desolate with hardly any traffic. Is it safe to drive in the night?
kreddy is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 19:13   #5
BHPian
 
hotstuff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Campus @ IIMA !
Posts: 368
Thanked: 120 Times
Thanks!

@ssengo - Thanks a lot for your comments.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kreddy View Post
The strecth between Raychoti & Madanapalli is very desolate with hardly any traffic. Is it safe to drive in the night?
One of the main problem with this stretch is that there are long sections which are single-track roads, with unusable shoulders; forcing you to play chicken with oncoming vehicles.

Trucks / Jeeps / Buses usually give way, but some cut it a little too close. So driving on this stretch after dark is preferably avoidable.

As for traffic, having driven through this route quite a few times, I have seen a decent amount of traffic till around 9.00 - 9.30pm (mainly inter-town / inter-village vehicles). But after 10.00pm, this surely is quite a desolate stretch.

If driving on this stretch late in the night is un-avoidable, better stick to a convoy...i.e find some other jeeps / cars / buses headed in the same direction and tag along.
hotstuff is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 20:00   #6
BHPian
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Atlanta, US
Posts: 117
Thanked: 16 Times

Hotstuff,

I am a big fan of your travelogues. I thoroughly enjoy reading yours posts.
You made all the readers get Sivarathri 'punyaphalam' by reading this travelogue.
idlebrain is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 20:22   #7
Senior - BHPian
 
KSM-Vtec's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: MH-02-India-Bombay-Bandra
Posts: 1,562
Thanked: 446 Times

Great trip!!! waiting for more pics!!!
KSM-Vtec is offline  
Old 16th February 2010, 22:52   #8
MX6
Senior - BHPian
 
MX6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: City of seven islands.
Posts: 2,877
Thanked: 231 Times

Interesting piece of history regarding Sir Thomas Munro. Incidentally, he was a Scotsman, born in Glasgow and educated in the Glasgow university.
His piety is well known.
Once Sir Thomas Munro, the governer of Madras presidency was suffereing from acute pain in stomach, which could not be cured by medical treatment. A Hindu secretary who was a staunch devotee of Sri Venkateswara advised Sir Thomas Munro to take a vow that he would visit the sacred seven hills and to his astonishment, he got complete relief from his chronic stomach pain. He then created an endowment to offer one big Gangalam of rice prasadam (Pongal) to the Lord every day to fulfil the vow taken by him and then to distribute the said Pongal prasadam free to all the devotees during sarvadarshanam.
For this purpose an endowment was created by gifting the revenue collections etc., of a village called Kotabayalu, in Vayalpad taluk of Chittoor district as a permanent measure of charity called Munro Gangalam. The endowment of Sir Munro is being continued by the TTD even to this day.

I also read about the legend of the golden rope and Munro seeing it which ultimately led to his liberation.
Incidentally, he wanted to go back to Glasgow and spend the rest of his life there and many a times requested the queen. However, when the final relieving order came, he breathed his last.

I searched all of Glasgow for his statue. However, his best statue on a horse, stands mightyly in Island grounds in Chennai which I have no recollection of seeing, though I'd been in chennai for almost 20 years! And I searched all of Glasgow for his statue.
MX6 is offline  
Old 17th February 2010, 09:30   #9
BHPian
 
hotstuff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Campus @ IIMA !
Posts: 368
Thanked: 120 Times
Thanks!

@idlebrain
@KSM-Vtec

- Thank you for your comments & appreciation.

Quote:
waiting for more pics!!!
- :( unfortunately not many postable pics left from this trip. When it is only Sangeetha & me, we stop and click pics whenever we find something interesting. But with parents along we did not stop so frequently since we did not want to open the doors quite so often and lose the AC effect.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MX6 View Post
Interesting piece of history regarding Sir Thomas Munro. Incidentally, he was a Scotsman, born in Glasgow and educated in the Glasgow university.
His piety is well known.
Once Sir Thomas Munro, the governer of Madras presidency was suffereing from acute pain in stomach, which could not be cured by medical treatment. A Hindu secretary who was a staunch devotee of Sri Venkateswara advised Sir Thomas Munro to take a vow that he would visit the sacred seven hills and to his astonishment, he got complete relief from his chronic stomach pain. He then created an endowment to offer one big Gangalam of rice prasadam (Pongal) to the Lord every day to fulfil the vow taken by him and then to distribute the said Pongal prasadam free to all the devotees during sarvadarshanam.
For this purpose an endowment was created by gifting the revenue collections etc., of a village called Kotabayalu, in Vayalpad taluk of Chittoor district as a permanent measure of charity called Munro Gangalam. The endowment of Sir Munro is being continued by the TTD even to this day.

I also read about the legend of the golden rope and Munro seeing it which ultimately led to his liberation.
Incidentally, he wanted to go back to Glasgow and spend the rest of his life there and many a times requested the queen. However, when the final relieving order came, he breathed his last.

I searched all of Glasgow for his statue. However, his best statue on a horse, stands mightyly in Island grounds in Chennai which I have no recollection of seeing, though I'd been in chennai for almost 20 years! And I searched all of Glasgow for his statue.
- The mighty Google throws up quite a few images of Sir TM's statue in Chennai & some other pics too... you might want to check them out.

standing tall on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/09/06/i...0608850201.jpg

thomas munro chennai - Google Search
hotstuff is offline  
Old 18th February 2010, 07:27   #10
Senior - BHPian
 
akroy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posts: 2,423
Thanked: 85 Times

Hotstuff, wonderful piece of history and it was really nice to read them.
From where did you take the detour for Madanapalle (I believe you didnt take the chintamani route)?

Hope to see some more pics soon.

Abhi
akroy is offline  
Old 18th February 2010, 12:09   #11
BHPian
 
RP_812's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 128
Thanked: 2 Times

Great Travelougue as usual , HotStuff.

Nice to know you travel so much and have such a great Travel partner in your wife.

Would love to travel as much as you'll do.
RP_812 is offline  
Old 18th February 2010, 15:50   #12
BHPian
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Kottayam
Posts: 588
Thanked: 8 Times

Hotstuff..really hotstuff...once again the Xinging effect has caught on to me once again and i am with you, please continue doing the good work!
Majic is offline  
Old 19th February 2010, 00:49   #13
BHPian
 
hotstuff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Campus @ IIMA !
Posts: 368
Thanked: 120 Times
Thanks!

@akroy
@RP_812
@Majic

Thanks a lot for your comments and glad you liked the log.

Quote:
Originally Posted by akroy View Post
From where did you take the detour for Madanapalle (I believe you didnt take the chintamani route)?...
Abhi, I did take the Chintamani route, the road is quite good (newly laid) and we went through the Chintamani Bypass road and avoided the town. (The bypass is not marked, at the 'Y' junction, there are markings / boards pointing towards Chintamani (left side), we just took the right side road towards M'palle.)

By the way, you have not updated your signature with your current car in the US ? Would love to read about your US experiences & trips.

Quote:
Originally Posted by RP_812 View Post
...Would love to travel as much as you'll do.
Actually I guess we are still minnows in a pond when it comes to travelling long distances... most of my trips are quite short and weekend trips. I am quite amazed by the long distance odesseys by some of the accomplished Tbhpians like ramkya1, chevy_lover etc. and of course HVK.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Majic View Post
...Xinging effect has caught on to me once again and i am with you, please continue doing the good work!
- Thanks Majic! Planning one last trip for the season in the next few weeks and then I'll be packing up for Ahd and back to college for a year...

Last edited by hotstuff : 19th February 2010 at 00:53.
hotstuff is offline  
Old 19th February 2010, 05:50   #14
BHPian
 
dreamdiesel's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 420
Thanked: 60 Times

Very interesting history related travelogue there. Thank you for bringing us info about these interesting places not many people know about. Great pictures too...
dreamdiesel is offline  
Old 19th February 2010, 17:43   #15
Senior - BHPian
 
akroy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posts: 2,423
Thanked: 85 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by hotstuff View Post
Abhi, I did take the Chintamani route, the road is quite good (newly laid) and we went through the Chintamani Bypass road and avoided the town. (The bypass is not marked, at the 'Y' junction, there are markings / boards pointing towards Chintamani (left side), we just took the right side road towards M'palle.)

By the way, you have not updated your signature with your current car in the US ? Would love to read about your US experiences & trips.
I drive a Hyundai Sonata V6 here in US. Nice cruiser. Didnt take for a long trip (apart from couple of 150miles dash to Atlanta on work) yet due to trmendous work pressure in the last 6 months. Tried a long drive to DC (450miles) last weekend but it snowed like hell the prev night and I had to cancel the trip.
Ya, you pointed it right, I will change that soon.
akroy is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks