3 day trip to Srisailam and Mahanandi

Date of travel   : 23 - 25 Dec 2012
Vehicle             : Toyota Innova
Total distance  : 750 kms

Day 1: Started at 9 AM from Hyderabad, took the ORR and reached Srisailam at 1:30 PM. We travelled with minimal stops, stopping at 2 check posts (Mandatory for vehicle entry), view points before and after Srisailam dam, Saakshi Ganapati darsanam. The road is excellent and one can enjoy the drive. However caution needs to be exercised in the ghat section particularly after crossing the dam which has few steep curves. Distance covered is 215 kms.

Visited temple, collected tickets and pooja material for abhishekam to be performed the next day.

Day 2: Performed Abhishekam, took rope way to Paatalaganga, visited Phaladhaara Panchadhaara and Hatakeeswaram.

Day 3: Started at Srisailam at 7:30 AM and reached Mahanandi by 12: 30 PM. Route Srisailam - Sikharam- Dornala - Atmakur - Nandyala - Mahanandi. Distance 175 kms with stops at Sikharam, Sunflower plantation en route Atmakur and at Atmakur for breakfast.  

Had lunch at Karivena Anna dana Satram at Mahanandi and after Darsanam of Sri Nandeswara and Sri Kameswari Devi, visited Nandi park.

Started at 5:30 PM at Mahanandi and reached Shamshabad by 10:00 PM. Route taken was Mahanandi - Nandyala - Kovuturu - Paniem - Kudravaram - Kurnool.  The route is good apart from few pot holes. Lot of work is going on this road for laying 4 lane roads. Reached Kurnool at 7 PM. Distance 90 kms. Stopped for fuel and a quick break.

We hit the NH7 at 7:15 PM and reached Shamshabad by 10 PM where we stopped for dinner and reached home by 11 PM. Distance covered is 220 kms. 

P.S : There are few links in this blog post with more details and pictures. If you missed them, please look out for links on Srisailam, Mahanandi and Sikharam.

Srisailam trip

Started at 9 AM on a Sunday morning from Hyderabad in a hired Innova. Reached Srisailam at 1:30 PM, took ORR and drove non-stop apart from making entries at 2 check post, till we reached the view points near Srisailam dam. One can spot lot of monkeys on the way and we can we people slowing the vehicles and dropping food which is not a good idea. Request you folks not to continue the trend. Travellers should be careful not to run down the monkeys specially baby monkeys.





 






Visited the first landmark temple of Srisailam which is 2 km from the main temple. Had a quick darsanam of Sri Sakshi Ganapati and proceeded to Srisailam. Checked in APTDC Haritha resort (pre-booked online) and proceeded to first darsanam of Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy Jyothirlinga and Maha Sakthi Bhramaramba Devi at 2:00 PM. 

It is customary to visit the temple immediately after reaching Srisailam which is called Dhooli Darsanam. In spite of being a Sunday and Vaikunta Ekadasi, we had a considerably quick darsanam and came out in 1 hr which included darshans of Mallikarjuna Swamy, Vruddha Mallikarjuna Swamy, Sri Rama pratishta Sahasra Lingam,  Triphala Vruksham, Sri Veerabhadra Swamy, Pandava pratishta Siva Lingas, Sita pratishta Sahasra Lingam, Sri Bhramarambha Devi, which are all in the same temple compound. The temple is usually closed at 3 PM and will be opened again at 5:30 PM.

day view of main gopuram

night view

The restaurant in Haritha offers buffet lunch from 12:45 PM to 3 PM and dinner from 7:30 PM to 10 PM. The food is decent, served hot and is priced at 70/-.  It was 3:15 by the time we reached the resort and the restaurant was closed. Luckily, we had packed food to be on safer side and had it for lunch. We planned to visit Ishta Kameswari temple but was informed that the temple has been closed for few days. After relaxing for a while we proceeded to Patalaganga rope way which is about 1.5 km from the resort but could not get into as it was too crowded and same was the case with Srisaila Sikharam.

We had booked tickets online for rudra abhisekham and kumkuma pooja few days before the trip. The ticketing counter usually opens at 6:30 PM where we exchanged our online vouchers to get printed tickets. There is a counter to get pooja material with these tickets which was closed for most of the time due to their inability to handle huge crowd thronging the counters for abhisekham tickets. Finally we managed to get the pooja material at 9 PM, after making few rounds and struggling in the crowded line for 30 mins. 

Haritha resort is well maintained resort and is strongly recommended for everyone who is seeking accomodation in Srisailam. The only drawback is, hot water is available only from 4 AM to 6 AM. Since we had abhisekham at 7 AM, we managed to get ready by 6 AM and reached temple by 6:30 AM. Since it was a Monday, the temple was too crowded. We had to wait for almost 2 hours for our 1 minute chance to be the presence of Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy. However, we rejoiced every second of the opportunity to perform Abhishekam. We can touch the Siva Lingam and even do a pranamam by touching the forehead to the idol. After the Abhishekam, we visited other temples in the complex and performed Kumkuma pooja to Sri Bhramaramba Devi. 

Outside the temple, there were few ladies who charge 100/- and give us an opportunity to do Annadanam to 10 sadhus there. It was their way of making money but we liked the idea and offered food to few of them.

We returned to the resort, had lunch and proceeded to rope way at Patalaganga. Other noticable places in Srisailam are Phaladaara and Panchadaara, Hatakeswaram, , Sikhara darshanam, Chenchu Lakshmi tribal museum. There are few beautiful images of lord Siva near the Nandi circle. Tribal museum is adjacent to one of the idols. Harita resort is very close to Nandi circle. A sign board indicating the direction to post office can be seen immediately after crossing the Nandi circle.
 
Patalaganga rope way is a short 5 minute passage to get down to Patalaganga. Alternate route is to get down about 400 steps. There is an option to go on a boat ride to enjoy the beauty of Krishna river.

View of patalaganga from boat, people take holy dip in the water. The water in this region is very deep and there were several announcements cautioning tourists to the follow the instructions and not enter the water apart from the designated points.

Phaladhaara Panchadhaara, and Hatakeeswam are 2 points which are about 4 km from the main temple and 2 km from Saakshi Ganapati temple. One has to climb down about 145 steps to reach Phaaladhaara and Panchadhaara to see the water coming out of the rocky hill. I tasted the water but could not differentiate the taste.

Hatakeswaram is on the opposite side of the road and is very close to Phaladhaara and Panchadhaara.

 











Another important spot not to be missed for travellers is Srisaila Sikharam.

Srisaila Sikharam

Srisaila Sikhara darsanam is customary for all those who visit Srisailam. As per the legend it gives Moksham to all who have the Shikara darsanam (Darsanam of Srisaila Sikharam viewed from between the ears of Nandi at this point).  The devastanam department has placed steel plates in the form of 'L' shape below the Dhamarukam to facilitate the devotees to spot the Sikharam easily.

It is the place where Lord Sikhareswara Swamy resides. The Siva Lingam here appears to be a replica of Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy, the only difference being the color where the Siva Lingam here is white in color. 

The Sikharam is about 8 kms from the main temple. One has to climb about 150 steps to reach the Sikharam, which is said to be the highest point in this region. Taking an alternate path can reduce the number of steps by about 50. The steps here are not too steep and one can climb them easily. Devotees usually rub Nandi by pouring rice grains and gingelly seeds while viewing the Sikharam. One has to be careful while carrying the rice grains as there are lot of monkeys in this place.