Rani Ahilya Bai fort- Maheshwar, Madhya pradesh

Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar (1725-1795)   the queen of  Malwa kingdom established her capital at Maheshwar 84 Kms from Indore. You may wonder why I am referring to a queen in my pilgrimage  post. This great  queen is pride of our country as she constructed  and supported to restore many Hindu temples especially after they were destroyed by the invaders

Some famous temples in that prestigious list are  Puri jagannath, Omkareshwar, Badrinath, Dwarka, Rameswaram, Haridwar. Every pilgrimage Centre in India received  contribution from Ahilya Bai  in one way or the other.

Most notable was the  Kasi Viswanath  temple which she rebuilt and restored after 111 years after its destruction by Aurangzeb . The Ghats which we see on the banks of Ganges today  were also  built by Queen Ahilya Bai hence I made a post in her name; without her contribution we would have lost our precious  gems forever .

Maheshwar fort or Ahilya Bai fort

There are several shrines within the premises of Maheshwar fort dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu , Ganesha and Narmada river on whose banks the fort stands. The ghat and fort view from the river is breathtaking and magnificent. Here are a few pictures . Camera was not allowed inside the queen's residence and could get only a picture from outside ( shot 1)

                                                                      Queen's Fort 

                                                                  Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar 

                                                         shrines inside from the fort 

                                                                      Ghat of the fort 

                                                  Fort view from Narmada river side

Adi Keshava Perumal Temple -Tiruvattar, Kanyakumari District

 Do you know, there is a temple dedicated to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy in Tiruvattar, Kanyakumari district similar to the one in Thiruvananthapuram.     Lord here is  known as Adikesava Perumal  and is believed to be very much more older than the Padmanabha Swamy of Thiruvanthapuram.

This temple was part of Kerala and was under Travancore kings but presently it is part of Tamilnadu  after State reorganization. This is one of the 108 divyadesham of Vishnu, Nammalwar has sung hymns in praise of Lord Adi Kesava here. Legend  also says that Lord  killed the demon Kesi and came to be known as Adi Kesava .There is lot of resemblance in pooja rituals of Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruvattar temples.

 Known as the Dakshina Vaikuntam,  one has to view the Lord through three dwaras akin to the Padmanabha temple.  it is said that both deities are reclining on Adisesha in respective temples  facing each other . This temple is surrounded by 3 rivers Pahrli, Kodhai and Tamirabharani,

One can view the  Lord; the saligrama sila only with the help of oil lamps in the sanctum and one may get a better view if one can have darshan from the raised platform outside  the sanctum. The Panchloha idols  were being worshipped outside and  we  could have beautiful darshan.

The temple is  a magnificent edifice and is on an elevated ground. One has to climb a few steps to reach the temple. The temple corridors on all four sides are lined on either side with  granite  pillars.

Beautiful murals and sculptures  from our puranas  decorate the walls and interior.  There is huge dwajasthambam as this a Mahakshetram and there is small shrine for Tiruvambadi Krishna. One can enter and exit the temple through East or West gate. 

Tiruvattar is a village panchayat and is 6 kms form Marthandam  in Kanyakumari district.

The temple surroundings are serene and very  clean. The peace and quiet one feels during the visit was a added blessing. 

Dress code -women can wear saris/chudidhars. Men can enter the inner precincts of the temple without shirts just like any Kerala temple. Those who plan  Kaniyakumari can definitely add this in their itinerary.

No Photography allowed inside the temple .

A few pictures from my recent visit.

                                                                   Western Gopuram

                                                                 Front side of the temple

                                                            Eastern Gopuram

                                                             The Banyan tree with Nagas 

                                                                         The main temple

Triambakeshwar, Triambak, Nasik district, Maharashtra

 Trimbakeshwar  Shiva temple is in the  town of Trimbaka in  Nashik district, it is an ancient temple and is situated at the foot of Bharmagiri hills. We had visited the temple during monsoons and the rain drenched green hills with clouds looming over provided a scenic view. But could not spend much time inside the temple as it started pouring heavily.

This is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas of Lord Shiva. Inside the sanctum there are three lingams of Brahma,Vishnu,Maheshwara .

The Lingam is visible during the morning worship and gets adorned later for other worship and rituals. 

There are also deities of Kedarnatha, Rameshwara, Gangadevi and many other images inside the temple. The sacred pond inside the temple is the origin of  the river Godavari. The present temple was built by Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao.

The spire of the temple is very impressive with beautiful stone carvings.

There are free and paid darshan facilities in the temple.

This place is famous for Kalasarpa Shanti, Narayana Nagabali and Tripindi vidhi.

The temple is 30 Kms from Nashik and we did travel by road as we were visiting many other temples in Maharashtra. Check the link for more details

Mandarti Durga Parameshwari, Mandarthi, Udupi district , Karnataka

Mandarthi Durga Parameshwari  is the Goddess of this temple situated in Mandarthi village in Udupi district of Karnataka.

The Goddess here is very powerful and is very famous among the locals and nearby villages.

Navarathri festival is celebrated for 9 days with great  religious  fervor.

Annual festival is celebrated in February.

The Yakshagana worship here is very famous. Stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata are enacted and it is offered as a worship to Goddess here  by devotees  for fulfillment of their wishes.

The temple remains open form 5.30 am to 8pm which becomes very convenient for the long distant travellers. More details here.

Kalaseshwara temple , Kalasa, Chikmagloor district , karnataka.

Kalasa is a tiny serene and picturesque village situated on the banks of river Bhadra. This place is famous for its hill top temple of Kalaseshwara. A few steps up the hill leads one to this temple. The top of the hill offers a stunning view of the village below.

 The presiding deity is Shiva known as Kalaseshwara, a swayambhu emerged from the kalasa of sage Agastya. Sarvanga Sundari is Lord's consort here. The God sits in a silver mandapa in the sanctum. There is also a shrine for Kasi Viswanathar here.

It is believed that when Shiva married Parvati all the Gods and celestial beings attended the wedding. The earth started titling due to the big assembly of Gods  in one place. Lord Shiva asked  sage Agastya to proceed to  South to balance the weight of the earth. He did so but was sad as he would miss the wedding. Lord Shiva blessed him to view the celestial wedding from wherever he was. And sage did so from Kalsa.

There is also a separate shrine for Kasi Viswananthar here. One would also find a imposing  idol of Shiva at the entrance of the temple. There are also twin Ganeshas in a small shrine on the way up the hilltop.

I visited this temple on my way to Horanadu from Sringeri.

Shani Shignapur, Maharashtra

 Shanishwar temple is situated in Nevasa taluka of Ahmednagar district . It attracts lot of  devotees from all parts of the world. One finds Lord Shanishwar here as a big granite block under a tree in the open  courtyard without any  roof above . The deity is considered to be very powerful and is a considered as a swayambhu

Entry for women inside the temple was permitted only a few years back. Now women are  allowed to go near the idol to offer prayers and worship. Devotees offer flowers and do abhisheka with Til oil. No theft, burglary is reported in this village as they believe the Lord guards the temple and the village .

More details can be found here

Virupaksha temple, Hampi, Ballari district , karnataka

Hampi- is situated on the banks of river Tungabhadra . It was the capital city of Vijayanagara kings and was then a very prosperous, grand and wealthy city . It even attracted traders from Persia and Portugal. The city is full of rock cut sculptures  and monuments. The whole city  is  surrounded by boulders and rocks of different shapes and sizes and this would have encouraged the kings to shape this city into a beautifully carved structure. One can see and feel how the  the craftsmen would have toiled hard to construct and put together each piece of art to perfection to be only destroyed later by the Muslim rulers . There are lot of monuments here and one shouldn't miss this at any cost. All are protected  monuments coming under UNESCO World Heritage. One can easily spend a couple of days leisurely visiting the monuments.

Virupaksha is Lord Shiva and this  temple stands tall among the ruins of Hampi and is believed to be the largest functioning temple since 7th century. Lord Virupaksha's consort is Pampa Devi, a  local Goddess  and is associated with river Tungabadra. The huge temple complex was built  by a chieftain king called Lakhana Dandesha under Deva Raya II of Vijayanagara Empire. The temple attracts huge crowds in December during the temple festival. The temple has a multi-tiered  Raja gopuram and this temple has about 3 Nandis in Nandi mandapam. The temple is embellished with carvings, paintings and beautiful sculptures.

Hampi is 350 Kms from Bangalore and there are good hotels in Hampi but we chose to stay in the nearest town Hosapete which is 15 Kms from Hampi.

Temple Pond

                                                              inside the temple