Lord Vittobha Of Pandarpur

Right from childhood I had a fascination for Lord Vittobha as there was a Vittobha temple right in front of my house at Kochi . I have spent a good part of my childhood in this temple playing , listening to the Bhajans and singing the same to the Lord in the evenings. With out my knowledge my heart was steeped in bhakthi and I learnt many devotional songs when young itself. This temple also has its own charm as it had played a good part in shaping my Bhakthi bhava. May be that was God's wish. I consider myself fortunate to have lived near the temple. I will reserve posting about this temple to a later date and this post of mine is on Lord Panduranga Vittobha of Pandarpur.

Panduranga or Vittobha is none other than Krishana himself. The temple is situated in Pandarpur in Maharashtra. This is one of the Divya deshams of Vishnu.This is one of the most revered temples in Maharashtra.

When I grew up I had the desire to see the real Vittobha and I chanced upon the same when my sister in law was in Walchand Nagar and she offered to take me to this temple. So my family reached Pandarpur but we unknowingly landed on a Ekadasi ( 11 th day of the Hindu Lunar calender) and this temple gets thronged with his devotees as it is a very auspicious day. There was no way for us to go near the sanctum sanctorum as there were long serpentine queues. I felt sad thinking that we will have to return even without a darshan of the Lord. We also could see the varkaris ( a religious movement, having hundreds of pilgrims) marching towards the temple on foot traversing hundreds of miles from the villages singing the praise of God . They were dancing with the beat of dholak, Thal and Chipla(Dumbells) .

Then may be God decided to intervene and a security allowed us to move to the entrance of the temple to have a mukh darshan (We can see the face of the God from a distance). of the deity.Thinking this itself as a blessing we went for the same and could get a glimpse of the Vittobha's face. I was not happy as I could go near the deity and made a decision to return the next year to have better darhan. Next year again I visited the temple and I met my dear Vittobha though he made me wait for all that long. I could place my head near the feet of the the Lord and felt blessed. The practise of touching the Lord's feet which was very much in vogue has been stopped since as a precautionary measure to save the idol from chiseling due to frequent touching by the devotees. We had a Darshan of his consort Rukmabai (Rukmani) She has a seperate shrine and many more shrines dedicated to Ganesha ,Garuda and Dattatreya.

The main Gate of the entrance i.e the eastern gate is named after the great saint Namdev and the temple has six gates.The temple is spread over a vast area. Pandarpur Yatras are very famous which comes 4 times in a year and lakhs pilgrims converge here to have a darshan of the God and spend time by singing the praise of God.

The deity here is of a standing posture with hands on hips as if waiting for his Bhaktha. The legend surrounding this temple is that a person named Pundalik who was ill treating his parents later under went transformation and devoted all his time tending to his parents with great devotion . God seeing his devotion to his parents comes to his house to bless him . As he was immersed in the service of his old parents he requests Panduranga to wait outside and throws a brick for the God to stand as there was slush outside. God waits for his bhaktha and Pundalik later meets the God and begs pardon and requests God to stay in his village and shower his grace on every body. Thus the God comes to be known as Vittobha -one who is standing on the eet(brick) . He is known as eetobha or Vittobha meaning same.

Many saints like Gnaneshwar, Tukaram , Eknath, Namdev, Purandaradasa and many more created hymns and Abhangas in praise of the Lord and have attained salvation. These abhangas are real gems till date and are very popular.It helps one to immerse oneself on the divine form of Vittobha . There is also a museum near by, dedicated to the life of various saints. It is some what shaped like a train, once inside you only can get out through the other side nonetheless it was blissful.

This temple is in Solapur district and situated on the banks of the Bhima river also called as Chandra bahga., which is in the shape of a half shaped moon. Pilgrims have a dip in this holy river before paying obeisance to the Lord.

How to reach.

The nearest airport is Pune which is 200 kms. from Pandharpur.
Cabs can be hired to reach the temple.
State owned transport buses ply between Pandharpur and the nearest cities. The city is connected to Pune (204 km), Mumbai (386 km) and Sholapur (74 km) by buses.

By train
Major railway station near to Pandharpur is Sholapur and the nearest is Kurdhuwadi 52 Kms ,one can hire a cab or buses are available.
Where to stay
Accomodation at Pandarpur is not attractive and it is suggested that one should stay in bigger towns nearby..
Sholapur has some good hotels
MTDC guest houses are also available.

A Trip to the Golden Triangle of Orissa

I had lived in Kolkata for over three years and was always wanting to visit Orissa , the near by state as I had heard of its lovely tourist attraction and its wonderful people so when the opportunity arose the first time in the winter of 1988 I decided to grab the opportunity literally in both hands (as I had to take care of my son who was three years old in one hand and baggage in the other). If I remember correctly we took the Puri express which leaves Howrah at 9 pm and reaches Bhuvaneshwar at 6 am next morning. We checked into a decent hotel with in a few kilometers of the station and my son who enjoys traveling and eating out was thrilled with the hotel's ambiance and was really excited. After a quick refreshing and sumptuous breakfast my husband left to meet his business clients leaving us to fend for ourselves.Thank fully my nephew who had just joined for his MBA at Xaviers and was really feeling bored , so far away from his parents joined us pretty soon and we decided to venture out.

Bhuvaneshwar

A Temple In Bhuvaneshwar

First we visited the Linganraj temple . This is a huge temple complex and the tower of the temple is 55 meters tall and is elaborately carved. Many shrines surround the main temple, in a courtyard stretching 250,000 sq.ft. This temple was built around 11th century and has exquisite sculptures carved all along the walls. It is made of pink stone and the grandeur of the structure was marvelous. The Sivalingam here is a Swayambhu which is 8' feet tall and there is a Bhagavathi temple in the north west side.. After spending a couple of hours in this ancient temple, we went around the famous Bindusagar lake.

Konark Temple View

25 Kms. from Bhuvaneshwar is the village Pipali famous for its applique and filigree work. The applique work consists of making patch work of motifs like elephants, flowers, with inset of mirrors on cloth with bright colours and one can get hand bags, parasols, wall hangings of this famous Pipali work. One could see tourists making a bee line to this shops to buy these things which were reasonably priced.

Another visit we made was to the Nandan Kanan wildlife sanctuary 20 Kms. from the Bhuvneshwar and enjoyed a lion safari , which was a first for us. We could literally see all the lions walking freely ,some having their lunch or some having their siesta. As we drove around the safari in an electric caged motor vehicle which prompted our young son to wonder whether we were scared of the wild lions or the other way.

Konark Temple -Front View

Next day was a Sunday and we hired a taxi to visit the Konarak and Jagannath temple. It was very warm even in the morning making us wonder whether it was really winter. We reached Konark temple,also called as the Sun temple. It was in ruins but the magic woven by the sculptors was imprinted in the stones for the future generations to marvel at the workmanship. The whole temple is in the form of a chariot with 24 wheels and it is pulled by 7 horses representing the 7 days of the week.

Konark Wheel

The wheels with intricate patterns on the spokes are really a sight to watch. We understand the Sun deity from this temple has been moved to Puri temple. It is a colossal structure . We came to know that the whole temple was submerged under sand and the archaeologist have the dug the whole place around to reinstate the temple to its present state. It is very difficult to imagine how many tonnes of earth they would have removed and how long it would have taken. All around the temple we could see various forms of animals sculpted in stone. Many were disfigured.There is Natya mandapam in front of the the temple and a very popular dance festival is conducted here every year. It is also believed that the first rays of the sun falls on this temple . We really were amazed by this stupendous structure and in my excitement I went on climbing only to realise at a later stage that getting down was a problem for me ; only I know how I got down because the climb down appeared very steep and slippery. Outside we could find lot of shops selling curios and we bought a small replica of a Konark wheel.

The Jagannath temple-The Tall Temple Tower with the flag on top



Lord Jagannath of Puri

Our next halt was at the Jagannath temple. We engaged a guide for the tour of the temple which was built in 12th century. We learnt that the guide actually was a qualified lawyer but found it attractive to give up his profession and become a professional guide as it was more lucrative. He communicated well in English.

The main dome of the temple is 218 feet tall. The temple complex was huge and here the deities are Lord Jagannath, Balabdra and Subadra. (Krishna, his brother and sister).The main gate of the temple is called Simha dhwar and we could see the two sculptures of lions guarding the front gate. In front of the Simha dhwara there is a big stupa 25' feet high which was originally at Konark but later moved to Puri . Like the main gate on east there are 3 other gates on north ,south, west. They are called Aswa dhwar, Hasti dwar,and Vyagra dwar. There are many small shrines surrounding the main temple and the whole temple is fortified with huge wall.

We had an easy darshan of the Lord and the idols were unique made of Neem wood and painted with big eyes. The idols are not fully carved but left little incomplete . it is believed that when the god himself was carving these idols in an enclosed chamber with the condition that no body should open the doors until he came out, the queen who was impatient ordered to open the chamber forcing the God to leave the work incomplete. Every 12 years these idols are replaced by new ones and there is special place inside the temple itself to rest these old idols.

The priest inside the temple carries canes ( the pieces of the carved out neem wood ) in their hands and taps it on the pilgrims head as blessing.

The unique thing about this temple is that it feeds Prasad to about 10,000 people and all this is cooked in earthen ware pots . Every day a new set of pots are used. The prasad here is called the Mahaprasad, it is believed that the God dines here and the cooking is supervised by Mahalakshmi herself. The kitchen has the capacity to cook food for about 100,000 people.We could see the food being carried by in earthen ware pots balanced on a sling. Pilgrims were waiting eagerly to collect the same.

Puri has a beautiful beach also and we did spend some time in the after noon in the scorching sun.

Rath yatra of Puri temple is very famous and lakhs of devotees converge here on those days and throng the streets to witness and participate in the rath yatra festival. The Raths are huge and magnificent and colourfully decorated and there are three charoits for the Lord Jaganath, Subhadra and Balabadra. The chariots are pulled by the devotees chanting the Lord’s name. Devotees sing and dance in front of the rath till they reach the Gundicha temple which is 3 kms away. Here the idols are kept for the next 2 days and then the return journey starts. On the day of Rath yatra even small children take small toy chariots with small replicas of the idols on the streets. Its really a sight to watch.

While returning we visited a temple called Raja Rani temple which is near Bhuvaneshwar dedicated to Brahma . The temple built of pink stone was well maintained .We could not see the deity here as the temple was closed after the noon pooja. But we circumambulated the temple and were pleased to see beautiful figurines carved on the wall of the temple.

If I ever get a chance to visit the Golden triangle I would definitely do so as I want to see this all over again.

How to Reach

As Bhuvaneshwar is the capital of Orissa it is well connected with rest of the metros by road, rail and air

Distance between Bhuvaneshwar and Konark -60 kms.

Distance between Bhuvaneshwar to Puri -70 Kms.

Distance between Konark to Puri is 35-45 kms.

Places to stay

Bhuvaneshwar has budget hotels as well as luxury hotels.

Puri also has lodging facilities but I found the place too crowded with pilgrims for a pleasant stay.

BADRINATH-THE VALLEY OF GODS

Badri Nath Temple

Badrinath is also called the valley of flowers and it was such an enchanting experience seeing the flowers of different hues in full bloom. It is 11000 feet above sea level.

Valley View - Badri Nath

In Badrinath the tributary of Ganges is Alakananda. We have to cross a bridge to reach the temple and river Alkananda was flowing with all her might beneath it. It was really a scene worth watching and we stayed on the bridge for a while. Here too there is a hot water spring called Tapt Kund (which means boiling water) and pilgrims were taking a dip (no chance of taking a dip only one can take mugs full and splash it little by little, it will be striking hot when it hits you and biting cold next moment because of the strong shivery breeze) ‘a natural Jacuzzi’, before paying obeisance to lord Badri Narayan. My husband and my son also had a refreshing bath in the hot waters, only thing was there was no mug and they had to use their hands which were like a red Bangalore tomato after the bath. It was so hot that we could see the steam emanating. We found all places were very clean though thousands of people were using the Tapt Kund.


River Alakananda

The temple was established by Swami Sankaracharaya and has an entrance attractively painted with myriad colours. We had a darshan in the evening itself and went for grub. Here we could find many restaurants offering even South Indian cuisine. My SIL ordered idli delightedly which was served with sambar and chutney. When she sunk her teeth in the idli for the first bite one of her teeth started shaking and after effect of the chutney left her making her day miserable till we reached Haridwar, the next day evening. Those who skipped chutney were spared. Fruits were rare sight here. We could very easily get to see red, yellow and green bananas in many parts of India, here we got to see black bananas. (Over ripe & shriveled with black skin). Night we stayed in a dharamsala which offered us a big room end to end carpeted and only quilts. We retired early as usual because there was no power. When we woke up next day we found that there had been a snowfall during the night which we unfortunately missed to see and it was not very heavy as well, to affect our return journey.

Badri Village

The ride down was pleasant for a couple of hours until we missed a speed breaker near a bridge and pretty soon our car started giving peculiar music. Balbir a very sharp driver he is promptly diagnosed the problem as the plug below the engine casing had given off emptying the whole of engine oil. Though the upward journey had many stoppages for watering we never had hiccup like this and every body was anxious.

Balbir went to the nearby town and got a mechanic for repairs and we rested under the comforting shades of a tree and enjoyed the presence of Alakananda flowing by our side.

Then we headed straight to Haridwar as my SIL fell sick. We skipped Hrishikesh but we could get a glimpse of the famous Lakshman Jhula, the hanging bridge at Hrishikesh.

We reached Haridwar in the evening and we stayed at Kashi Math. We could see the Ganga arthi that evening and next day we spent some time in shallow part of the Ganges enjoying its coolness.

We had Delhi and Agra on our itinerary and left for the same. SIL, MIL & BIL, wanted to spend some more time at Haridwar and later they visited Hrishikesh also.

We saw Birla Mandir and Bahai temple in Delhi along with other tourist places & had a brief visit to Agra. Later our Haridwar team joined us for the return journey to Chennai. The return journey was uneventful; and we relaxed very well.

Many had asked me before I started the journey Why pilgrimage at such a young age? I had answers for all of them. Go and enjoy the pilgrimage if you are interested especially to Himalayas when you are young and kicking as the journey is tough. It’s altogether a different kind of experience.

This was only a beginning. My husband and I decided that we should visit as many temples as possible and indeed we did. So keep watching for my interesting travel posts.

Cheers!

Our stay in Chamoli - an unforgettable experience

The journey from Kedar was pretty long and we reached Chamoli district which is located in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttaranchal around 6 P.M.The district is largely inhabited by Tibetans.

We were advised not to travel as we had to cross the forests to reach Gopeshwar which was only about 25-35 kms. With our super heating car it would have taken at least another two hours if we were to travel there for the night stay. We heard that there was a government tourist bungalow and when we decided to camp for the night, well it indeed turned out to be a camp really as we found the only tourist bungalow at Chamoli was fully occupied. We were little anxious as it was getting dark. A man on the road suggested that some accommodation could be available in a small village little ahead. When we reached there what we found were some tin shacks and a family was coming out nodding their heads unhappily. We learnt that they were unhappy with the accommodation and rejected the same .So, when we reached the owner; he readily offered us the rooms which we gladly accepted because of the predicament we were in.

We found the owner to be very kind and he offered us hot coffee which was refreshing after a long drive but for small halt for lunch in between. We felt it was like a heaven for us. For dinner his family prepared nice phulkas and bindi masala which was delicious, which even now we recall quite often. We posed with his daughter and took snaps. As we were very tired, we straight away hit the bed. No sooner had we done so, it started pouring heavily and the tin roof made it a nice jazz and we slept blissfully. There were only 2-3 cots in the room and bed was hard and the quilt was cold but at that time it felt like five star comfort. Next day when we started early for the Badri journey we saw the family which had rejected the accommodation the previous night, standing under a shelter beside their car. They too were scared to travel in the night through the forest and probably took shelter there. We really wondered how horrible it would have been for them in the miserable cold and wet night which really would have been ours but for their rejection of that shack. Probably this is what people mean when they say the fortune favours the brave.

Happy Moments In Chamoli


From Chamoli, 2 1/2 km. up through a trek is Tunganath temple, it is one among the Panch Kedar temples, but we skipped that as it was not in our itinerary and nobody was in a mood to climb for a 5 km. up and down trek.

As soon as we left Chamoli we were into the forest .The journey was pleasing for the eyes as there was greenery and colorful wild flowers all around and we could see lot of birds and small animals crossing our path at regular intervals. We reached Gopeswar in a couple of hours and we found that was the largest town till then and decided to have our break fast there. After a halt of an hour relishing on Aloo parottas with Dahi and pickles we set forth towards Badri “The Valley of Gods.”


The next halt was Joshi Math which was around 30-40 kms. drive and it took us a couple of hours. We had to wait for our turn for the drive to Badri as only one way traffic was between Joshi math and Badri, the roads being very narrow and it could take one vehicle to pass at a time in one direction. No over taking was allowed and in many places molten streams of snow crossed the roads making the journey even slower. We found on one side the slippery mountain of melting snow and on the other side it was a 200 meters drop into the ravines below. The journey was scary and exciting and we got so absorbed in the surroundings that we never felt we had spent the next 2 hours as we approached Badri.

To be continued….
See you soon.

Off to Kedarnath- 12000 ft. above sea level

Early morning we set off to Kedarnath. It took about 2- 3 hours to reach Gouri kund, the base camp from where the trek starts. No vehicles can go beyond this point as there are no proper roads. Gouri kund has hot springs & many were taking bath in it. It was surprising to see hot springs in that place. Kedarnath is 14 kms from Gouri kund and one has to rely on pony, palki or baskets which are carried by pahadis (People living on hilly terrain) on their backs. Many choose to go on foot. We hired 2 ponies, for my SIL and me, a palki for MIL and my husband and BIL decided to go on foot. Walking sticks were available for a nominal rent.

The air was cool and pollution free. Everything was perfectly set and I mounted the horse along with my son. My sonny was comfortable but when the pony started moving my head reeled and I screamed. My throat went dry and I wanted to jump down. It took a while for me to settle down and after a while we set off.

Soon I became comfortable and started enjoying the upward trek taking in all the pristine beauty of nature. The path was narrow and at times the pony jumped to avoid big rocks and my heart came to my mouth. My son was enjoying the ride. Little boys of 7-8 years were manning the ponies and mine was also managed by a small boy. They are very casual in managing the ponies as they are very familiar with the surroundings. At one point he just left the pony and it was moving on its own. While taking a turn it went close to the edge of the cliff and stood there. I thought that was the end of my journey.


We decided to skip lunch and took rest & had tea in the afternoon. My SIL was with me but I could not find other members. The saddle was biting into my flesh and I was finding it difficult to move my legs with my son in front so I shifted him in MIL’s Palki when I met her. We reached Kedarnath in 5 hrs. My hubby and brother in law took about 9 hrs and for last 1 km. which was quite steep; they too used ponies as it was getting dark. But till 8 p.m day light was there which was surprising.

We got accommodation again in Kali kambli (it is run by Rajasthanis) and we got into something like a hut. Inside was dark as there was no electricity, as during the snow fall previously the electricity had been switched off and we were one of the early pilgrims that season & they informed us that it will take another week to re start the supply. We were not sure how that room looked. Due to tiredness, MIL & SIL called it a day and got into the bed. They decided to visit the temple the next day. Outside our room it was full of snow which was slippery as it had started melting.

Then we went to the temple and had Darshan of Kedarnath. At night we were served hot rotis but by the time it reached our hands it turned cold. A sigree (A stove like thing in which burning coal is kept) was kept in the room for keeping us warm and we switched it off when we went to sleep as it is harmful to keep burning coal in a closed room.

Next day we went to the temple performed pooja and we could actually touch the Siva lingam which is in the form of a pyramid. Here we can perform our poojas and all that is required for the same is available at the entrance itself.

Our Team with Kedar Nath temple in the background

Morning light gave us a clear picture of the surroundings. The Scenery was of the snow covered Himalayas was breath taking (even other wise one gets breathless as the oxygen in the high altitude is low) and we could see only snow covered mountains all around. I felt we had reached the heaven finally.
Snow covered Kedar Mountains

Accommodation is not a problem in Kedar Nath but it is wise to plan well before taking the journey. There are many dharamsalas and hotels around the temple.

After the pooja we started our journey downwards. This time both men in our team, also used ponies to reach the base fast as we wanted to leave for Badrinath on the same day.

To be continued…