KRISHNAGIRI & VELLORE TRIP

                                 

Vellore Golden Temple, was a long pending trip. And was postponed couple of times.. We had Leave on  Tue for May 1st.. So  decided to  make it as a 1 day trip, including  Krishnagiri's  Padmavati temple & Jalakanteshwara temple with Golden temple Vellore...

We started around  7:00am, and drove non stop to Krishnagiri via Hosur. It is about 100 KMs from Bangalore. And  stopped for breakfast  around  9:00am in Kamat Restaurant Krishnagiri..  After breakfast we continued our  journey to  "Shree Parshwa Padmavathi Shaktipeet "  which was  first on our  Itinerary of the day..

                                  


Shree Parshwa Padmavathi temple :

We reached  Padmavati temple around 10:00am..  Individual temples for Naagraaj, Bhairav, Padmavathi Devi & and of Sri Parshwanath Bhagwan(23rd Thirthankar of Jain.) is spread across a big Land in the same  compound... This teerth is established by  Shri Vasant Gurudev Swamyji. Photography is is not allowed in temple and  people wearing Black dress is not allowed,Luckily none of us wearing Black dress .Temple is still  under  construction  in the main sanctum as well as outside.

We first visited  Naagraj temple, where you can find  Huttham (Snakes house).It is believed that, at Naagraaj temple one can make a wish and after it comes true, should tie a coconut in a red cloth and present it to Naagraaj. We could see lottts of  Coconuts hanged there.. Next to Naagraaj temple is Bhomyaji (Bhairav) temple. He is said to be the protector of Krishnagiri Teerth.

 
We then  went to Main temple  Parshwa Padmavathi.  The roof, walls and pillars of the sanctum is decorated with broken bits of coloured glass, which looks attractive.. The presiding deity is  Shri  Parshwanatha and Padmavathi.. 

PIC FROM JAIN SITE

Krishnagiri Dam:

We then left to Krishnagiri dam, which is around 20kms from Padmavathi temple.. It was  around 12:00pm and was sun was its peak.  Unfortunately there was no water flow in Dam,  making us disappointed. Krishnagiri dam  surroundings has a good garden. we could see many localities, with there families  cooking and  eating in the park. we were wondering  how did they manage to sit and cook,  in this hot sun..

Ramesh dint show any interest in  going to park.  Compared to KRS dam of mysore, this was nothing. But after going that far, i just wanted to go inside and see if  theres some water other-side of the park.  We all walked  inside the park, and climbed the steps, where we got some good view of water and beautiful  garden.. Because of  hot sun, we  returned soon, taking some snaps...

Ramesh got angry that i wasted  40kms(to/fro) and  made them walk in hot sun for nothing...And he insisted me that i  suggest, its better to  exclude this place:)... It was Peak summer (March) and  Mid-noon making it worse. But if you are not expecting much and  May be in winter and evenings this Garden would be good  place for picnic for Localities..

Vellore Fort :

Vellore is  around 150kms from Krishnagiri. The Fort is situated in the centre of Vellore town opposite to Old Bus stand.  It was around 2:30pm. we decided to have lunch before exploring Fort and Temple. We had  meals in near by Restaurant. And  started to fort...

Vellore Fort is 16th Century fort, built by Vijayanagara empire. It spreads over an area of 133 acres. The fort is surrounded by a moat which was once used as an additional line of defence in the case of an invasion. It includes an escape tunnel leading to Virinjipuram about 12 km away, which could be used by the king and other royals in the event of an attack. Vellore Fort has housed several royal captives including Tipu sultan and his royal family and , sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Srilanka..

PIC FROM Internet

The fort houses a Temple, a Mosque and a Church and many other buildings that are now used as public offices. As soon as we enter,  we saw a ground, where  local kids were playing cricket in hot sun,  and to the left we saw  Jalakanteshwara temple . We  first visited Jalakanteshwara temple.


Jalakanteshwara Temple :

Jalakanteshwara temple was built in the year 1550 A.D. The temple was considered a masterpiece at the time of its construction and now it has become a marvel on this land of Vellore.  During mughal period the idol was removed and kept away from the town, forgotten by the generation. Later in 1983, group of people gathered together,placed the idol and started their prayers.

The temple has a large wedding hall adorned with elegant reliefs and monolithic sculptures. It is said that the ship coming from England to carry this sank in the sea and hence the idea was dropped. This mandapam is adorned with elegant reliefs and monolithic sculptures.

The main deity here is Lord shiva. We took darshan of lord, and went around the temple. The temple is huge, having  lot more sub deities incuding Ganesha,Subramanya,Navagraha and more.. We spent some time in the temple then headed to  Golden temple, our final destination of the day...

 MahaLakshmi Golden Temple:

We then went to much hyped  Vellore Golden Temple. It was around 5:00 when we reached the temple.  Inside the temple No electronic goods {Mobiles, Handy cams, Digital Cameras} are allowed. So we kept everything in the car, and went near the complex. We saw  around 6 to 7 blocks similar to Tirumala Tirupati Q block. Security person said this common que would take around  2/3hrs, so we decided to take  ticket worth 250rs per person. (We dint want to spend 3hrs, as we had to return blore, which is around 4+ hrs journey).

PIC FROM Internet

We bought the tickets and started walking through a  star-shaped pathway, laid to a distance of 1.5 km. On either side of the pathway, the messages of 'Amma'(Founder of Golden temple is called  'Amma'  by his devotees) and quotes from Bhagavad Gita, Bible and Quran are displayed.Similar to Tirupati you can find  Drinking water taps, restrooms, Cofee shops all along the path way...

We first came across a  a huge and mind blowing  Idol of Chamundeshwari beautifully decorated and adorned richly with lot of jewels.  After that we walked further to see beautiful green landscape, artificial water fall and fountains and lots of idols of different Devis.

PIC FROM Internet

                   

The Golden Temple is situated in a 100 acre lush green landscape in the middle of a star-shaped path,  which was built in a short span of 7 years. It was inaugurated in 24, 2007. Since then, the temple has attracted hundreds of thousands of devotees; often breaching the 1 lakh mark on special occasions.Sripuram temple is open from 7am - 8pm all 365 days. Long waiting periods for the darshan on weekends and holidays.

                                   

 Twelve layers of gold foils have been pasted on copper sheets embossed with the designs of Gods and fixed on the walls.One-and-a-half tonnes of gold has gone into the design of the Sri Lakshmi Narayani Temple, which has been built at a cost of Rs.300 crore.According to Sri Sakthi Amma, the decision to have the temple coated with gold is only to attract visitors and enable them to get wisdom through the messages of the Vedas, which they will have to read before reaching the temple located on sprawling a 100 acre-site.