VELUDHARAN TEMPLES VISIT : Tirupati Pada Yatra 2013, from Chennai to Tirumala Tirupati.

Sunday, 6 January 2013

Tirupati Pada Yatra 2013, from Chennai to Tirumala Tirupati.

06, January 2013

MY EXPERIENCE

This is the 31^st Patha Yathra organized by SPIC’s present and retired employees and also my 6^th Yathra. As usual, we have started our preparations for our yatra well in advance. Got our accommodations at Tirupati Hill on 4^th January 2013. On the 31^st night, we had a small pooja at Shiva Vishnu Temple at T. Nagar, which was a regular feature. After breaking a coconut at the Shiva Vishnu Temple around 02.30 Hrs on 1^st Jan 2013, we started our Yathra. We have reached Rettai eari Kalyana mandapam around 07.00 Hrs via Nelson Manickam Road, Anna nagar, Villivakkam. After finishing our breakfast, we reached Karanodai for Lunch. We had taken rest for about 2 hours in a rice mill premises. Around 19.00 hours, we reached Periyapalayam and had the darshan of Lord Shiva and Sri Bhavani Amman.

On the Second day, we covered around 40 KM and reached Pichatur for our night halt via Suruttappalli and Nagalapuram. On the way, we had the darshan of Sri Pallikondeswarar at Surutapalli, Sri Saibaba (Lunch was hosted by devotees of Nagalapuram), and Sri Vedha Narayanasamy Perumal at Nagalapuram. This time, we also skipped Ramagiri. We rested at a Kalyana mandapam arranged by Mr. Gupta, one of our Fertilizer dealers, and started our Third-day Yatra around 02.30 Hrs.

On the Third day, we reached Vadamalapet, which was one of the toughest routes and covered another 40 km. On the route, we had the Darshan of Sri Kalyana Venkatesa Perumal and Sorakkai Siddhar at Narayanavanam. We had our Lunch at Puthur and took a rest at Throwpathi Amman Temple’s Kalyana Mandapam, which was organized by a Devotee. This is a new event this time.

Since we expect there will be an important pooja at Sri Padmavathi Temple, which will delay our schedule, to avoid this, we have started our 4^th day’s yatra in advance, around 01.00 Hrs from Vadamal pet Kalyana mandapam. After the darshan of Sri Padmavathi Thayar, we reached the Alipiri foothill for our hill yatra. This time, I was able to climb 1250 steps without stopping for rest (Thanks to Sri Balaji for giving me the strength at this age). We got our darshan ticket (15.00 Hrs on 04-01-2013) at Kali Gopuram on the 2083^rd Step. Reached the top of the hill around 14.30 hours after taking our lunch served on the way by Devasthanam. We had the good Darshan of Sri Balaji around 20.00 hours. The total distance covered in this yatra was 150 km from Chennai, and the steps climbed were 3550+ from Alipiri.

There were no major problems for anybody. The team members ( 28 persons ) were in the age group of 19 years to 73 years. For the first two days, I was suffering from knee pain, but it stabilized, and there was no pain on the third and 4^th days. I do not have any problems. On return, we 10 persons hired a Jeep for Srinivasa Mangapuram and had the darshan.

Thanks to Sri Balaji and our team members for making this yatra a successful and memorable one.

SRI BHAVANI AMMAN TEMPLE AT PERIYAPALAYAM

Amman is preparing for the daily Urchavam

ARUL MIGU SRI MARAGATHAMBIGAI SAMEDHA SRI PALLIKONDEESWARAR TEMPLE AT SURUTTAPPALLI

Sri Pradosha Rishabam in Mandapam

Backside view of the temple complex

Ekapada Thirumoorthy

Dakshinamurthy with Ambal ( A rare silamurti that is not available anywhere )

TEMPLE DIAGRAM

Descriptions of Silamoorthis locations

Front view of the Pallikondeswarar Temple

Front Rajagopuram

SRI VEDAVALLI THAYAR & SRI VEDANARAYANA SWAMY TEMPLE AT NAGALAPURAM

Thayar Sannidhi with West side Rajagopuram

West side Rajagopuram

Main Sannidhi with 3 tier Rajagopuram

Back side of west side arch/gopuram with 10 avatar Stucco Images

Northside Rajagopuram with corridor and nandhavanam

SRI KALYANA VENKATESWARA PERUMAL TEMPLE AT NARAYANAVANAM

Stone vilakkut hoon ( Lamp post ), 16 pillar mandapam and the main Rajagopuram

Moolavar vimanam

Main shrine entrance gopuram with dwajasthambam

SRI PADMAVATHI THAYAR TEMPLE AT TIRUCHANUR

Padmavathi Thayar Temple Rajagopuram - early morning view

Padmavathi Thayar Temple Rajagopuram - morning view SUN yet to come up

SRI VENKATESA PERUMAL TEMPLE

HISTORY AND INSCRIPTIONS

As per Kudavayil Balasubramaniyam, the 1542 CE inscription in this temple records that the special naivedyam of Athirasam is to be offered to the Lord on Deepavali Day.

Details will be added later...