Another temple in the state of Andra Pradesh! Well, one second I stood on the Fields of Mukkamala and the next thing I knew, I was in another holy location, situated on the heart of Nallamala Hills. The scene started with nine of us in an enormous vehicle.
A Long Ride
We commenced by taking a white car that jogged us through the bumpy roads of India which almost gave me a headache. It was a ride that lasted almost 3 hours from our departed location, Markapur. Music was one thing that kept us active. We also chatted, to keep ourselves engaged. In the distant land, all of us observed an incline of the road which hinted that we were near our destination. After time flowed past, ahead of me, I could see a huge statue of the great god, Lord Hanuman.
We found a parking location (didn’t really seem like one) stuffed with rocks. After experiencing the cool air produced by the car, getting out wasn’t going to be very easy with the sun that radiated the land to approximately 35°c. There were two directions. One was to the temple and the other was to the waterfall. We decided to go to the waterfall first. The water rushes in from a height of 200m into a 4ft deep pool and then flows to the other side of the location which is the temple. There wasn’t much water dropping into the pool which gave us the opportunity to grab our swimming gear and dive in.
An Unusual Swim in Nature’s Pool
I was ready to take a plunge into the pool. I was surprised to know that the water was freezing as I’d expected it to be warm with the Sun’s heat. The waterfall was scanty and slightly dirty. However, we visited during the summer period where the frequency of rain is reasonably low, therefore, it can be excused. Below us were just rocks, so I didn’t dare to touch the surface as they seemed to somewhat poke into my skin. I wouldn’t really like to call the pool well maintained but hey, it’s natural. Although, I didn’t enjoy the swim to a great extent. There is a religious belief that if you swim in the pool all bad in you will disappear, that’s why you see plenty of people jumping in. However, I wanted to spend time with my cousins.
Bhairavakona Temple History
This temple was built between 600 – 630 A.D by Pallava ruler Mahendra Varma and it was renovated by Chalo rulers during the 7th and 11th centuries. So what is special about this specific temple? Well for me it was hard to believe, but it was all built in one day by carving out a single rock! Normally, most of the running water that flows from the waterfall reaches all the way to the temple which is around 100m downhill. I could hear the splashes of a stream slithering on the floor beneath us.
Temple Visit
As we entered the temple there was a man putting Bindi’s in the shape of the trident of Shiva for people; it represents the third eye. We walked down the over-sized set of staircase that led to the gods. Inside the sanctuary, there are 8 Shiva Linga sub-temples out of which 7 shrines face towards the east and one to the north. As we worshipped the gods I noticed some monkeys. They looked adorable but we can’t be too friendly as you never know when to expect a charge from them. The 8 Shiva Linga’s were all uniquely carved out. Each one had a separate ‘priest’ and there seemed to be a compact space inside which came to my astonishment as to how they actually fit in it. After all the exhaust we found a resting area, and it came to our luck that we also found an ice-cream van where everyone bought an ice-cream to neutralise us from the extreme heat.
The journey, the swim and the worshipping. It was all packaged in this one trip. The inner beauty of India can be explored in such places. We not only discovered another wildcard of sanctity but also had a delightful swim with our cousins in the so to speak ‘holy water’ of Bhairavakona
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