Visit to Ahobilam

From time to time many Bhaktas intending to visit Sri Ahobilam ring up to the Temple and seek information on how to make the trip, where to stay, etc. For the benefit of such Bhaktas, here is a Tour Report from Shri S. Srinivasan who had visited the Divyakshetram. Hope Bhaktas would find this useful.



Dear All,

I wish to post my experience of visiting Ahobilam divya desam in Oct 07. Trust this would be of interest to all Bhaktas.


Regards,
S. Srinivasan

Oct 2007 Ahobilam - Singavel kundram – Andhra Pradesh

We boarded the Mumbai - Chennai Super fast express at Mumbai on 5th October, 2007 at 8:30 pm and reached Cuddapah Railway station at 2:30 pm the next day (6th October, 2007). We took an auto to Cuddapah main bus stand (please note, this distance is very short and therefore could pay about Rs40/= for auto). We enquired about the possibility of reaching by bus to Ahobilam and as we did not get proper direction at the bus stand, we decided to proceed to the nearby taxi
stand. We were able to get a taxi at about Rs.900/= (non ac) post some bargaining. We had our lunch enroute at one of the restaurants at Cuddapah and then proceeded to Ahobilam which is about 160Kms from cuddapah. We reached Ahobilam at about 6:00pm.

About Ahobilam

Ahobilam is a small village with shops and other facilities only in the main road of the temple (please note that there are no other facilities in this village except those present in the main road of the temple). Lodging facilities and provided only by Ahobila mutt (Malola guest house) and Andhra Pradesh tourism (APTC) guest house. The lodging facilities at both these places are limited and there are no other lodges at this place. It is therefore advisable to I have a confirmed booking for lodging before proceeding to Ahobilam. Ahobilam can be bifurcated into Upper and Lower Ahobilam which are distanced by about 9Kms. The main divya desam is situated in Upper Ahobilam. One has to use Lower Ahobilam as the base camp as there are no accommodation facilities at Upper Ahobilam. The contact at Lower Ahobilam is Mr. VLN Ramanujam (Lower Ahobilam temple) 08519 252025.

At Ahobilam there are 10 temples to visit. The nava Narasimhars which are swayambus plus a temple in lower Ahobilam called Prahalada Varadan Kovil.

The details of the nava Narasimhars are as under:
Nava Narasimhar Location
Lord of Ahobila Narasimhar (main divya desam temple) Upper Ahobilam
Pavana Narasimhar Upper Ahobilam
Jwala Narasimhar Upper Ahobilam
Malola Narasimhar Upper Ahobilam
Kroda Narasimhar Upper Ahobilam
Karanja Narasimhar Upper Ahobilam
Bhargava Narasimhar Lower Ahobilam
Yogananda narashimhar Lower Ahobilam
Chatravata Narasimhar Lower Ahobilam

Of the above 9 temples ahobila Narasimhar temple represents the singavel kundram divya desam. Apart from these 9 temples, there is a prahalada varadan temple in lower Ahobilam which is a grand temple though not forming part of the Nava Narasimhar temples.


Our plan on 6th October, 2007

We reached Malola guest house run by Ahobila Mutt by 6:00pm and due to non availability of room bookings we checked in at the Andhra Pradesh Guest house (APTC) right behind (we were lucky to get accommodation there even though it was a weekend).

Room charges: 1)Room charges at the Mutt is Rs 250 per day
2)Room charges at AP guesthouse is Rs 500 per day.

Both these places are very close to the prahalada varadan temple.

We had some light refreshments, took bath and reached Malola guest house to plan our temple visit at Ahobilam. We were introduced to Mr. Venkat (a guide) who would help us visit all the 10 temples for a fee of Rs. 350/=. (These rates are negotiable)

We were informed that the 3 temples forming part of the nava Narasimhar temples close daily at about 5:30 pm and the only temple that we could visit on that day would be the prahalada varadan temple at Lower Ahobilam. We went to prahalada varadan temple and had a good darshan of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar & Taayaar Sannidhi and returned to Malola guest house to find out about the dinner facility. The mutt in charge told us that there were no restaurant facility in lower Ahobilam and asked us to wait for sometime while the mutt cook would prepare upma for us for dinner. Please note that whoever wants to have lunch / dinner at lower Ahobilam need to inform the mutt in advance so that the same can be prepared for them. We had light dinner and went back to the APTC guest house.

Our plan on 7th October, 2007 (Sunday)

The earlier day we had visited 1 out of the 10 temples of Ahobilam. The balance 9 temples (nava Narasimhars) can ideally be visited in 2 days, however we were hard pressed on time and covered the same on a single day by the grace of god!

Our guide venkat came in by 5:30 a.m and we left for Upper Ahobilam by auto at 6:00am (fare Rs. 100/=).

On reaching upper Ahobilam we climbed about a thousand steps and trekked about 7 kms to reach Pavana Narasimhar at about 7:30am. We had a good darshan and spent about half an hour at the temple and then returned to the base camp at Upper Ahobilam.

We then visited the main divya desam i.e. Ahobila Narasimhar, had a good darshan of the"shanta Murthy" and proceeded for breakfast. . We then trekked about 2 Kms and climbed about 300
steps to reach the temple of Jwala Narasimhar, which is an extremely steep climb. We took darshan of lord as also the rakta kundam nearby and proceeded towards our next destination. Please note that one would have to trek another 1 hour to reach the Ugra stambham from Jwala Narasimhar temple. Ugra stambham is the highest point of the Ahobilam mountain range and does not have any steps leading to the same. One has to trek on the mountain terrain to reach the same.

We then trekked towards Malola Narasimhar temple took about half an hour to reach. Took darshan and then left for Prahalada's school (an additional place of interest). We then started climbing down the mountain range and visited Kroda (or) Varaha Narasimhar temple. Post
having darshan over here, we proceeded to the base camp at Upper Ahobilam and had Lunch at a Brahmin Chattram. One has to inform in the morning itself at this Chatram if they wish to have lunch at this place. Please note that this is the only facility available at Upper Ahobilam.

Post our lunch we walked to the Karanja Narasimhar temple at Upper Ahobilam had darshan and then took an auto from there to lower Ahobilam.

By the time we reached Lower Ahobilam it was about 2:30 pm and we decided to take rest for half an hour. We then had light refreshment and started at 3:00pm to visit the other 3 temples of the nava Narasimhar temples. We took an auto and visited Chatravata Narasimhar temple had darshan over there and then proceeded to Yogananda Narasimhar temple and had darshan over there too. Both these places fall in the same direction and are about 2kms away from each other. We then returned to the base camp at lower Ahobilam. We then trekked to the Bhargava Narasimhar temple as auto do not go upto this temple as it is located in the heart of a forest. It would take about half an hour to reach this temple from lower Ahobilam by foot. We could reach the temple before it closed for the evening (at about 5:00pm) and had a good darshan over
there.

We reached back the guest house at about 6:00pm. By now we were extremely tired of having climbed and trekked the entire day but were extremely satisfied that by god's grace we could see all the nava Narasimhar sannidhis. We took a break for an hour and again went to the Prahalada varadan temple at Lower Ahobilam and spent about an hour over there and had dinner at Malola guest house and returned to our room.

The next day ie 8th October, 2007 we thought of exploring our way back to Cuddapah by bus. From Lower Ahobilam we took an auto to a place called Allegedda which is about 20Kms and fare of Rs.150/=. At Allegedda we found that there are super fast buses to Cuddapah every 15 minutes. These are buses plying between Nandiyal and Tirupati. We could comfortably
travel in the bus and reached Cuddapah on time so as to take our train back to Mumbai.

On the whole it was a divine experience that we had in this trip.

S. Srinivasan