Simhachalam,a well known hill top temple located in the midst of lush green ambiance.The place has its presiding deity of Varahalakshmi Narasimha swami with the consort of Lakshmi.Simhachalam is 20 km away from Visakhapatnam of Andhra pradesh and well connected by bus from Visakhapatnam.The deity is considered as the incarnation of Vishnu.Interestingly here the temple faces west side instead of east side.The temple is very ancient one with historical anecdotes inscribed on stone walls.Chola king Kulothunga (1098 AD),queen of Eastern Ganga of Kalinga (1137-1156),Narasimhadeva the second (1279-1306) and Sri krishnadevaraya (1516-1519) others visited the place and gave land and jewellery to the devasthanam.
We still can see 252 inscriptions in Telugu and Odiya in the premises of temple.As the temple located on the hill top one would feel cool breeze all the time.Bus stop and car stop places are classified in different locations.Staying facility is also there with number of choultries and other guest houses.Festival seasons witness more visitors and other days are preferable for having a leisure darshan.
A special festival called Chandanotsavam is celebrated here for the deity in the month of may.On that day only full form of deity will be seen without the sandal wood paste cover,remaining all other days not to be seen so due to the age old tradition.Nearest Airport is at Visakhapatnam (20km) and railway station is at Simhachalam (11km).Well connected by bus from Visakhapatnam.
Submitted to Our world tuesday
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting place. It does look a little cooler than the India I visited.
ReplyDeleteWonderful shot of the place.
ReplyDelete