Trip to Basara

On Thur Dec 22nd we decided to drive down to Basara, to visit the Saraswati Temple. We started around 8am, from Hyd on the Nagpur highway. Till Medchal we had to deal with the traffic, but once we crossed Medchal it was a pretty good ride. 4-lane highway, smooth and with very little traffic. Stopped at Harita, near Kamareddy for breakfast. The smooth, 4-lane highway tempted me to take the wheel, which I did amidst protests. Alas, as soon as I took over the road changed drastically. 4-lanes became 2-lanes with construction work going on and add to it the lorry traffic it made me relinquish the wheel after driving for 1/2 hr. Road was pretty much the same till Dichpally, where we left the highway towards Nizamabad, after crossing which the road became narrower. Reached Basara by 12:30pm.

It is a small temple, very simple. The presiding deity Goddess Saraswati seated in a lotus with veena in her hand, is also known as Gyana Saraswati, giver of knowledge. This temple is famous place to initiate kids into learning, aksharabhyasam. There is a cave, Vyasa Guha, where Vyasa Maharshi is supposed to have meditated and realised Goddess. Going into the cave was an adventure by itself, narrow passage sloping inward leads to the cave, where standing is impossible. The temple being small and crowd being sparse we finished darshan and pradakshina of the temple in no time. Visited the river Godavari, on whose banks the temple is located. Many were taking holy dip, while we made do with a boat ride in the river.
Started the return trip, stopped at Nizamabad for lunch around 2pm.
On the way back took a detour into the village of Dichpally, where there was supposed to be a Ramalayam. We had to ask for directions on the way since the signs were not very prominent. Once inside the village, the villagers pointed in the right direction before we could get the query out. The Ramalayam itself was very nice, surprisingly. It has to be reached by climbing up some 100 steps. The temple resembles a fort and not our traditional gopuram style. Legend there says that Lord Rama halted there for 14 days, after meeting Hanuman on the way to Lanka to save Sita Devi. Very fine carvings on the walls and a nice view from the top. Very cool and very peaceful. The temple unfortunately was closed but we did have a glimpse of the deities, looked like marble statues.
Reached Hyd by 6pm. It was a nice day trip done at a leisurely pace.