Bhadrachalm Trip

Papikondalu

This had been a long overdue trip. I wanted to visit Papikondalu from a long time, and somehow we couldnt make it. For the uninitiated, Papikondalu is a stretch on river Godavari, through the eastern ghats. It is very famous for its scenic beauty. The trip starts and ends at Rajahmundry. There is a deviation for those interested to visit the temple city of Bhadrachalam, where Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are said to have spent their 13th year of Vanavasam, and the place where Sita was abducted by Ravana.

We started from Hyd on Fri, 19th night, to Rjy by a special train from Hyd-Vishakhapatnam. Reached Rajahmundry next day morning, visited my uncle and aunt there and then went to Tanuku to visit our relatives. Had lunch and spent some fun time with kids there. 

Nursery at Kadiyam

From there we went to Kadiyam, which is famous for its plant nurseries and to meet our friends who came from Vijayawada by road. We visited one nursery which was huge and had many varieties of plants. I got tempted and bought a few, though I wasnt sure if they would survive Hyd weather. We came back to the hotel. 

Next day we started off from Rjy to Purushottapatnam to get onto the launch to Papikondalu. The trip on the river was very nice, beautiful sceneries. Breakfast and lunch were served on the boat itself. We saw Devipatnam Police Station (of Alluri SitaRamaraju fame) from the boat and had one stop to visit Gandi Pochamma Temple. 

Towing of boat

On the way our boat had some engine problem and was pushed for some time by another boat. Because of this we were behind schedule and skipped visiting temple at Perantapalli. We reached Perantapalli by 5pm to be transferred into a smaller boat to take us to Pochavaram. By the time we reached Pochavaram, it was pretty dark and from the boat drop to the vehicle was a mini-adventure.

Pochavaram

We were lucky that we didnt have to carry our luggage with us, it came by the vehicle from Rjy. From Pochavaram, we reached Bhadrachalam by road, had dinner and checked into the hotel. The hotel was right next to the temple.



 

Bhadrachalam Temple

Morning we were told to have darshan by 6am. We got ready and went for the darshan. That day there was some special puja and the temple doors didnt open till 7:30am. After darshanam we had breakfast and went to see Parnasala, place were Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana stayed during their 13th year of vanavasam. There were places where Sita was abducted, where Lakshmana cut off the nose and ears of Surpanakka, where Sita dried her sari and rubbed pasupu, kumkuma, etc etc.

Parnasala

 Started our return journey towards Vijayawada. On the way visited Madde Anjeneyaswamy temple at Jangareddy Gudem, where the idol is in a tree. 

Sundial at Dwaraka Tirumala

Next stop was Dwaraka Tirumala or Chinna Tirupati. I liked the place a lot, it was very serene and the temple was also very beautiful. Another attraction for us was father-in-law had installed a Sundial here. We spent sometime at that site and reached Vijayawada by 8pm. Took train at 11:30pm to Hyd and were back to our sweet home by 6am on Tuesday.