Balaji Temple at Narayanpur, Pune

The entrance gate

When you break the news of moving to a new city, folks will be eager to share any little info about the city, some first hand info or heard from friends or families.  And some of them might not have even passed through that city as part of a journey to say the least. But will have lots to tell in the tone of authentic info. So before we moved to Pune, we too has our share of information from lots of people. Knowing our interest to travel, few suggested places of interest too. After coming to Pune, Balaji mandir was our first place of visit. I haven't been to Tirupathi and I was looking forward to visit Balaji temple, which I was told is built on the same lines of Tirupathi with regard to the Sannidhis/deities.

 

Once you move out of the city, the drive to the temple is very good, especially after the monsoon.The surroundings where the temple is located is very calm and serene.  Autos and share taxis which ply from Kapurhole is not allowed inside. Own vehicles/taxis are allowed to the parking area. There is a place to keep your footwear and can proceed to the temple. Cameras and mobiles are not allowed and has to be deposited at the counter where the queue begins. There is a separate queue for ladies and gents. The temple is open from 5:30 a.m till 8:30 p.m in the evening. Temple is closed for darshan briefly during the pooja time. There isn't much waiting time except when its closed for pooja. During such time, you may have to wait for half an hour or so and by then the queue gets longer. But once it is opened, the queue moves fairly fast.

As you enter the temple, there is a pipe with water flowing from the holes, to wash your feet. I am told, Tirupathi has a similar facility. Lord Balaji is very artistically and beautifully decked up with gold ornaments and flower garlands. Depending upon the queue, you will be asked to move faster. But you are guaranteed a satisfying darshan. From there you move down the steps and walk to the surrounding platform where the other sannidhis are there. Chakkarathu Alwar, Padmavathy, Andal and Venu gopla swami Sannidhis are there in the four corners. After the Venugopala Sannidhi you move out of the temple. On the way out, you will given Laddu prasadam and meal coupon for lunch.

On the way from the entrance, there is Ganesha Sannidhi. Outside the temple, you can find Kubera sannidhi and Anjaneya Sannidhi too.  There is facility to offer your hair too with seperate sections for ladies and gents.

 

The dining hall is located towards the back of the temple and has to walk around 200 mtrs.  A typical Andhra meal served . You take the plater and get the food served and sit on the carpets laid down. A meal of pachadi/chutney, kesari, kalanda sandam(Mixed Rice) like puliyotharai/vaangi bath, rice and a gravy is served. You can go for second helpings too. The dining hall is well maintained and is cleaned as when people move.



Taken from the parking area


 

To reach there: Buses ply from Swargate to Narayanpur. The frequency of buses to Naraynpur is less and you can take any pass passing through Kapurhol like Satara buses. Get down at Kapurhol and you can take autos or taxis which charge Rs.5 per person. And you may have to wait till he gets passengers to its capacity. The temple must be around 2.5 kms from the Kapurhol junction.

On return, you might get some share taxis which will drop you at Swargate bus stand. On my first trip, we got one and he charged less than what we paid for bus.

Murudeshwar - Karnataka

Boarded the West coast express (Chennai-Mangalore) on 14th at 9:00 P.M. Reached Mangalore at 4:50. Headed straight to the waiting room. After refreshing, got tickets to Murudeshwar and travelled by the Mangalore Verna Express (Train No KR2). It left Mlore at 6:30. Most of the passengers were tourists to Udipi/Mookambika/Gokarna etc. The journey was good with lovely sights of greenery and water bodies on the way. We had got two packets of idli from the M'lore station. The idlis were cup shaped and very soft too. We had our breakfast in the train. Murudeshwar temple and beach is around 2 kms from the station. Took an auto to the resort. He charged Rs.30. The best places of stay in Murudeshwar is close by the temple and beach. You can find some other lodging boards on the way to the beach. There are two hotels adjacent to the temple and one little away but near to the beach. RNS Guest house and RNS residency is close by and Naveen Beach Resort is little farther. We stayed in the resort. Resort is very calm and serene. Only 11 rooms in the resort. It has in house restaurant too. The food  in the restuarant is very good.  Just walk across the road from the resort, you step onto the beach.

The Naveen Beach Resort

Most of the tourists make it a half  day trip to Murusheswar. They spend some time on the beach and take a look around the temple and the big Shiva statue and move on to the next destination.  After reading about Murudeshwar, I wanted to spend a day there. Since it was solar eclipse on 15th and temples will usually be closed during the eclipse time, we  chartered that day for Murudeshwar for a day's stay.

The tourists occupy the beach near the temple, but few feet further, you can find uncrowded place. Sadly, tourists have littered the shore with all sorts of  garbage. The local civic authorities doesn't seem to bother about cleaning the place atleast taking into account of the inflow of tourist to the place.

There is an ancient Shiva temple near the beach. The surrounding area along with the huge Shiva statue is developed by a private person Mr. R.N. Shetty.  The story behind the Murudeshwar temple is connected with King Ravana securing "Atmalinga" from Lord Shiva by worship and penance. As per the story, Lord Shiva, while giving the linga was told to Ravana, that he should carry it home walking and should never place it on earth even for a while, failing of which, the Atmalinga would be eternally embedded in the place where it is kept. Ravana set out to his country through the path of west coast. All Gods who got frightened by thi, got together along with Sage Narada takes the help of Ganapathi. Ganapathi disguised in the form a of Brahmin Vatu succeeds in placing the Atmalinga at Gokarna. Ravana in anger and dejection attempts to remove the Linga in vain. In sorrow and frustration, he threw the cloth and thread to various places. The sacred cloth is believed to have fallen in the Kanduka hill assuming the form of Murudeshwara, a Linga without a pedestal. The very ancient temple which was in ruins was revived by its cheif patron Mr. R.N shetty. Other than the temple, all the other attractions around the temple is the efforts of RN Shetty.  There is a 249 feet tall gopuram with 18 floors on the entrance to the temple. They have a lift facility charging Rs.20 per head, which will take you to the 18th floor. The view from the top floor is spectacular. There is one open window on all four sides.

(Story courtesy :The booklet published by the temple trust)

The Shiva statue in penance is on top of a small hill. There is a small temple below. Work is in progress in the temple. There is a man made cave around the temple below the hill. The cave is dark and air conditioned. The story of Ravana and Murudeshwari s depicted in stone sculptures that comes to 20 in number. The story is played on a CD. The narration is in Kannada. Rs.10 is charged as enterance fee.

There is a huge Nandi statue in front of Shiva. Ravana holding the linga is also on the front.  Varius sculptures depicting the incidents from mythological tales can been seen around.

Another attraction is the beach restuarant which is built on the beach near the shore. The restaurant has 3 floors and you can have a beach view while dining. The food was good not to say very tasty. And its a vegetarian restuarant.

Because of the eclipse, we could not make it to Gokarna. But we had a nice stay at Murudeshwar, which was a much needed break from the routine life.