Bhadrachalam

The temple in Bhadrachalam is closely connected with the life of the 17th-century saint
composer Kancharla Gopanna who was known as Bhakta Ramadas.
Gopanna was the Tahasildar of Bhadrachalam (second half of the 17th century), is said to have
used money from the government treasury to build this temple, and was imprisoned in a dungeon
at Golconda.
Lord Rama is said to have miraculously given the Sultan the money spent by Gopanna, after which
he was released.
Gopanna then became Bhadrachala Ramadasa and went on to compose innumerable number of
songs in Telugu in praise of Rama.
Bhadrachalam and Vijayanagara are sites said to have been closely associated with the Ramayana.
Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are said to have stayed at Parnasala, 35 km away from Bhadrachalam.
Rama is said to have crossed the river Godavari on his way to Sri Lanka to rescue Sita, at the spot
where the Bhadrachalam temple stands, on the northern bank of the river.
Legend has it that the son of Meru and Menaka, Bhadra, performed penances towards Rama here.
Kabirdas, a Muslim by birth is also closely associated with this temple. It is believed that the images
of the deities miraculously disappeared when Kabir was refused entry into the temple and that they
reappeared miraculously upon his being permitted to enter.
Bhadrachalam attracts hundreds of thousands of devotees from all over the world. This hill place
that is encircled by Holy River Godavari flowing towards southern direction is the famous shrine
Bhadrachalam.
The name is derived from Bhadragiri (Mountain of Bhadra: a boon child of Meru and Menaka).
The history of this shrine stands for the significance of Ramayana Era, the coherent hill place existed
in "Dandakaranya" of Ramayana period where Rama with his consort Sita and brother Lakshmana
had spent their vanavasa.
The vicinity of the temple had its incongruous mixture in another story which depicts the exigency of
"Sri Mahavishnu" to manifest himself as Rama and shuffled again to the mortal coil long after
Ramavatara was to fulfill his promise to his Bhakta Bhadra (a mountain king), a sage who had been
continuing the intense penance to get grace of Lord Rama.




Thousand Pillar Temple

The Thousand Pillar Temple is one of the very old temples of South India that was built by
the kakatiyas.
It stands out to be a masterpiece and achieved major heights in terms of architectural skills by the
ancient kakathiya vishwakarma sthapathis.
It is believed that the Thousand Pillar Temple was built by King Rudra Deva in 1163 AD.
The Thousand Pillar Temple is a specimen of the Kakatiyan style of architecture of the 12th century.
It was destroyed by the Tughlaq dynasty during their invasion of South India. It consists one temple
and other building.
There are one thousand pillars in the building and the temple, but no pillar obstructs a person in any
point of the temple to see the god in the other temple.
The present day engineers have taken out all the pillars from the building. A
fter they lifted all the pillars they encountered a huge mass of sand. It took nearly two weeks for
them to take away all the sand.
It was wet sand, because of a pipe connection from the nearby water body named Bhadrakali
Cheruvu.
The Thousand Pillar Temple with its ruins lies near the Hanamkonda-Warangal Highway in
Telangana State, about 150 kilometers from Hyderabad city.
This temple is star-shaped with several shrines and lingams. There are three shrines inside the
temple called the Trikutalayam.
The three shrines of the Thousand Pillar Temple are dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Lord
Surya.
The Thousand Pillar Temple is surrounded by a big garden in which many small lingam shrines can
be seen.
There are 1,000 richly carved pillars and a Nandi bull in the temple. The Nandi bull was carved out of
a black basalt monolith that has been highly polished.
The Thousand Pillar Temple is constructed on a platform that is raised to a height of 1 meter from
ground level. The temple has a number of pillars that are intricately carved and adorned. Rock-cut
elephants and perforated screens in the temple are characteristic of the then prevailing dynasty.
Many pilgrims visit. It is also a popular location for shooting films. The Kakatiya festival is held here.
The temple was renovated in 2004 by the Government of India


























Golden Temple


The Harmandir Sahib and the Darbar Sahib located in the city of Amritsar, Punjab (India) are
informally known as the Golden Temple. Built in the 16
th
Century by Guru Arjan Dev, the golden
Temple opens from four gates which symbolises the openness of Sikhism towards all the people and
all the religions.
Jasa Singh Ahluwalia with the help of other Sikh Misls re- builded the present- day Gurudwara in
1764 with the intention of building a place of worship for all the men and women irrespective of their
cast or social status. Guru Granth Sahib, the most holy text of Sikhism is always present inside the
Golden Temple.
The temple welcomes more than one lakh worshippers on a daily basis. As the name states, the
Golden Temple is made up of pure gold thus attracting lakhs of tourists from all around the world.
The reflection of the Golden Temple in the pond located in the premises of the Gurudwara under the
moonlight acts as one of the major attractions for the tourists.
The Sufi saint Main Mir laid the foundation of the Golden Temple with the intention of building one of
the best historical Sikh monument in the world. The Golden Temple is surrounded by a large holy
tank or a Sarovar with the presence of a number of holy shrines named after the Sikh Gurus. While
entering the Golden Temple, proper code of conduct is to be maintained by the visitors. The code of
conduct is based on the following principles:
I. It is essential to maintain the purity of the sacred temple and ones own body while entering the
premises.
II. It is essential to open the shoes while entering the temple premises and washing feet in a small
pool of water provided.
III. Smoking cigarettes, eating meat, drinking alcohol is not permitted inside the temple premises.
IV. As a sign of respect, it is essential to cover ones own head with a piece of cloth. Visitors without
a cloth are provided one while entering the temple.
V. It is also essential to sit on the ground in order to show respect to Shri Guru Granth Sahib and
God.
Viasakhi is celebrated in the second week of April at all the Gurudwars including Sri Harmandir
Sahib or the Golden Temple. The day of Vaisakhi is considered to be a sacred day by the Sikhs
because it is believed that Khalsa was founded on that day.
A number of other celebrations such as the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev, the martyrdom day of Guru
Tej Bahadur are celebrated on a large scale at the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is lit up with
Diyas beautifully on the occasion of Diwali and special fireworks and lightening are also visible on
the day. Most of the Sikhs visit Sri Harmandir Sahib at least once in their lifetime.