Temple tour of Srikakulam

Temple tours of Natarajan – Vizianagaram and Srikakulam

              In an effort to share my travel experiences for the benefit of intending tourists, I am sharing my experience of my visit to Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. Way back in 1979, I worked at Vizianagaram and my then roommate Mr. Krishnavijayam was instrumental in making this trip. The trip was planned for two days and a night besides travel time.

          Vizianagaram is situated approximately 60 kilometers north of Visakhapatnam.  It is a town of approx 2 lakhs. The railway station gives a neat look and has a model railway engine in the front. There is a fort in the heart of the town, which hosts colleges.It is worth strolling around.

         The main bazaar is MG Road. A walk along the MG Road takes to a Shiva cum Krishna Temple, Renganathar temple (in Shivalaya Road), Shiva temple in Shivalaya Road at the end of MG Road besides Amman temples. There is a temple called Ramnarayanam, which is located around 7 kms off Vizianagaram, located on the Simhachalam road, which is worth visiting.

Srikakulam:

A day was allocated to visit temples around Srikakulam. Srikakulam is located about 70 kms off Vizianagaram in Vizianagaram-Bhubaneswar route. Trains are plying at regular intervals and an express train takes approximately 60-75 minutes. We land in Srikakulam Road railway station, a place by name Amudalavalasa.  Medium size eateries are available close to station. Buses and share autos ply from this station to Srikakulam located about 10 kms away. Closer to old bus stand is the place called Arasavalli. There is a temple for Lord Surya (Sun God) at Arasavalli.

Photos of Arasavalli temple for Sun God.:

 

There are many share autos to help reach the temple.  The presiding deity in this temple is Suryanarayana. Lord Vishnu is also known by this name. Agasthiya Maharishi is said to have taught Adhitya Hrudaya-worship of Sun at

this place. As per Legend Lord Indira is said to have entered Koteswara temple at the Srikakulam town in untimely hours and was kicked by Nandhi and he fell two miles away. Lord Indira then constructed this temple as designed by Maya and got relieved of his pain. Lord Suryanarayana is the presiding deity.

For nature lovers, there is one Vijayathithya park in Srikakulam where one can spend some time. This park also offers boating facilities.

Srikurmam: Temple for SriKurmanatha swamy:

 Srikurmam is located about 16 kilometers away from Arasavalli and 10 kilometers west of Bay of Bengal. We travel about 10 kilometers on theroad connecting Srikakulam and Kalingapatnam and then deviate 3.6 kilometeres to reach Srikurmam temple. Plenty of share autos are available from Arasavalli to Srikurmam.

 Share autos substitute bus at many places here and charge slightly more than a bus fare and can be depended upon for their frequency. Lord Vishnu in Koormavathara form is the presiding deity and is known as Srikurmanatha.  Originally a Shaivaite temple was changed as a vaishnavite temple by Sri Ramanujar who lived about 1000 years ago. His thousandth year celebrations are now on and is said to have enlightened all communities about Om Namo Narayana. A separate Sannadhi is also seen for Ramanujar at this temple. There is also a theertham (holy pond) and a separate closet which contains Koormas (tortoises).

Kalingapatnam is 25 kilometres away from Srikakulam town. It is a prominent coastal village which was a miniscule port during the East India Company administration. Besides the bewitching colonnades, the coast is significant as River Vamsadhara merges into the Bay of Bengal at this place. Darga Shariff is also situated over here which means “tomb of religious persons”. It also has a scenic lighthouse and a Buddhist stupa. A photo taken from website shows that the town was popular about 2 centuries  BC to 3Centuries AD and Buddhist teachings started from this place.

Srimukhalingam:

 This place is about 50 kilometers off Srikakulam in the north westerly direction.  The village is situated on the banks of the river Vamsadhara.

There is a 1000 year old Archeological department maintained Shiva temple for Someswara. There is also another old temple for Bhimeswara.  
 There is also another ancient temple for Srimukhalingeswarar.  As per the priest there is a sloka which states that a holy dip in the river Vamsadhara and a holy dharshan of Srimukhalingeswar will relieve one of all past sins. The village was very fertile with lush green fields.

An innovative ice cream cart attached a motor cycle was amusing. A lemon sized vegetable with lot of spikes could also be seen, which could not be seen elsewhere.

It is worth a visit and one will enjoy the beauty of lush green fields and the villages enroute.

Experience in connectivity, stay and hotel arrangements:

   We chose to stay in railway retiring room during our journey. Retiring rooms are available up to 48 hours at railway stations. Some retiring rooms offer Indiantoilets, which can be checked while booking.  Both at Vizianagaram and Srikakulam have more modest restaurants. At Vizianagaram, thali with roti and rice was available in a restaurant located opposite to State Bank of India in MG Road.

   Some of the attractive features observed: Even though there were few buses, share autos supplement buses and the fares are reasonable. These share autos provide last mile connectivity. The water table is good at these places and hence we could observe lot of lush green fields which made travel more pleasant. The temples also offer prasadams at a very cheap rate and if you want to save time, prasadams will be a good substitute for lunch.

Few photos:
Arasavalli: