Road Trip to Ardhagiri Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple from Kanipakam, Andhra Pradesh

It was almost 10 years back I got the opportunity of visiting this rare temple of Lord Hanuman in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. We were a group of friends who got the wonderful opportunity of serving Lord Venkateswara through Srivari Seva.

On our way back from Kanipakam we got the chance of visiting this rare and less known Hanuman temple situated in a serene place on a small hillock known as Ardhagiri also known as Arakonda.

Courtesy: Google Images

There were steep stone steps to climb the hill. As it was the month of January, we had Christmas Vacation period in our school. So planned for Srivari Seva at Tirumala and one of the senior teachers took up of the responsibility of initiating and planning the entire trip. Thanks to her wonderful efforts because of which I got the chance of visiting this rare temple of Hanuman.

We were already tired with moving all around in a van which we booked for our trip. With lots of 'uufs' and 'aahs' we climbed the steep steps and on reaching the location 'ah!' what a refreshing place!

We felt so cool and it was so peaceful here. After resting for a while, we moved around and were much impressed by a divinely idol of Lord Hanuman in a sitting meditation posture in the mid of a natural Koneru / Pushkarini i.e a small temple pond / tank. The idol was surrounded by beautiful waterlilies and lotuses.

Courtesy: Flickr

We felt so peaceful at this place. Some of the senior teacher relaxed at this place and meditated for a while. After resting for a while, we filled the cans we bought at this place with water from this pushkarini that is diverted through a pipe line. Now let me tell you what is the specialty of this pushkarini water.

Courtesy: Flickr

For this, we have to get back to the epic of Ramayana. During the Rama-Ravana battle at Lanka, Lakshmana was fatally wounded by Meghanadh (also known as Indrajit) and laid unconscious. As per the suggestion of the royal physician Sushena, Lakshmana has to be given 'Sanjeevani' herb before sunrise lest he won't regain his conscious. This special life-saving herb is found only on the Dronagiri mountains in the Himalayas.

Again the great task of taking a flight to Himalayas and back to Lanka was taken by Hanuman. On reaching Himalayas, Hanuman don't find time to search for and identify the 'Sanjeevani' herb on the mountain, so he uplifts the entire mountain which is full of medicinal plants and flies back to Lanka.

It is said that while Hanuman was flying back to Lanka with the 'Sanjeevani' mountain in His hand, a piece of this medicinal herb fell into the pushkarini in Ardhagiri. It is a belief that drinking the waters of this pushkarini cures all the diseases and makes one healthy / disease-free. That's why devotees fill cans of this pond water and take home. The interesting thing is that this pond never dries and is always full of water. It is a fact that the water collected from this pond in cans has longer shelf life and remains fresh for a longer period. People believe that this is because of the piece of 'Sanjeevani' that fell into the pond.

Devotees and peace-lovers flock to this place on full moon nights as the full moon enhances the beauty and sereneness of the place. The temple remains open till 11 p.m on full moon days.

According to temple history, the temple is constructed by the Pallava Nolamba Kings in the 12th century BCE (Before Common Era)

For reaching this rare temple, you can visit it on a round about trip to various places around Tirupati. It is around 15 Km from Kanipakam. There is no direct transport to this place but you can hire a cab / van and visit the nearby places.

After spending some time in the divinely and peaceful place, we climbed down the stairs to get into our van. Actually some of the teachers didn't feel like leaving the place. So peaceful and divinely the place is.

We felt as if we regained divinely power and got into our van with divine vibes.

It was almost dark by the time. We were damn tired and were feeling too sleepy. To kill our sleepiness, we started playing antakshari which kept us lively and wide awake.

That was in fact a great trip with friends.