Narasimha Ksetra Ahobilam and Vijayanagara Dynasty

This stone slap i have found also 10 years ago, showing the Vijayanagara Royal symbol on the Mandapa. This time i was not able to find that special stone, as many stone slaps were falling off.


... and this is the same royal symbol found in Hampi, the capitol of the ancient Vijayanagara Dynasty! That proofs the antiquity of those lost Mandapas inside the Jungle of Ahobilam!

Lost Deity of Chenchu Narasimha!

Also i have not found again the ancient Deity of Chenchu Narasimha, who was situated in the area of Malola Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam, as well the Chenchu Devi stone on the way to Upper Ahobilam. It might be stolen or replaced somewhere else... It would be good to see those Deities again in Ahobilam.

Mandapas 10 years ago 1998

This is the Mandapa inside the Jungle 1998, still intact...






This is the Mandapa 2008!



You can see clearly the difference between this two pictures. 2008 has lost all the stairs down the water tank, and the two pillars holding the upper portion of the Mandapa are very delicate not to colapse! That Mandapa should be priority in all the fixing work!!

Mandapas 10 years ago

This is the Mandapa 10 years ago, 1998...


And this is the Mandapa spring 2008!

Ahobilam Ksetra 2008

Lost Mandapas inside the jungle part 4

Dear Friends and worshippers of Lord Narasimha,
please help to protect the environment of Ahobilam, keep the mystic and beautiful serenity of that holy ksetra on top all our endavour. It would be nice if some devotees could do some support for rebuilding this lost Mandapas inside the jungle,by keeping eye on the nature and dont harm the natural beauty with that work. Because vastu and silpa sastra are in accordance with Gods Nature, it would be only a juwel on the chest of the Lord! But if we dont do anything, thieves and thugs will steal our tradition for money sake only! So please let us do something for the cause of the futures generations!

Lost Mandapas inside the jungle part 3

And we find on the old pathway pillars from some unknown temple/mandapa. All that you can find on the way to Upper Ahobilam, and it would be nice if that Mandapas come back to their beauty, and not land in some antique store in USA or Bombay.

Lost Mandapas inside the jungle part 3

This is the Kunda/watertank like Mandapa, a very beautiful and fantastic building is falling apart. Please dear devotees help that this wonderful mandapas are rebuilt! It is not far away from the main temple in Lower ahobilam, but it is inside the jungle.

Lost Mandapas inside the jungle part 2

In one of the mandapa they have dismantled some of the pillars from the structure, digged a very deep hole inside and dragged out something from the ground (a hidden wealth?). Then they have taken those pillars to some antique stores or foreign land!

Lost Mandapas inside the jungle

In ancient times Ahobilam was trekked only by foot, and no road was there. Now daily trucks and Busses rush the way up to Upper Ahobilam.
But 15 years ago i have walked all trough Ahobilam by foot and i discovered a ancient walkpath from lower ahobilam up to Upper Ahobilam (around 5 - 6km). One can find even the walking steps from time to time. On the path you come across two ancient mandapas and one overgrown Kunda in Mandapa Style. In olden days when the Utsava deities where coming or going from up to down Ahobilam, the Lord with his servants (archakas and helpers) rested under those places. This time i wanted to find the railtrack again and we had success! But the condition of those 3 Mandapas were horrorfying! It needs only few more years and they totally fall apart.

Holy ponds in and around Ahobilam

Ahobilam has more then 15 ponds in and around the holy ksetra, and most of them are natural spring or waterpools from rainy season. The environment and nature of Ahobilam is unique, but it is endangered by human misbehaviour. With the popularity of Ahobilam also the beauty of nature gets walked over by tousands of pilgrims, the natural water resources and rare species of life to be threatened with extinction. Communities and Devotees should work together to preserve those natural beauty, and in the same time direct and teach those masses of pilgrims about the importance of coexistence with nature and Holy caves in Ahobilam!

Chatravata Narasimha Swamy and Yoga Narasimha Swamy

Between Lower and Upper Ahobilam around 3 km from Lower Ahobilam, you can find close to each other two Narasimha temples. One is Chatravata Narasimha and Yogananda Narasimha Swamy.
Chatravata Narasimha is a very unique Deity, and only seen in Ahobilam. He had blessed two Gandarvas for celestial voice, after they have lost the ability of singing. His beautiful smile is the very uniqueness of this Deity, and He is nicely taken care by some archaka daily. The temple is renovated and has even a wall around. The Tree who had given shadow once upon a time, is no more. But it is clean and nicely maintained.
Yogananda Narasimha Swamy is worshipped in a small Shrine, next to a newly built 64 Gods temple, were all 9 forms of Lord Narasimha are connected to the 9 Planets (Navagrahas), and many more deities you will see there.
But the Yogananda Narasimha Swamy is the oldest Temple in this area, and he has a special aura around him.
The picture you see are the landscape of lower Ahobilam, hot and dry as usual in Andhra Pradesh (chilipakora!).

Pavana Narasimha Swamy Ki Jaya!

Pavana Narasimha Swamy

Pavana Narasimha Swamy is the farthest temple from Upper Ahobilam, around 8 km trough jungle. I would suggest to get a guide if you have not been there before. We could travel alone, because we knew the way, and also from time to time some sign is coming and guiding you. After a very steep staircase of around 660 steps, you reach the plateau and from then on it is more easy. But before is quite tuff to walk. Best is also leave early morning.
Sri Pavana Narasimha Swamy has a lot of stories in connection with this ancient shrine, and it is said that it was here where Sri Adi Shankara was reciting (or creating) the Narasimha Karavalamba Stotra for his protection against the Kapalika tantric, who wanted to offer him for his Kali. It is said that it was here where one of the Shankaracarya tradition (most probably not the first one, Adi Shankara) later on did his commentary to the Narasimha Tapani Upanishad. We had the blessing to make some mystic picture of the Pavana Narasimha Deity.
On certain days it is here that the tribes of the forest come together and offer animals to the Lord outside of the temple compound. A very ancient and not very sattvic procedure indeed!
Above in the forest (maybe 5 minutes walk) you can find another cave, where Chenchu (bhu devi) is worshipped by the tribes.

ugra stambha part 2

Also here i have placed my Lord lakshmi Narasimha and we did a small puja, just on the spot of Lord Narasimha's appearance. We did a very nice prayer/bhajan and completing with some offering of dates and nuts to the Lord. Just when i finnished a big group of monkeys came and tried a steal the offering. I was scared a bit and packed my Lord fast in my bag.