Kanyakumari - Kashmir Round trip - Day 32 - Ahobilam - Chittoor

Day 32 - Ahobilam - Chittoor (stay in Chittoor, AP)

Kilometers driven - 280 KMs

Walking - 27000+ highest in this expedition

Ahobilam is a town and holy site in the Allagadda mandal of Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh. It is surrounded by picturesque hills of the Eastern Ghats with several mountain hills and gorges. It is the centre of worship of Narasimha, the lion-headed avatar of Vishnu, to whom the nine Hindu temples and other shrines all dedicated. The main village and a temple complex are at Lower Ahobilam. Upper Ahobilam, about 8 kilometres to the east, has more temples in a steep gorge.

There are actually 10 temples including Lower Ahobilam. The main Narashima Swamy temples at each site were built or expanded by the emperors of Vijayanagara in the 15th and 16th centuries, then sacked by the Mughals in 1578, then restored and expanded at various times, up to the present day. As they stand, they are a mixture of work from all these periods.

1. Lower Ahobilam - we started the day with Suprabhat Seva in Lower Ahobilam. A cow came to the entrance of the garbhagraham and started the proceedings. We thought to cover 2 other Lower Ahobilam temples - however they were closed and will open only after 8.45 AM it seems. 






Before proceeding to other temples, we visited the Udupi tiffin center - Pongal, Upma, Vada & filter coffee 😋

2. Upper Ahobilam - Ahobileshwar - 3 KMs walk on weekends, there's also a shuttle bus. On weekdays, you can drive upto Upper Ahobilam. We were about to start the walk, fortunately the bus came. Boarded the bus and visited the temple. 






3. Jwala Narasimha (you have trek for 1.5 hours from Upper Ahobilam to reach this temple - another 30 minutes to reach Prahaladh Stamba). The route will go through the forest, you'll see iron bridges, water streams, a small Waterfall etc.., enroute. It'll be very scenic - we enjoyed the walk thoroughly








4. Malola Narasimha - 45 minutes walk from Jwala



5. Varaha / Krodha Narasimha - 20 minutes walk from Malola



6. Karanja Narasimha - 3 Kms from Upper Ahobilam (this is the dropping point of Upper Ahobilam during weekends. On weekdays, you can drive upto Upper Ahobilam)



7. Chatravada Narasimha - 3 KMs from Lower Ahobilam



8. Yoga Narasimha - 2 KMs from Chatravada




9. Pavana Narasimha (2 hours off-road ride to Pavana - very bad forest ride; if you have travel sickness, kindly take necessary precautions)



10. Bhargava Narasimha (you have to do 9 & 10th through a hired jeep)




We covered the temples in this order and fortunately we were able to get darshan in all the temples. For the jeep ride to 9 & 10, we shared it with another family from Bangalore. The route to Pavana will break your back bone - unfortunately we got the rear most seats (sideway sitting) with very little leg-room. 

It requires lot of endurance level to cover all these in a single day. It was around 2 PM - we visited all the temples and back to Udupi hotel for lunch. 

The original plan was to stay an extra day, thankfully we completed the schedule the same day. We vacated the hotel and drove to Chittoor for stay. On the way, filled petrol in Rudravaram - Sri Narasimha IOCL pump

Booked the stay in RR Residency, LGB Towers, Chittoor. Dinner @ Lakshmi Vishnu Bhavan - Butter Masala Dosa and Spiced Buttermilk :)

Luv,

Krishna & Mahadevan

insta - viswanatkr01 

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