Kapila Theertham: Enjoy the Natural Bliss

KAPILA TEERTHAM
Location : Tirupati in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh
Presiding Deity : Lord Shiva As Kapileswara Swamy
Sacred Theertha : One Of The 108 Sacred Teerthas (Springs) flowing on Tirumala Hills.

Waterfalls at Kapila Theertham

The Holy Temple of Kapila Theertham is the only temple dedicated to Lord Shiva in the holy temple cities of Tirupati and Tirumala that abound with temples of the Vaishnavait Deity Vishnu.

This huge temple stands at the entrance to a mountain cave in one of the steep and vertical faces at the foot of the amazing hills of Tirumala, where the waters of the mountain stream falls as a huge waterfall.

Lay out map of Kapila Theertham

One of the holiest of Hindu saints, Saint Kapila Maharshi, was said to have lived here, worshipped, and meditated in this very cave before the idol of Lord Shiva and hence the name "Kapila theertham", the word "theertham" meaning a holy lake or holy pond that formed due to the waterfalls.

Kapila Maharshi was a Vedic sage and an incarnation of Supreme Godhead Vishnu, credited as one of the founders of the Samkhya school of philosophy. He is prominent in the Bhagavata Purana, which features a theistic version of his Samkhya philosophy. Traditional Hindu sources describe him as a descendant of Manu, a grandson of Brahma. The Bhagavad Gita depicts Kapila as a yogi hermit with highly developed siddhis, or spiritual powers.

Natural Rock Cave Shelter's are present at Kapila Theertham on the either sides of the waterfalls and also beside the temple of Kapileswara Swamy. This particular place has enormous energy and positive vibration's. One with a spiritual mind can feel the bliss at Kapila Theertham.

This place may be a possible site of Jain Vestige's around 300 BCE (some relief's of Jain Tirthankara's are excavated in the foot hills and nearby viscinity of Tirupathi). Later it flourished as an important Hindu Shrine under the rule of Vijayanagara Empire.

Though this temple's significance has diminished due to the hugely popular neighboring Temples in Tirumala and Tiruchanoor, it received very good patronage from the Kings of Vijayanagara in the 13th thru 16th centuries, especially Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, and the eternally famous Sri Krishna Deva Raya, and some of the later rulers like Venkatapathi Raya, and Aliya Ramaraya, sri Krishna Deva Raya's Son-in-law.

Kapila Theertham is an important Shrine to visit during the trip of Tirupathi

Movva : Sri Krishna Temple

Movva is a village and Mandal in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India.

This is the birthplace of the great lyricist "Kshetrayya" also known as "varadayya" who has written many songs on "lord Krishna".

 The above picture is the flooring of the temple embedded with Marbles (golis)

 Sri Movva Venugopala swamy temple

Movva is very famous for temple of Lord Krisha popularly referred as "Movva Gopaludu". 

 History of the temple and town in the premises of the temple

There is an old Sivalayam opposite to the  main temple. 

National flag Designer Sri Pingali Venkaiah was born in Muvva taluk (near Batlapenumarru)

Glimpses of Godavari Districts - 2

 

Yeleru River

The Tallest Gopuram of the 100 years old Sri Rama Temple.

 Gollala Mamidada of East Godavari District

 

 A view of ruined Temple at Biccavole in East Godavari District

(Possible Ruined Shiva Temple in the middle of the fields)

My self snap at Annavaram in East Godavari District

Glimpses of Godavari Districts - 1

East Godavari District  is the second richest district in the whole country.

West Godavari District is known as The Granary of India.

Some of the glimpses (snaps) from these two districts:

 A view of Paddy fields near Eluru By-pass Highway, West Godavari District

 A view of  Tuni town surrounded by Eastern Ghats in East Godavari District.

 An Early Morning view of Pampa Reservoir  near Annavaram in East Godavari District

Yeleru Dam near Eleswaram of East Godavari District. 

(Some amount of drinking water from this reservoir is supplied to Visakhapatnam city)

Madhavadhara: A Buddhist Site Near Simhachalam

 Madhava swami temple, Madhavadhara, Visakhapatnam

This temple is adopted by Simhachalam Temple.
It is located on the south foot hill of Simhachalam.
The diety is Madhava Swamy and the water jet flow here is known as Madhavadhara,
from which the locality got its name.
Some people prefer to take a holy bath in holy dharas (Madhavadhara).

Buddhist settlements on Simhachalam hill-range has come to light during a recent renovation and restoration works taken up by the Endowments Department. This site is presently Documented by the state Archaeology department and study of the site is in progress.

Coming to the point the sand blasting and restoration works on Chalukyan period Madhava Swamy Temple at Madhavadhara was completed recently, which not only exposed the intrinsic fine sculpting legacy of 14th Century A.D., but also some other interesting facts about the construction of the original temple on the base of Buddhist Vihara. The khondalite rocks(available on Eastern Ghats) are used for building the temple along with the Buddhist bricks from the vihara. These two (stones and bricks) possess the same color in general.

 The rock and Brick alignments at Madhavadhara.
 Bricks estimated to be from 3rd Century B.C. are now lying in a heap alongside the temple towards south

These bricks measured 52 cm X 28 cm X 8 cm, with structural characteristics of the bricks used in Buddhist sites in and around Visakhapatnam coastal region. A researcher in Buddhist sites of north Andhra Pradesh, he said there were foundation walls of a Buddhist vihara in the close vicinity.

 Bricks estimated to be from 3rd Century B.C. are now lying in a heap alongside the temple, as the mast is being rebuilt with cement concrete. These Brick remnants are found scaterred from the first tier to the foot tier of the present temples at Madhavadhara.

The possible Buddhist site would have been a  4 -Tier semi terraced Buddhist Monastery  as Remnants of chamber for monks to stay was found between the Mallikarjuna Swamy and Madhava Swamy temples that even today remain unexposed to the world due to several reasons like paucity of manpower and lack of will power among local administrators to permit the work.

 The natural water from the hill to ground at Madhavadhara

One can enjoy the natural beauty of this ancient site and surroundings,

unfortunately the steps way towards Simhachalam is becoming a garbage day by day in the name of rituals

 

Temples from Madhavaswami Temple below.

Very frequent buses are available from all parts of Visakhapatnam. (Bus no: 48A) 

 REFERENCE: Article in THE HINDU about Buddhist Site Remains dated July 11, 2010 Vizag.