Addendum to Naimisaranyam tour diary

This point was missed when I had posted the earlier diary on the blog page.

Thanks to my cousin Srinivas for reminding me about it.

When we were going to Naimisaranyam from Sitapur, the nearest town indicated on the milestones on the highway read "Hardoi". Our driver, who is a native of Sitapur district, told us an interesting legend associated with it.

Seems this Hardoi was the place where Hiranyakasipu stayed. Maybe where he did his penance to get those terrible powers that he had. Since he hated Hari or Lord Vishnu, he was a "Hari Drohi". Hence the place was named as "Hari Drohi" which got corrupted to "Hardoi". Sounds logical?

When our driver told this, my friend Amit Verma who is also from Sitapur, and who had accompanied us on this trip told us that even to this day people from that village are kind of unpredictable. They cannot pronounce "r" properly, and try to evade it when they encounter the syllable. For eg. instead of "Mirchi" for Chillies, they say "Michchi". Even "Hardoi" itself is pronounced as "Haddoi".

Interesting?

Naimisaranyam & Ayodhya Tour info

Sri:

Travel diary (Tour to Ayodhya & Naimisaranyam divya desams)
Number of DDs: 2
Other places of interest: 3
Travel bases: Lucknow, Allahabad
Rough Expenses: 8000 (Ours : 36000 for 3 persons, because we took flight back to Chennai)
Total number of days needed: Minimum 4

(Day 1: Oct 28 Tue)

Me and my cousins Srinivas & Sriram, took the Raptisagar express train to Lucknow. This train runs only on selected days of the week. Train starts from Chennai Central at 1145 PM.


(Day 3: Oct 30 Thu)

We reached Lucknow at around 11 Am. We were delayed by nearly 90 minutes. We had arranged for a cab to pick us up at Lucknow station, through a friend.

Since we had hired a cab through a friend, it worked out much cheaper to us. The driver charged us Rs 4.50 per KM inclusive of diesel. Night charges extra Rs 100 per night. The rates may normally be around Rs 5 – 5.50 /KM. In all we had travelled from Lucknow to Manikpur, and the vechile had to return to Lucknow. So we paid 6000 Rs for the entire trip by cab.

Total distance travelled : Around 1250 kms inclusive of return trip to Lucknow.
Total no of days cab was hired: 3 (from Oct 30 11 AM, entire Oct 31, Nov 1 till 4 PM).

We also heard there are lots of buses available to almost all the places we went to. Once the main city/town is reached one could also take share autos to visit the important places, they are available in plenty in all the places.

Map #1

We took the cab, and proceeded straight to Sitapur, where one of my colleagues is from. Sitapur is on Lucknow- Delhi National Highway. The road is very good, except for a few patches. Sitapur is about 80 Kms distance from Lucknow. On the way we passed the village of Shidoli. Through the driver we came to know that there is a direct route to Naimisaranyam from Shidoli, and one doesn’t need to go to Sitapur. On the national highway, we need to take a left turn to take this road, and there is a board that says “Naimisaranyam Dham”. If we take a right turn instead, according to the driver, we could proceed to Ayodhya.(see map #1) I guess Lucknow could be taken as the travel base, and one could avoid traveling all the way up to Sitapur. For those who are net savvy, the entire route we took is here in this link.

Map #2

Once we reached Sitapur (around 2 PM), we refreshed ourselves, and had lunch. Then at 330 PM, we proceeded to Naimisaranyam. This place is also called Nimsar by the localites. On the highway, we took a right turn at the Hardoi bypass, and to go to Naimisaranyam, we need to take a left turn. (see map #2) The road again is in pretty ok condition, except for a few places.

**We were warned that there are lots of dacoits around on the road, and to complete our darshan and catch the highway before it turned dark. **

But luckily we had no such problem, even though we left Naimisaranyam much after it got dark. Naimisaranyam is about 35 kms from this junction. On your way, the road forks, and the left one leads to a place called Dadeechi Kund, and the right one leads to other places. Once we proceed on the same road, we come to Chakra teerth. This is one of the most important places to be visited. There is a big circular well (pond?). Legend says the source of the water is unknown, and the depth goes all the way down to Patala lokam.

Chakra Theertham

**Be warned, as we were by my friend from Sitapur, who also accompanied us, there are lots of people who will try to cheat you for some quick money in the name of guide / darshanam / sankalpam / prasadam etc. Also be warned of monkeys. They were there in almost all places we went to.**

We then proceeded to Vyas Gaddi. Here we have an idol for Jaimini rishi, sishya of Veda Vyasa. There is a big tree, under which Vyasa rishi is supposed to have written all the puranas, and split the Vedas into four, as we know them today. This tree is supposed to be over 5900 years old. From here a small path leads to the sacred Gomati (Gomukhi) river.

Gomathi River

Vyas Gaddi : 5900 years old tree

From there we proceeded to Hanuman Gaddi, and on the way we found the Ahobila Mutt. Here we have a shrine for the presiding deity of the Mutt, Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan. There is also the Brindavanam (holy tomb) of the 43rd pontiff of the said Mutt. There are a few rooms available here.

**As in most parts of UP, here power supply is awfully bad. Hence visitors are to go prepared to face the worst. There are absolutely no facilities here. **

Hence it is also advised to inform the Bhattar or his wife, Mr/Mrs Lakshmi Narasimhan. The contact details are given separately. If you don’t partake food outside, it is advisable that you contact them and make arrangements. In fact I had also heard that once they are apprised of your arrival, they could also make arrangements to pick you up from Lucknow and for other local travel.

Inside Ahobila Mutt : 43rd Jeeyars Samadi (Brindavanam)

From the Mutt, we proceeded to Hanuman Gaddi. This is a temple for Hanuman, carrying Rama and Lakshmana on his shoulders. This is a huge idol of Hanuman.

We then proceeded to Sukhabrahma Asram, as advised by the Bhattar at Ahobila Mutt. But since it was already dark, though we could locate it, it was closed by then.

We went to Devaraja Perumal temple, also the presiding deity of the divyadesam. It is very close to Hanuman Gaddi, but again in the dark we were not able to locate it. It is called “Sone Khamba”, essentially meaning the Dwajastambam, to the local people or as “Ramanuja Koot”. Many people generally miss this, as we had no information given to us by anyone about the existence of this temple. It houses Perumal, Thayar, and Ramanuja & first Parakala Jeeyar in separate shrines.

Ahobila Mutt : Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple

Then we went to Balaji Mandir, temple of Tiruvenkatam udaiyan. Here vaikhanasa system of rituals is followed as in Tirumala, and there is a separate shrine for Vikanasacharya.

There were a few more places, but due to lack of time, and since it was already very dark, we had to proceed to Sitapur. Hence we missed out on visiting Dadeechi Kund. We reached Sitapur at around 830PM. Took our dinner and stayed at my friends place for the night.


Day 4(Oct 31, Fri)

Next day early morning, we took our bath and started for our Ayodhya. We dropped my friend in Lucknow and hence had to touch Lucknow. But, as per the driver’s words, we could have taken the road that proceeds to Ayodhya from Shidoli, instead of touching Lucknow. The road he said was quite ok. Traveling from Lucknow might mean a few more kilometers, but the road is excellent, as it is national highway all the way. We had called Sri Yamunacharya, the swami who takes care of Ammaji mandir in Ayodhya and informed him of our arrival. The Bhattar’s wife in Ahobila mutt, Naimisaranyam, gave his number to us. On the way we had breakfast. We proceeded to Ayodhya, and there we first went to Ammaji mandir. We reached this temple at around 11 AM. There is a Kothwali Ayodhya police station.(see map#3). The road on the opposite side to this police station leads us to Ammaji mandir, and the Sarayu River. We had darshan at ammaji mandir, and went to Sarayu. We were surprised to see the breadth of the river. It was astounding, to say the least.

Sarayu River

We had kept our bags in a small room, in Ammaji mandir, so we paid Rs 100, though the priest didnt insist on it.

Map #3

We then proceeded to have darshan of Ramlala at the (in)famous Ramajanma bhoomi, marked in the map as Ram Lala. We were told the access was closed, and would be reopened at 2PM. The timings here I think are from 6 AM to 11AM and from 2 PM to 7 PM. I guess its the same across the other places as well. We then went to Valmiki ashram. We need to retrace the route to Kothwali Ayodhya police station, and from there take a right turn to go to this temple. Again due to our ill luck this temple was also closed. Exactly opposite to this temple is another famous temple called “Char Dham”. This was also closed. Hence we walked back to the main road.

Ayodhya : Kanak Bhavan (?)

We visited yet another Hanuman Gaddi here too. We had lunch and then we went to stand in the queue for having darshan of Ram lala. To our happiness we found there was only a sparse crowd.

**We have to make sure that we don’t take anything inside, not even a paper / pen / pencil etc. each one has to undergo three levels of personal head to toe security screening.**

After this we went through a maze of passages and suddenly before we could realize we were informed that we had come to the temple, and were asked to have darshan. There was a makeshift army barrack / tent kind of arrangement, where the deities are present. After having darshan here we came out and immediately proceeded to Nandigram.

Ayodhya : Fort/ Hanuman Gaddi

There are a few more places one could visit, like Janaki bhavan, Kanaka bhavan, Swarg Dwar etc. But since our timing had messed our plans, we had to leave them all out for a future visit, and proceed to Nandigram.

Ayodhya : Ammaji Mandir Entrance

From Ayodhya, one has to go to Faizabad. From there one has to proceed on the highway to Allahabad on the Pratapgarh route. Nandigram comes on the way and is known to the local people as Bharathkund. It is about 20 Kms from the junction in which we turn left to proceed towards Allahabad. Here there is a big pond, which is called Surya Kund. There is also a temple called as Bharath-Hanuman Milan temple, where we find beautiful statues of Hanuman and Bharath in embrace. There is also a separate shrine for Sri Ram’s charan paduka, which Bharath is supposed to have worshipped.

Sri Ramas Padukas worshipped by Bharatha

Again this place is a very small village and there are no facilities available here as well.

Ayodhya : Tulsi Udhyan

From here we proceeded to Allahabad via Pratapgarh. Allahabad is about 120 kms from Ayodhya. We had to cross the Gomati river enroute. We reached Allahabad at around 830 PM. We stayed at a place called Shiva Mutt. This is in a place called Dharaganj, very close to the Dharaganj Police station. Dharaganj itself is very close to Prayag, just about 15-20 minutes drive. Not many facilities to eat here. The people here were not very helpful either. We had a harrowing time to make arrangement for a room, and for dinner, though we had called them well in advance to make sure we got a room for our stay. There is another alternative that we could have used; Bangur Dharmashala which we heard is very well maintained. We had a small room given to us, and upon inquiring for beds, blankets etc, we were given couple of mats. They said they dont insist on any rent as such, so we paid Rs 200 for one nights stay.

Nandigram : Surya Kund

Day 5(Nov 1, Sat)

Next day morning we woke up early, and proceeded to Prayag. Our friends in Chennai had told us that we would have to take a boat to reach the place where Ganga and Yamuna rivers mingle with each.

**But when we spoke to the localites there, we were told that the boat ride is unnecessary, and most people take it only for entertainment. **

Also we could see that the rivers mixed at a spot, which was not very deep. Hence we walked, for quite a long time, and reached the spot. Here we took the holy dip in the Sangam. After which we got ready and proceeded to Chitrakoot.

We took the road that leads to Jhansi. I guess this is a national highway, but for most part was in shambles.

**Chitrakoot is about 130 kms from Allahabad. There are no facilities on the way, no towns. In fact we could notice that there were very few villages on our way, and most of the lands were barren. We were in desperate need of an ATM, to take some money to pay the cab driver, but we could not locate one. Hence again people are warned to make prior arrangements. Once we leave Allahabad there are no facilities at all.**

At around 1030 AM we reached Chitrakoot. This place is otherwise also called Karwi. This is a big village / town. Here we luckily located an SBI ATM on our return trip. There is a railway station here too, and a few trains stop here as well.

**Another piece of warning: we had not taken with us enough drinking water, and had to suffer. We got one from a local medical store on the way to Chitrakoot village, but found ourselves duped. Hence it is advisable to take plenty of safe drinking water in hand. **

Chitrakoot village is about 10kms from Karwi. Again lots of monkeys are there everywhere. There is also an alternate way of reaching Karwi. Chitrakoot is actually on the border of UP & MP, and about 70 kms from Satna, MP.

Chitrakoot : Inside Gupt Godavari Sita Gufa

Here again there is a small road, quite good, which takes us to our destination: Gupt Godavari. There are a few direction boards that will guide us, so it is not necessary to take the help of local guides. The road forks here, and the one on the left leads to Sati Anasuya ashram, and the one on the right leads to Gupt Godavari. We proceeded to Gupt Godavari. The car is to be parked about 100 meters from the actual spot. There is a ticket counter, where one needs to get tokens for entry (10 Rs each). After climbing a few steps, we go to the first cave, called Sita gufa. The entrance is just enough for one person to pass through.

**We have to be very careful as there is not enough lighting, plus the walls & floors of the caves could give lots of scratches if you don’t watch your step.People with breathing trouble are advised to take enough precautions.**

There is a small pedestal on which Rama, Sita and Lakshmana, dressed in ascetic robes are to be seen. It is believed that Sita took bath here. People are let in batch by batch. Then we come to the second cave, the one that Rama & Lakshmana used. This is even more adventurous, as there is knee-deep water as well. A very richly rewarding experience. At both the places, the source of the water is not known. We even tasted the water and it was very sweet. The water that thus collects flows as river Mandakini Ganga.

Chitrakoot : Sati Anasuya Asram

After that we went to Sati Anasuya ashram, which lies on the banks of a small river called Narmada, which Anasuya is believed to have brought on earth by her power. Here is where she taught Sita a lot of things about life.

Since it was time for our train, we had to rush out of the place. Hence we missed visiting 2-3 other places, like Hanuman Gaddi (yet another), which we came to know from our fellow passengers on the train to Delhi. But we were content with Gupt Godavari itself as it was an amazing experience in itself.

Chitrakoot : Narmada River near Sati Anasuya Asram

We then proceeded to Manikpur, which is about 30 kms from Karwi. Manikpur actually is a junction, and trains, which run between Eastern parts of India and western parts, stop here. The road is quite ok. But our driver warned us that there could be danger of dacoits here. There was very little inhabitation till we reached Manikpur. A person in Karwi told us that Manikpur is a bigger town, but it was actually the opposite. This place was like any other village we had seen earlier. We had a tough time again finding some place where we could get something to eat. Luckily there was a railway refreshment counter, from which we could get some snacks. Karwi seemed to be a much bigger place.

**For people who don’t partake food outside, please carry something in hand. This rule applies to people who do eat out too, since there are not many decent eateries around.**

We took the UP Sampark Kranti Express out of Manikpur, to Nizamuddin. There are a few trains that stop at Manikpur. Hence if someone wishes to travel to Chitrakoot by train, they can take this route, but there are no facilities at all here.

We reached Delhi early in the morning next day (Nov 2, Sun). We went to IIT Delhi and then Aurobindo Asram. There we refreshed ourselves, had lunch at Adyar Ananda Bhavan in Green Park, (abt Rs 30 by auto) .We had South Indian meals, after what seemed a very long time. And then in the evening caught our flight back to Chennai. Thus ended a very wonderful trip to Divya desams of Ayodhya and Naimisaranyam.


Temple Timings:

Ayodhya: Most temples : 6 AM to 11 AM, 2 PM to 7PM (esp RamJanmabhoomi)
Other places: We didnt see any board/info. Guess temples are mostly open through the day

Contacts & Modes of Travel details:

Click on the pic below