Last saturday, we were finally be able to visit the Golden temple in Tirumalikodi near
The Preparation
Each one of us decided to take one activity to share the load. Hmm..I forgot to tell who all are went. It's Bharath, Suresh, Ramu and Me along with our families.
All set to GO.
Bargur(NH46) ->
On the GO
We started in
The highway till Katpadi is a real treat for anyone who enjoys driving. It’s with a divider all along and three lanes on each side. So, anyone who is enthu to drive their new cars and enjoy long drives, I suggest this trip. Of course, we need to pay at least 4 tolls on the highway before we reached our destination. We paid Rs.370/- for all the tolls for to-and-fro. At each toll gate, there are well maintained rest rooms for gents and ladies. We couldn’t see any restaurants though. We stopped 4 more times on the highways to drink coconut water, to strech ourselves. At around 1 PM, we completed the lunch also within the Tempo saving some time.
We reached ThirumalaiKodi at around 2 PM. It’s a small village. All the vehicles are stopped at around 200 mts away from the temple entrance and diverted sideways for parking. We parked our vehicle in a tree shade outside before even taking the diversion for the parking lot. As we reached the main entrance, we saw lot of crowd and we felt that it is as crowded as Tirupathi. As soon as we enter inside the main entrance, there are 4 to 5 big queues on our right hand side. We thought it is for Darshan. But, to our surprise, they are for depositing the personal belongings and footwear. Any of the cell phones/Electronics items are prohibited inside the temple. They were telling that nothing other than some baby food and a bottle of water are allowed. We thought of not wasting time in this queue and put all our belongings in some bags and put it in our vehicle itself. I suggest anyone traveling to here, to store their belongings in their vehicle if possible, so that they can avoid long queues while depositing and taking back them again.
Darshan
As far as darshan is concerned, there are three types of Darshans. One is free darshan, which might take 3 hrs on weekends. Second is, Rs.100/- per head, which takes usually 1 hr, and allows us to go somewhat near to the GarbhaGudi. Third is Rs.250/- per head, with which they allow you to sit near the main temple for 10 min, they do archana etc. We took Rs.100/- ticket and started our journey towards the main temple.
The
As soon as you enter into the main temple premises, you see a big corridor open to sky, two pathways along side. You can find some shops selling the souvenirs of the temple and some other stuff. Going further, you will be directed to a star shaped pathway which will be almost like 2 KM long to walk before you reach the main temple. Though it is 2 KM, you won’t feel like, it is that much far. Whole of this 2 km is sheltered with terracotta tiles which gives enough shade to walk peacefully. You can find some restrooms, water taps along the way every now and then, which would be very useful if you are going in the afternoon. Also, you will find some vendors selling milk and some small snacks like biscuits etc. Along the pathways, you will find the surroundings very scenic, and the landscaping is done in a beautiful way. Also, there are lot of boards with the quotes of ShakthiAmma which are very good.
Once reaching the main temple, we are again directed to be in different queues according to the ticket, and made to do one pradakshina. We are amazed to see the beauty of the temple. The temple is surrounded by pond of water which enhanced the beauty of the temple further. The temple pillars have sculptures like Peacock and elephants which gives a feeling that the whole temple is carried on them. We felt lucky to take the Rs.100/ tickets as we were able to enter the main temple. The ceiling of the main temple is a treat to watch. Once you are inside the main temple, you will forget seeing the god, as you are surrounded by full golden pillars. We took a peaceful darshan for abt 2 min.
We started returning from the place around 5:30 PM and stopped in Hosur at about 9:30 PM for dinner. On the way back we all played Antyakshari to keep ourselves engaged and enjoyed it thouroughly. Anna and Bharath sang some foot tapping songs J. Finally, We returned home at around 11 PM. It was a memorable trip altogether.
I’ll try to upload some of our trip photos soon.
You can visit official website of Sripuram temple at www.sripuram.org for more details on the temple.
