Visit to Varanasi and Gaya

Our recent trip to the historical cities of Varanasi and Gaya was very satisfying. We had gone there with the entire family and had stayed there for almost three days. We visited Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Varanasi Vishwanth Temple, Annapurna Devi Temple, Visalakshi Temple, Kala Bhairav Temple and the Ganga Ghats. We witnessed the famous Ganga Arati which was a treat to watch. We went around all the ghats in a boat and took bath in the Ganga river. 

Varanasi is the most historical city of our country and a visit there is a must for all spiritually inclined people. Mark Twain, the English author and literature, who was enthralled by the legend and sanctity of Benaras, once wrote : "Benaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together"

Although the city has very narrow lanes and not very clean, it is buzzing with activity all day. All the city's activity centre around the Vishwanath Temple and the Ghats. 

The visit to Bodh Gaya also a very spiritually uplifting experience. It was a fantastic experience to visit the place and sit beneath the tree where Bhagavan Buddha attained enlightenment. 

Some of the photographs of the ghats can be seen by following the below given link.

https://plus.google.com/photos/117303815313863968519/albums/5882235558922508225?authkey=CO6Z_u-O06jxHw

Nava Nandi Tour

Recently we undertook a journey to Nava Nandi Kshetras near Nandyal. We set out in our car early in the morning at around 6.30 AM. We took the National Highway No 7  from Bangalore and traveled up to Veldurthi near Kurnool. We took a right turn from there and traveled around 30 Kms via Ramallakota to reach the Kurnool-Nandyal Highway at Kalvabugga.
The road from Bangalore to Veldurthi on NH-7 is excellent and we covered the distance in almost 5 hours. The road from Veldurthi to  Kalvabugga via Ramallkota is good in parts. Almost half of the road is under repair. The roads near the villages are very bad and broken in many parts. The scenery  however, was excellent and we took some snaps of the same. We reached Julepalle near Nandyal around 1.00 PM.

The Nava Nandis (9 Nandi Kshetras) are located around the city of Nandyal. A Nandi Kshetra is basically a Siva Temple with a Siva Lingam and a Nandi Statue outside it.

The Nava Nandis are “Prathama Nandi”, “Naga Nandi”, “Soma Nandi”, “Surya Nandi”, “Shiva Nandi”, “Vishnu Nandi (Krishna Nandi)", “Vinayaka Nandi” and “Garuda Nandi”.
The route we followed to see these Nandis was as follows – Prathama Nandi, Naga Nandi, Soma Nandi, Siva Nandi, Krishna Nandi, Mahanandi, Vinayaka Nandi, Garuda Nandi, Surya Nandi. The roads leading to Krishna Nandi, Siva Nandi and Surya Nandi were not good and we had to go through tough and rugged terrain to reach them. 

All in all it was a pleasant journey and some of the photos are being uploaded. We started the tour by 9 AM and returned by evening 5 PM. We had engaged a diesel auto and our driver was one with a knowledge of the route and the places.