Shollingar is about 130 kms Chennai and is perfect one day trip spot if one is looking to get out of Chennai and get some exercise. Its home to two historic temples; Yoga Narasimhar and Yoga Anjaneyar and both are up hills that require climbing 1200 and 500 steps respectively.
Yoga Narasimhar (Perumal) Kovil....
Need to climb 1200+ steps to have darshan. The roof over the steps is of great shield from the vagaries of weather. The roof work has been going on for years and had just completed just a few months back.
All temple necessities are being lifted manually everyday.. quite a task. There are plans to lay roads and connect both temples, but that is still in the drawing board.
Penance ??
Monkeys are everywhere.. Its generally fun to watch them till they snatch eatables from you.
Saw this in the choultry belonging to the temple.. Brahmins only? I hope not..
More in flickr
How to get there?
Sholingar is about 130 kms from Chennai. The nearest railway station is Arakkonam, which is about 30 kms from Sholingar.
We drove and started at 4:30 AM when most of Chennai was still sleeping. It took us about 3 hours to cover the 130 km stretch but took almost double that time on return. Onward, we took the Bangalore route and went via Sriperumpudr, Ranipet which was much much better than the route I took on return. I made the mistake of looking at the map and decided to take Arakonam, Thiruvallur route as it looked shorter and paid dearly for it. The road, if you can call that was very very bad and had to crawl my way through. So, if you are going from Chennai, take the Bangalore route.
Where to eat?
Both temples sell prasadams and some small hotels are available at foothills. But expect Saravana Bhavan quality.
Where to stay?
I saw a billboard for a lone hotel near the temple, but better options must be available in Arakonam and Vellore.
When to Visit?
Take in to account 1600+ steps when planning. I suggest Nov - Jan time frame when the weather is relatively cooler in this part of the world.
Very Interesting place indeed to visit, especially for Chennaites! Many temples still follow the brahmins only access to Sanctum Sanctorum in a temple. Because the people have been conditioned to follow such age old custom, it must be going on even now without raising any eye brows.
ReplyDeleteRaman
Well if you are in to these things, make an effort to visit Gingee (Chenji or Senjee) near Vellore. Has a very famous temple and a fort but you have to climb a lot. North Arcot (now known as Vellore) is very famous for such hilly temples because the deities had to be saved from the Nawabs and other Islamic marauders.
ReplyDeletepdxguy
ReplyDeleteYeah.. heard about Gingee.. will make it a point to go in the coming days.. I love to visit the temples and learn a little about the history.. The cool thing is... every one of these temples are steeped in history..