Panduranga Vithal Temple, in Andhrapradesh , the first ever outside Maharastra.

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It was the year 1889...Aptil the 4 th...In a remote hamlet called

utharavelli, in the bobbili Tq of vijayanagaram Dt,of north andhra, a

male child was born to couple called Teki Gangadharam and

Ramamma...They named the child Narasinham....They belonged to the

caste of goldsmiths,--goldsmiths are called VISWABRAHMINS,..and in

practicing orthodoxy,they go one up on even the most orthodox of

brahmins themselves....In fact, at Bandar, i have observed that

,visyas and goldsmiths practiced a more stricter form of orthodoxy

than many brahmins...--

 

Narasimham grew up ,got married in his twelfth year and migrated to

Bandar seeking greener pastures and settled at Chilakalapudi,----it

could be called a suburb of bandar--- and started a flourishing rolled

gold ornament making industry...Some say he could be called as the

founding father of this costume jewellery industry...and it is one of

the Bandar " s major buisinesses today...

 

He was a pious man, a siva bhaktha and was reputed to have written

sivakoti too...and it was one of those ironies of fate...that

reiterate the theory of destiny....that once Narasimham went to

Pandharpur on a pilgrimage, where he chanced to meet a great saint

called Sadguru Mahipathi and got attracted to the lord PanduRanga

Vithal....Mahipathi initiated him to the cult and gave Narasimham the

panduranga maha mantropadesm....and a siva devotee turned out to be a

vishnu " s minion.....

 

After this initial encounter, Narasimham returned to Bandar,but did

continue to visit Pandharpur several times...Once ,he expressed his

desire to his guru to have a temple of the lord at his own place where

he could have a darshan as often as he wanted....Mahipathi smiled at

this, and suggested that Narasinham first build a matham for the two

all time great vithal devotees,Jnandev and Thukaram,and the lord would

follow.....

 

So, according to the wishes of his guru, Narasimham built a matham for

jnandev and Thukaram...it was completed on august,17 th of the year

1927....On 28 th of june,1928, he built a dharmasala in the name of

bhaktha pundareek and on every dwadasi day, annadanam used to take

place here....The main temple " s construction started about this

time...it took almost eight years to finish it and in 1935 ,the main

deity was installed and the consecration took place...

 

A lovely story goes round, at this point of time, that Narasimham

never ordered for an idol to be chiselled for the lord...as the lord

said to have assured him that he would appear all by himself....A

swayambhuv...Ofcource one could not easily ascertain the veracity of

the story ...But it spread by word of mouth publicity and was

published in certain magazines too ...

 

An auspicious day was fixed for the installation ceremony and even the

word that the lord is going to be a swayambhu spread around all and

sundry.....People started coming in droves to witness this amazing

spectacle even days before...The Dt. collector and police

officials...(they were english) announced they were going to be

present....As the days numbered, Narasimham himself, ...though an

ardent devotee,had his own misgivings and got worried.. On the night

before the consecration, he was said to have fallen into a disturbed

sleep when the lord Hanuman appeared in his dreams.. " .Do " nt worry,my

child " he said... " the lord would appear, and if he did " nt, i would

drag the pandharpur vithal himself with my tail and install

him " ...Rejuvenated by this assurance,Narasimham went on with the

ceremony,...and before the hundreds of people and in the presence of

the collector, an idol of lord Vithal was said to have appeared out of

nowhere....

 

Some people do say, that it could not have happened and might be just

a trick....I ,personally would not say any thing..and frankly it does

not make any difference to the faithful...

 

 

The temple is a large one and extends over an area of six acres..at a

very peaceful place, away from the hustle and bustle of the town....A

massive tower adorns the entrance gates of the temple and strangely ,

as you enter ,from west, you will find the lord facing east, away from

the gates, and in opposite direction...The main halls are wide, cool,

and vast,...An Abhayanjaneya swami stands right in front of the lord

at the deepest end of the halls...waiting on his lord in rapt

attention....

 

One surprisingly delightful custom of this temple is,,..that every

devotee, regardless of caste,and creed, can directly go up to the lord

, straight in to the dark sanctum sanctorum, and touch his feet...The

lord stands on a slightly elevated platform, arms akimbo and

smiling.....a short figure,ranging not more than three feet..A

beautiful diamond studded namam adorns his forehead and it glitters

and flashes through the dark corridors... the only thing visible to

the devotees waiting through queues......

 

A long prakaram surrounds the temple on three sides (almost)..and

various little alcoves are built into the on walls of this prakaram

and form long corridors...Famous vithal followers and other gods " s

images are preserved in these alcoves and recieve daily poojas....

 

To the left of the entrance gates, a smaller temple exists,housing the

consorts of the lord...Radha,Rukmini, and Satyabhama....A large temple

tank also exists here, called Chandrabhaga but fell into disrepair

these days...Karthika pournami is the busiest day of this temple, as

most people visit it enroute to the bay of bengal,for the samudra

snanalu....and aashadha shudha ekadasi, auspicious for vithal devotees..

 

Everybody knows that vithoba is worshipped mainly in Maharashtra, and

vithal cult is a very vibrant and quite intense kind of one,

there...This temple is the only one dedicated to lord vithal..(to my

knowledge)..outside of Maharashtra.....in andhrapradesh..and that is

why many people make it a specific point to visit here ..though many

other more ancient, temples exist at Bandar...

 

An interesting incident happened in connection with this temple..in

the seventies....An aircraft.--..might be a privately chartered

one.----... once got lost in a wind storm on the skies above Bandar,or

might have developed snags.. and had to make an emergency landing

quite near the temple premises...in a palmyra grove...Thankfully, all

the travellers made a safe landing and a couple of them were wealthy

maharashtrians..an elderly husband and wife...They were in a panic

when the aircraft went in to trouble, and were praying when they

sighted the tower of the temple...As it has been fashioned along the

lines of vithal temple of Pandharpur,,they immediately recognised it

as such...--mostly by an association of ideas than any systematic

conclusiom..for infact, they were new to the land here and did not

even know it was a vithal mandir----They made a vow,on the spot,to

conduct DOSA YAJNAM,there if they landed safe....and DID perform it in

gratitude...

 

A dosa yajnam is what can be termed as a cucumber sacrifice in

english... it means, you plant cucumber seeds, and perform daily

yajnam till the seeds come out as a creeper,flower and bear fruit,,,

 

Another unique feature of this temple is it is still being privately

maintained by the descendants of Bhaktha Narasimham, as they refused

to hand it over to the endowments ministry...So, there are no hundis

and collections here...