A trip to Ahobilam

Malola Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

Ahobilam is my first exclusive pilgrimage tour. What I expected to be just a spiritual experience was rewarding in more ways than one. The specialty of Ahobilam is the nine Narasimha swamy temples, each having a place in the story of the Lord incarnating as the simha avatara to kill the demon Hiranyakashipu, in order to save Prahlad maharaja, who was a devout Vishnu devotee.

Of the 9 temples, 3 are in the forest on the Nallamala hill ranges. They were all reachable by a 3 hour long steep trek.

Kroda Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

The first temple on the trek is the Kroda Narasimha temple. Here the Lord is in the varaha (boar) form and is said to have dug deep into the earth to bring back an unhappy Lashmi Devi. She was upset over the Lord's interest in a local Chenchu tribal girl (even though the Chenchu girl herself was an avatara of the Goddess!). Due to this legend, Chenchu tribes are closely associated with the temple traditions in Ahobilam.

Trek to Jwala Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

The highest temple is of Jwala Narasimha situated at the spot where the Lord killed the demon by splitting open his stomach. Nearby, there is a very tall cliff shaped like a pillar called the Ughra sthamba believed to be the pillar from which the Lord emerged. The rathakunda, a small pond near the temple had little water when we travelled. It is meant to be the one where the Lord washed his hands and is still tinged red! The temple itself is a small cave with a priest.

Jwala Narasimha Deity, Ahobilam

From there, we trekked down to the shrine of Malola Narasimha. Here the Lord is said to be in Soumya form with Lashmi Devi on his lap.

On the way to lower Ahobilam, the temples of Ahobila narasimha (where the Lord is said to be at his fiercest and is the oldest of the 9 temples), Karanja Narasimha (where Narasimha is installed under a Karanja tree), Chatravata Narasimha (Narasimha under a peepal tree looking like an umbrella) and Yogananda Narasimha (where the Lord is said to have taught Prahalada maharaj yogic postures) were covered by us.

Route to Malola Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

The trek down was not as challenging naturally as the trek up, but several devotees without slippers struggled as the rocks were extremely hot. The intermittent springs gave us respite from the hot sun. The small ponds had huge shoals of sucker fish which even gave us all amazing fish pedicures, the likes of which would easily cost Rs 1000 in a city salon! Overall the day was a good mix of spirituality and physical exercise. We got to sing some bajans and hear excerpts from popular legend about the Simha incarnation of the Lord.

Trek to Pavana Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

Pavana Narasimha Temple, Ahobilam

The next day was cut out to be extra trying as the trek started with some 800 odd steep stairs followed by a forest trek. We started at 5:30am after coffee at a local shop and reached the temple at 8:30am. My legs hated me for the stairs, but it was all worth it as the Pavana Narasimha temple(on the banks of the Pavana river) was in a beautiful forest setting. The local Chenchu family was busy decorating and cleaning the surroundings getting it ready for the day's supply of pilgrims. The Lord was beautifully done up and we each got a cup of refreshing "Panakam" (A drink made of jaggery water), which is supposed to be the Lord's favourite too.

The last two temple visits were to the Barghava Narasimha (where Rama performed penance as Bargava) and Prahlada Narasimha in Lower Ahobilam. The Lower Ahobilam temple was constructed by the Vijayanagar rulers and hence has several pillared mandapas leading to the temple. By this time the sun was hitting down on us pretty strongly and was draining us physically. The trip had officially come to an end.

Place of Stay, Krishnadeve Raya Guest House, Ahobilam

Thirumangai Alwar has described Ahobilam as hard to reach except for the Gods. Now however, with some strenuous trekking, the beauty of the small, dry and dusty village and of the 9 shrines is something that everyone is able to experience.

P.S. I went with family, me, my cousin and our mummies. We are all in the same wavelength when it comes to jokes and whatnot, it was just super fun with a lot of giggling and name calling!