Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swami temple Singrikudi nearThavalakuppam Pondicherry

I had visited this temple last month during the south zone Urology conference and thought I had blogged about it today anyway I got another opportunity while attending a medical camp at Pondicherry I found time to re visit the same .
HOW TO REACH
The temple is located in Abhishekapakkam village on the Pondy Cuddalore road. About 6 kms from Pondy you will reach Thavalakuppam take the right here and you will reach  Abhishekapakkam village in 2 kms and further take a right at the village’s electricity power transformer a board will guide you you will reach the temple main road on the right
Alternatively you can reach this place on the villupuram Pondy road at about 20 kms from Vizhupuram on the siruvanthadu road
The temples of Narasimha at  Parikkal(http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/05/parikkal-lakshminarasimhar-temple.html),

Poovarasankuppam(http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2011/01/poovarasan-kuppam-lakshmi.html) and Singrikudi are in a straight line and can be visited in one morning .

Map courtesy http://www.indusladies.com/forums/temples-and-deities/44744-lakshminarasimhar-temple-2.html

you can add Anthill (http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2013/04/sri-lakshmi-narasimha-swami-temple-at.html) as well as

Singaperumal koil(http://drlsravi.blogspot.in/2010/08/singaperuman-koil.html) and finish off 5 Narasimha temples in one day

LEGENDS AND STORIES
Once Nimi Chakravarthy wanted to do a Indra yagna and invited Vashishta who declined to conduct it but promised to visit the yagna, when he came the king was asleep and hence he cursed the king to roam around like a spirit the king also cursed the sage. To atone for this Vashishta sought help from his father Brahma who advised him to pray here and attend salvation
The temple is ancient with peaceful ambience. The Rajagopuram leads us to an outer prahara where there is a temple for Vishwaksena and two temples for grama devathas

Vishwaksena(Ganapathy) in the front and behind you can see one of the Durga Amman Grama devathas temple in the pic below)

The other Durga Amman sannidhi is seen below right next to the Rajagopuram

The Next prahara has the Kodimaram and sannidhis for Kanakavalli Thayar and Andal.There is also a small Brindavanam

The above pic is showing all the below mentioned aspects from one spot

Andal sannidhi in the far side

Thayar Kanakavalli sannidhi on the Southern side facing east

The main prahara has Narasimha swami Sannidhi facing west.Here Narasimha in his ugra roopa is seen  killing hiranyakashyappu he has 16 arms you can see In the main sanctum along with Ugra Narasimha, we see Yoga Narasimha and Bala Narasimha.

To the left side within the sanctum, we see Neelavathi (Wife of Hiranyakashyappu) and to right we see  Prahlada, Sukra and Vashishta

(Pic courtesy Google)

Each limb of the lord shows either a mudra, a weapon or is dismembering Hiranyakashyappu

There are special entry darshan with Rs.10 and cut the queue.

The whole temple has a peaceful unhurried ambience and is well worth the visit

Sri Kanakadurga temple Vijayawada

I had the opportunity to visit this temple this Sunday as per the wishes of the Kanchi acharyas who are camping here for their chaturmasa vratam. The Krishna river will have the pushkar festival from Aug 12  to 24 this year hence hectic construction  activity is taking place. I had previously visited this temple  in 1983 and remember climbing up the Indra keeladri hill but today there is a magnificent 7 floored multistory building engulfing the hill which is the modern queue complex. There is a lift available for the physically challenged also.
How to Reach:
The temple is on a hillock where the NH 5 enters the city from the south at the Krishna river barrage. It is very close to the station and you just can't miss it.There is a road up the ghat road and vehicles were allowed up previously. For the pushkar it has been stopped.
Legends
Indra Keela a sage obtained a boon that  Ma Durga would stay Atop his head and protect the people from asuras in the previous Yuga .True to her word After killing mahishasura, Durga came to rest on the Indrakeeladri hill protecting the people of Bezwada. The 10 day Dasara festival is grandly celebrated here with daily adornments and alankara of Durga Devi.Since she shines in a holden hue she is called Kanaka Durga. Kanaka is gold in Telugu and Sanskrit.
There is another story that Durga playfully removed the nose ring from Krishnaa and ran up the hill.Krishna has promised that at the end of the Yuga she will rise up to the hill and redeem her nose ring

In the Mahabharata Arjuna has a fight  with Shiva as a hunter in claiming  a wild boar killed by his arrow,Shiva tests him and this is where he gives Arjuna the pasupata astra.
The Chola king Vijaya adithya conquered this land and built  the Vijayeshwara temple below the hill to commemorate Arjuna's receiving the astra.

The river Krishna was stopped by the hills here . Answering the peoples prayers Shiva created caverns and tunnels in these hills to allow free flow of the river to irrigate the land and make it fertile. Locally these tunnels are called Bejjalu hence the name Bejjalu wada or Bezwada for this city. To commemorate this the Mallikarjuna shiva temple is built on another hill adjoining the Durga temple.
Adishankara visited this place and has codified Pooja here and has done a Srichakra yanthra sthapana in this temple

When you visit the temple please leave the cell phones in designated lockers and you can move up 7 floors in dedicated queues for Rs.5/20/100 and free darshan. Tickets will be issued in the queue itself with laddu  .
You will be allowed in front of the sanctum for a brief period to pray.
The temple has a dedicated website for all special Poojas and sevas .
Everything is peaceful inspute of the crowd above at the temple .please do visit and enjoy the benefits of Ma Durga