sripuram is a tiny village, about 12 kms from vellore town, tamilnadu. its now being made famous by this golden temple with government plying 'golden temple' specials. it is a 3 hour drive from chennai on the chennai-bangalore highway.
all electronics, including cellphones, cameras, ipods are confiscated at the entrance to the temple. also, one can find a huge canteen that resembles a marriage-hall at the entrance. the temple is approximately 1.5 kms from here. seriously!
the walk to the temple is scenic with loads of greenery, and water fountains and flowing water. after a 400m walk, one enters a star shaped corridor that surrounds the temple. as one walks the star, one can fill one's eyes with the beauty of the temple. the corridor leads into a circular corridor that encompasses a pool of water. at the center of this water pool resides the Goddess Lakshmi, called Narayani Devi.
the sanctum-sanctorum is made from pure gold. the yellow metal is used liberally on the temple gopuram, pillars, ceiling and the sides.
the temple is constructed, managed and maintained by 30-odd years old shri narayani amma of sri narayani peedam.
overheard facts : temple is built on 100 acres of land, 600 crores rupees was the expenditure, 1.5 tones of gold used, 400 goldsmiths and copper smiths finished task in 6 years, the temple structure made out of copper structure on which 9 layers of gold was draped.
some tips for the visit : take the 250 Rs route to save on some time and also to get a closer n longer look at the deity, visit temple on a weekday, choose twilight time-frame for the visit ...you get to see the temple in natural light and man-made light under a night sky as well. wheelchairs are available for elderly at the entrance, elderly can use the short cut route to the garbha-graha.
the temple is a man-made beauty. greenery surrounding the temple adds to the beauty. next time you visit chennai, do plan a trip to this place!
12 comments:
thats a nice pulliayar chuzhi to your blog..
my parents plan to visit it next month..
on second thoughts..i tend to question the Rs 600 crore.. could be put to much more thankful uses in a still poor nation like ours..again this argument could be common place..but one cannot deny its existence..
someone actually commented before i did :)..looks like your publicity machine is on overdrive..
nice start indeed..it's of the size that one can read and is informative to boot. i dont know if i will go there though.
i also overheard that one needs to wear footwear upto the point beyond which it is not allowed. the path to lakshmi is apparently through surya bhagavan's super heated corridors...
thats a nice one to start buddy. Crisp and clean.
Well. 600 crore could be spent on any activity. infact, in an ideal world, india need not spend 1,50,000 crores for defense.
catch you dude. hope to seeeeee more from you.
nice one da. as i understand from the other comments, a good start to your blogging. Nicely interlaced with photographs. The star shaped plan i particularly liked - Krish
Nice to see a good intro about Golden temple and a sure guide for the "Bhatha kodigal". Write your exprience in "Ramana Maharishi Ashram and "14 Kilometre" foot Journey around the Hill.
It seems we missed something wonderful in there. it seems there is a ashram right in the middle of the hill for "Maharishi".
Mahe
thanks for all your comments!
couple of you guyz questioned the extravagance on the expenditure.
my 2 cents!
once in a while we need to build big things like this. when "Taj Mahal" was being built, poor people did walk the earth under shahjahan's rule.
with the amount of weekday rush to the temple, i can estimate that number of visitors across a year can be more than 8 lakhs. tourism to sripuram will grow, and as a result the village and the surrounding areas are going to get benefited.
also, if the funds flowing into the peetam are diverted to good causes, poor will get benefited.
~current
Nice blog. "Madras kaapi" peru super. Thanks for the info about this temple.
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