PPRRAASSHHAANNTT MMOORRPPAARRIIAA

Ahobilam inNallamalai Hills ofAndhra Pradesh is

a great trekking destina-tion with religious signifi-cance. There are nineNarsimha Swamy templesand the Ahobil Matt inAhobilam. Of the ninetemples, four can bereached by road while onehas to trek to get to theother five. The nine tem-ples are — JwalaNarsimha, PavanaNarsimha, Varaha

Narsimha, MalolaN a r s i m h a ,

B h a r g a v aN a r s i m h a ,

U g r aN a r s i m h a ,YoganandaNarsimha,K a r a n j aNarsimhaand theChatravataNarsimha.

Of these —Yo g ananda

N a r s i m h a ,C h a t r a v a t a

Narsimha andBhargava Narsimha

are in Lower Ahobilamand the other six templescan be reached fromUpper Ahobilam, which isabout 15 km uphill.

The trek to PavanaNarsimha is through theforest, and it’s myfavourite of the trails. Adozen of us left Hyderabadon Friday night andreached Upper Ahobilamearly on Saturday all excit-ed. Upper Ahobilam is 850m above sea level and isthe base for treks to

Pavana Narsimha andJwala Narsimha.

We began the trek toPavana Narsimha fromthe Ugrah Narsimha tem-ple. After climbing about700 steps to the top of thehill we reached Pavana inan hour. After a quick dar-shan, we went back toUpper Ahobilam anddrove off to LowerAhobilam, stopping at the

Karanja Narsimha templeen route. After lunch, wevisited Yogananda andChatravata Narsimha.

The route to BhargavaNarsimha gets slushy dur-ing monsoons and it is notuncommon to see carsstuck. The BhargavaNarsimha temple is about3 km away and there is asmall lotus pond at thefoot of the temple. Werushed back to LowerAhobilam, but not beforegetting some beautifulshots of the sunset.

The next day, we trekkedto Jwala Narsimhathrough Upper Ahobilam.Ugra Sthambam is said tobe the place whereNarsimha first appearedand is also the highesttrekking point inAhobilam. After an hourthere, satisfied, we startedour trek down, stopping atMalola Narsimha andVaraha Narsimha on theway.

— The writer is an entre-preneur in the Speciality

Chemicals industry.

25

Hyderabad Chroniclewanderlust38Friday 20 July 2012

AAtt LLoowweerr AAhhoobbiillaamm tthheeHHaarriitthhaa RReessoorrtt hhaass aa

rreessttaauurraanntt wwhhiicchh sseerrvveessbbaassiicc SSoouutthh IInnddiiaann

bbrreeaakkffaasstt aannddmmeeaallss.. TThhee AAhhoobbiillMMaatttt sseerrvveess lluunncchhaanndd ddiinnnneerr.. IInn

UUppppeerr AAhhoobbiillaamm,,tthhee AArryyaa VVyyssyyaa

CChhoouullttrryy aanndd BBhhrraammiinnCChhoouullttrryy aarree ggoooodd ppllaacceess

ttoo ggrraabb aa bbiittee.. TThheerree aarree nnooffiixxeedd cchhaarrggeess aatt tthhee cchhoouullttrryy..

TThheeyy rruunn oonn vvoolluunnttaarryy ddoonnaattiioonnss..

Foodstop

AHOBILAMOFFERS THE

PERFECT MIX OF

ADVENTUREAND RELIGION

Ponds, prayers

HHOOLLYY TTRRIIPP A pilgrim is carried in a ‘Doli’ at Upper Ahobilam

HOW TO REACH:

TThhee rroouuttee ttoo AAhhoobbiillaammffrroomm HHyyddeerraabbaadd iisstthhrroouugghh KKuurrnnooooll,,NNaannddyyaall aannddAAllllaaggaaddddaa..

accommodation

APTDC Haritha resort at LowerAhobilam, Malola Guest house, The NavaAhobilam guest house at the outskirts ofAhobilam and the Arya Vysya Choultryat Upper Ahobilam.

distance

Best ways toget there...From Hyderabad, it’s 370 kms. Nearestrailway station is Nandyal. All buses toKadapa stop at Allagadda. FromAllagadda one can get shared autos ormini buses to Lower Ahobilam.

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AP

Prashant Morparia (extreme right)with his team