TUMBURU - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Oh wow – how beautiful is this theertham! How beautiful is the way to this theertham!! How mesmerizing!!! Is what you will feel when you near and see this theertham!!!

Friends – finally we made it to this theertham on 8th March 2012 exactly when the bridges are open for general public to kumaradhara.

Myself and my friend went with a doubt in mind to see whether we will be allowed to move to Tumburu instead of Kumaradhara on 8th – to our surprise, yes, we were allowed and there were a lot of people who have moved to Tumburu the night before itself and had overstayed there (who have actually walked from other side of the hill). Actually Tumburu is otherwise called as Palguna theertham also and taking a dip on Palguna Full moon day is more important.


mount cut path...


Since, there were lot of human movement until Tumburu – we didn’t have any trouble at all. You may recall the riverlet touching which we have returned last time. This time after reaching the riverlet, if we take the footpath on the left side, that will take you to giant ant hill (in telugu – putta) which was also worshipped by all pilgrims. From there, if you still incline to a path on the left side…..yes, you will see the mountains as if it is being broken apart to two sides by something/ somebody and in between is the rock formed path for the stream to run through, forming walking paths for the pilgrims on the sides. In some places you will have to go through waterbody at hip level and then again onto the same mesmerizing path between the mountains, at the bottom of the mountains as if you are walking through a cave which has no top and this path goes on taking left and right turn and at one point, takes a left and ends with the theertham with no path to proceed further. Strangely, I have seen only waterfalls falling from filled water bodies and here I did see the theertham flowing from underneath of rocks in a cave like structure. It is so beautiful, relaxing and blissful – to be here and to take a dip in the theertham. Thanks to Lord Venkateswara for allowing us to finish with our long aimed mission.

Mythological explanations for the creation of the theertham goes like this…..Lord Rama when was observing penance with Goddess Sita Devi in this forest during his 14 years of “vanavasa” (residing in the forest), there was no water anywhere for their need in a needy situation and so Lord Rama had let an arrow out of his bow which had split the mountains on its way and had hit a place from where the water started flowing.

To add on, as we went inside without carrying any food or anything, when we started climbing back the hills, we were feeling very hungry and had a bottle of water alone with us. Felt very tired and was resting often as it was very sunny also. Finally at Sanagana theertham (about 1.5 kms from Papanasam, enroute Tumburu), there were a group of people who were offering some free curd rice to pilgrims. Bless them all! Thanks a lot to their thoughtful service. They also talked about a number of other theerthams in the forest – Ramakrishna Theertham, Old papanasa theertham, etc.

So, now if anyone is interested to do this trip safely, gates are open again this year on Chithra Pournami (full moon day of the ‘chithirai’ month) on 6th of April 2012. If you plan well and go prepared for a sunny day and carry some food and if you could walk for 18-20 kms – yes, you could make it to Tumburu and relish in it’s memory for a long time. Along with this, if you would want to touch kumaradhara theertham also – yes, you can start early on the day and return and touch Kumaradhara and return to Tirumala – just have to walk another 10 kms to accomplish both.

Om Namo Narayanaya!!!

Cheers!!!


Sacred Tumburu...



pilgirms worshipping the "putta" - ant hill...


Tumburu theertham

more update on visit to Tumburu/ Kumaradhara

Hello friends

Please refer to my recent update - I re-checked again at the TTD call centre to find that on Palguna Pournami, 8th March bridges are open to visit Kumaradhara and on 6th of April, Chithra Pournami bridges are open to visit Tumburu. I hear from Mr Siddharth Reddy (follower) that in a daily today, TTD had published also about these clarifications on dates.

Cheers - Kumaran

GATES OPEN TO TUMBURU

Dear friends

On next thursday, 8th of March, gates (bridge over papanasam dam at Tirumala) will be open to general public to pay a visit to Tumburu theertham. This is the palguna pournami day and every palguna pournami day this bridge will be open to all to visit tumburu. For information on these dates and for any other queries, you may please call TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam) call centres at 0877-2277777 or 2233333. Google search will get you more numbers.

I, amidst busy work schedules is aiming to complete this 'tourgrimmage' along with a friend of mine. Let's see - LORD VENKATESWARA HAS TO GRANT PERMISSION!!!

Regards

S Kumaran

WHAT'S MY BLOG ABOUT?

My TOUR-GRIMMAGE

Hello friends, I have created this blog to share my experiences on my tour cum pilgrimage of places quite famous like Tirupati-Tirumala, Tiruvannamalai, etc but had covered so many interesting other aspects of the same destinations. I am so happy to start with Tirupati-Tirumala.

TIRUMALA and SACRED THEERTHAMS

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TIRUMALA and SACRED THEERTHAMS

Tirumala is such a beautiful pilgrimage centre for anyone – I have been to many other temples but here it is like you are in a vast ocean of bliss and happiness wherever you are up the hills and when you see the main deity Lord Venkateswara – you will know that you are mesmerized for those moments and will not be able to take off your eyes easily. To me its like he is there looking at you, listening to the prayers in your heart and answering it. Hmmmmmm….sorry if I am talking religious. Main intention of this blog is to share the experiences I had when trying to explore some of the sacred theerthams in the forest side of the hills.

THEERTHAMS IN TIRUMALA

In General we all know about SRIVARI PUSHKARNI – one of the sacred theertham in the hill where all pilgrims will take bath. Other than this, we can visit AKASH GANGA THEERTHAM and PAPANASAM FALLS. There is also GOGARBA THEERTHAM on the way to PAPANASAM exactly where we go over a dam kind of bridge. Also we have JABALI THEERTHAM which is also accessible to all pilgrims.

I would like to take you all through some of the other theerthams that is quite into the forest and not accessible to general public easily or without permission from the TTD or Forest departments.


SRIVARI PUSHKARNI............

JABALI THEERTHAM.......

Many of us would not have known about the KAPILA THEERTHAM that is located at the foothills of TIRUMALA before we start climbing hills. Info on KAPILA THEERTHAM is given below….

KAPILA THEERTHAM

This is on the way from Tirupati Railway Station/ Bus stand to the foothills of tirumala hills about 3 kms from bus stand. Landmark is called as ‘Nandi Circle’. This has a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva and is said that we should pray to him first and then to climb on to see Lord Venkateswara. This temple has a waterfall that is said to be the mix of 63 sacred theerthams in tirumala. This is seasonal (from October till January/ February) and is good for an enjoyous bath like in any other famous waterfall.

Kapila Theertham near Nandi Circle - this will be a very scenic waterfall during the season

SANANDHANA SANAGANA THEERTHAM

OUR AMATEUR TREKKING IN SEARCH OF THEERTHAMS....

At Papanasam, you will see a dam bridge access to which is restricted. Theerthams discussed below are all coming on the other side of the bridge….

To set an introduction…, We wanted to explore the theerthams in the risky forest zone; we do not have any trekking experience; we do not know what kind of wild animals will be there – though we know leopards or quite often seen in this forest; we do not have much knowledge on how to tackle any such emergencies and we never feared or even had a single thought of facing troubles in the forest!. All that we (just two of us) will do as preparation to these explorations is….reaching papanasam early in the day, buying some food (biscuits, fruits), water bottles for us and not even carry a small knife with us for safety – because we really didn’t think from the safety corner at all.

SANANDHANA SANAGANA THEERTHAM

This is a theertham that is across the bridge of papanasam and in the forest. It is quite closer after you go across the bridge - say about 1.5 kms. Theertham will have clear water collected in a tank and behind this is stands a huge mountain wall with a cave in it. When I saw this for the first time, I was little hesitant to go close to take a look at the cave. See pictures.

Cave little behind the theertham from a distance....

Enter and lie down on the stone bed inside....

KUMARADHARA THEERTHAM

KUMARADHARA THEERTHAM

This is a theertham that is little far into the forest area of the hills. I would love to explain my experience which I think might interest you as well.

Across the papanasam bridge, you will have to walk across one range to its other end - into deep forest and then into a flat land area where now some construction work is also going on – A dam I guess. After this you will have to climb down a steepy down path which will end in a stream – mostly dry! This stream will not be flowing with much water though there will be ponds here and there on its way and little slippery too. In my first visit, we managed reaching until this stream. You should also understand you will not get any mobile signals or anyone else on the way to check where you are and which way to go to the theertham unless and otherwise you are lucky. Okay, after we reached this stream, I saw a dripping of water on the other side of the river which I thought should be the theertham.


River path leading to Kumaradhara



Another snap of the river path

We were about to return and saw some TTD staff coming on the way luckily. Seeing us, they asked in a loud voice “Kumaradhara?” and asked us to go further. So, we continued walking down the river path and this river path…had water collections here and there which is slippery and then finally ended in a water fall like edge…it became really confusing for us and we do not know where to go further. We thought we missed the route somewhere and thought our attempt failed and was about to move back. Again the same TTD people were crossing over and asked us to go further and then went before us and disappeared at the edge. I went a little close to see and saw an iron ladder to about 30-40 feet height in which they were climbing down. This is not a proper iron ladder to climb down as it has no side guards or anything but still we have decided to climb it down. As we climbed down…. It is so amazing that you will see yourself in the womb of the mountains …..like covered by mountains all around and you are in the stomach kind of place created by these mountains around - so quiet and silent and down there on one side there is a big valley path that leads to deeps somewhere which we didn’t gather any courage to explore….on one side you will see the KUMARADHARA theertham flowing and it is quite small only. One side is an amazing cave where you will see some idols and this cave is also quite interesting – one cannot crawl in as it is too small but you will see so many beams naturally coming in between and showing different different routes inside it…

Risky Iron Ladder and TTD staff...........



Risky Iron Ladder and TTD staff...........

Theertham Waterfall is not quite impressive but we went for a dip in it and realized that this theertham is so cold and enjoyable for anybody who is coming to take a dip in it… Place around is so.. so amazing. You can enjoy all these only if you do not worry about any wild animals otherwise we will not be able to enjoy anything here. This was our first experience into the tirumala forests to reach Kumaradhara and it is quite interesting and memorable and so we have planned to visit other falls - Tumburu next time.

In my expression....'mount bowl'....

....or 'womb of the mountains'

SACRED KUMARADHARA......