Shiva temple tour package to whet devotees’ appetite
Hyderabad: To encash the ensuing holiday season, the Telangana Tourism Development Corporation has come up with a temple tourism package to ‘Pancharama Kshetras’ in Andhra Pradesh.
The devotees can wrap up their pilgrimage tour within three days visiting five Shaiva Kshetras in Andhra Pradesh. Pancharama is the name given to those five temples which are dedicated to Lord Shiva. Pancha means five and Aramameans peace,i.e. five pleasant and peaceful places. These places are situated at Draksharamam, Samarlakota, Amaravathi, Palakollu and Bhimavaram, distributed over four districts of West Godavari, Guntur, Konaseema and Kakinada. Devotees consider these places as sacred and having darshan would fulfill their desires.
The legend has it that Hiranya Kashipuhad a son Simuchi. The son of Simuchi, Tharakasura worships Lord Shiva and gets his Atmalinga and gets blessings that only a child can kill him. Then, Tharakasura starts troubling people and gods. Devatas go to Lord Shiva for finding a solution to punish Tharakasura. Lord Kumara Swamy Avatar thus happens and the child kills Tharakasura. After the death of Tharakasura, the Atmalinga gets divided into five pieces. Each one gets installed by the Gods in five different places. These places are called PancharamaKshetras, as per the legend.
The Telangana Tourism Corporation has brought a package in the name of ‘Temple Tour to Pancharamams’. According to a senior official in the Corporation, the tour package is being operated from Hyderabad through bus. The tour is designed to have darshan of the Pancharamas on Monday. The journey is planned in such a way that the devotees will have to spare only one day. While the journey will be for two nights (to and fro) the darshan will be for one day.
The official said that the journey will be starting from 9 pm on every Sunday from the CRO Basheerbagh. The journey would be for the entire night and the devotees can reach Amaravati at 5 am. After getting refreshed at the hotel, the devotees can have darshan at Amareshwar. Later, they will be taken to Palakollu in West Godavari District and will have the darshan of Ramalingeshwara Swamy. From here, they will be travelling to Bheemavaram to have darshan of Someshwara Swamy. They will move to Draksharamam and have darshan at Shiva Lingam in Samarlakota. Trip to all these kshetras can be wrapped up within one day. The return journey will be starting during the night and they will be reaching Hyderabad at 7 am on Tuesday, which will mark the end of the tour.
The official said that the charges for adults will be Rs 4,999 and Rs 3,999 for children. Transport will be via a non-a/c hi-tech coach. The darshan tickets are not covered in this package and the passengers will have to pay separately for them.