Fighting it out with sticks

If today a majority of people sit back on Vijayadashami and watch the magnificent Dasara procession of Mysore on television, there is a small village bordering Andhra Pradesh where people have a go at teach other on this auspicious occasion.

The villagers here of course do pray on Vijaya Dashami and they also go to temples. But unlike in Mysore, the festivities do not culminate into a procession-the grand Jumboo Savari. Instead, we literally have fight where lathis, sticks, poles, bamboos and hands are so liberally used that people do get injured. Some have even died. But. No; the police are expected to remain mute spectators and they do not even register a case. After all, what is in a game, they may ask.

This village transforms itself into a war zone every Vijaya Dasham and a large number of people come from nearby areas to get their eye in onto the unique festival.       

Thousands of villagers congregate at Devaragudda (Neranaki village) near Holagunda on Vijaya Dashami as part of the Malamalleswara Swamy utsava. You see, Malleswaram Swamy is the village deity and the “war” is in his honour.

The festival begins on panchami when Lord Mallayya is engaged' to Goddess Mallamma. Their marriage is on Vijayadasami.

On this day, which also happens to signal the end of Dasara, the deity is carried by a person, who fasts for five nights.

The lathi-wielding devotees accompany the deity. The villagers of Neranaki guard the deity from being taken away by the people of other villages, especially those of Yellarthi and Arakeri.

The deity is then taken to Mulgandi, Padalgatti, and Rakshapade  villages before being returned to the temple at about 4.30 a.m. The ritual  of wielding of lathis continues till the deity is taken to a pre-designated place at the foothills of the hillock.

It is only when the deity reaches the spot, the lathi ritual comes to an end. Till then, the devotees, numbering thousands clash with each other with sticks and lathis and throw turmeric powder on one another even as they dance wildly to the beating of the drums.

The “battle of the sticks” reaches a crescendo as the utsava murthi called Guddada Mallaya, is brought in a procession from the temple sometime around midnight to the pre-designated spot. The temple is locates atop a small hillock. When the idol reaches the plains below the hill and torches are lit as it is evening, the devotees shout war cries and in a frenzy attack others. These devotees are all men and they literally cane and hit each other with gay abandon. If you thought that you can see such beatings only in films, come here and look at this spectacle.

This strange or rather bizarre ritual is held in two phases - the first time is when the deity is taken out from the temple and again on its way back- with an interval.

The men literally have a go at each other. The hits are really painful and in scores of cases, we can see blood oozing out. But who cares? Neither the man oozing blood nor the police on the scene do anything.
Minor injuries are passed over and although many people suffer injuries, the participants and the crowd care tow hoots. The spirit of the crowd is so high that they act as am intoxicant to the participants.

A few have been killed too or so claim the locals. Some whisper that it was an act of revenge. Bit who known and how cares. The law does not take note of this event and the policemen deputed to the festival, hold their lathis without making use of it.
Slowly the “Hit festival” comes to an end and the priest of the temple comes to the centrestage making prediction of the coming years. Once this is done, the idol is taken back to the temple.

This year, people from nearly 30 villages surrounding the temple at Alur in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh and also from Bellary and Sirguppa taluks in Karnataka, arrived with lathis studded with iron rings at one end.

The participants came in all mode of transport: from bullock carts to tom toms, tempos to lorries, cars, tractors, two-wheelers and some even took walk.

Talk to the villagers here and they will tell you that this time, two persons died and the condition of two injured, including a circle inspector of police, is still serious. More than a hundred suffered bleeding head injuries and this is as per the record maintained by the health officials. Only grievous injuries, where stitches or sutures are necessary, are entered. There is no entry in the register for people treated as outpatients. A 15-member team comprising doctors and para-medical staff attended to the injured.

When daylight dawns, the festival ends. The warring crowd turns devout and they propitiating the deity with fruits and flowers and then they light camphor. The devotees then make their way home, nursing their bruises and pretending as if nothing happened. Time is their only healer and this is till the next year. Neither do they lodge any complaint nor do the police intervene.

Ask both the people and the police about the injuries and fatalities. All they say is everything is fair in love and war. And though there is no love lost between the warring factions, there is probably no hate too. There is only gamesmanship and a devotion to tradition and this is one of the thousands of local traditions that make our people and country so unique in the world.    

This strike even affects God

The ongoing (disturbed) political situation in Andhra Pradesh seems to have not only led to an upheaval in the lives of  people there but it has also affected the Gods living in the State. Andhra Pradesh is in turmoil and the Samaikyandhra agitation by the people is against the decision of the Congress led UPA Government at the Centre to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.
Vehicles going to and coming from Tirupathi has come down alarmingly and though there are no major incidents of arson or disturbances, road and rail services have been hit.

This has resulted in a drop in the number of pilgrims visiting Tirupathi. There is today less queue at Tirupathi and the waiting times has slashed considerably. Even free darshan is available without much ado.

Generally, people have to wait anywhere from twelve to fifteen hours for a darshan of Srinaivasa or Balaji. Now, the wait is just a few hours and almost all seves are easily available and all entry posts less crowded.

Rooms and hotels are less crowded in the temple town and tickets for various seves are more easily available. The daily hundi  or offering box collection at the temple has reduced. The hundi collections during the last month was much less than the normal Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.6 crore a day in cash donation.

Nowadays, the hundi collection is anywhere between Rs. 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore. The collection on weekends has also seen a drop and it stands at Rs 1.6 crore to Rs. 2 crore a day and this is a fairly drastic fall from about Rs. 2 crore to Rs.2.5 crore reported or rather counted every day.

The daily offerings of gold, silver and other precious items such as diamonds has also seen a decrease though they are yet to be enumerated. The TTD has a system of  counting the cash collection on a daily basis. The calculation of the non-cash items happens once in three months or at the TTD’s convenience and these include gold, jewellery, diamond and other articles .
One of the main reasons for the drop in arrivals at Tirupathi is the decision of employees of Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation to go on strike against the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, which was first announced in July-end. The strike has affected bus services to the temple town and pilgrims and visitor numbers have fallen from 60,000 to 70,000 persons a day to 40,000 a day. In an year, the annual footfalls is anywhere between 2.5 crores to 3 crores.

However, people still continue to visit the pilgrim town as more than 50 per dent of the visitors are those who use private vehicles, mainly cars, tempos and private buses.  

TTD figures show that 60 per cent of the pilgrims who view Srinivasa avail free darshan facility with 16 per cent opting for the Rs 50 Sudarshan token. Pilgrims of Rs 300 Pratyeka Pravesha (special entry) darshan stand third at 13 per cent. Apart from them, there are seven lakh seva ticket holders, 7.5 lakh physically challenged persons and four lakh parents of infants, besides seven lakh VIP Break darshan ticket holders and they constitute the remaining 3 per cent.

All these people have to view the Lord in a day between 19 to 20 hours and on some days it falls to 14 hours on account of special rituals and sevas.
Incidentally, last Friday, Tirupati reverberated with slogans of  Jai Samaikhyandhra as more than 10,000 employees of TTD took out a massive rally. This is the first time in the 80-year-old history of the TTD that 5,000 of its employees went on mass leave and the rest joined in the protests. Besides, students and faculty members of various TTD-run educational institutions also took part in the rally.

However, the TTD has come to the rescue of pilgrims visiting Tirumala. It has pressed into service its own fleet of Dharma Ratham buses to ferry pilgrims from the Tirupati railway station to Alipiri, the foot of Tirumala hills.

When hotels and eateries remained closed for two days during the strike call, the TTD arranged breakfast and lunch for the visitors alighting at the railway station and also at Alipiri. The TTD provided upma, sambar rice and curd rice to 45,000 persons and served milk to 16,000 visitors on Friday last.

Chief Vigilance and Security Officer G.V.G. Ashok Kumar was seen personally serving milk to the devotees who climbed the hill on foot.

The TTD operated 500 trips with the 16 buses between the two points in the city, transporting 35,000 passengers.

However, the strike has not affected Mantralaya as it borders Karnataka and many people go to the temple town from Raichur side.

The Indian who never got his due

Educated people in India and believe me many of them I know have always complained of the bias against merit in India and the lopsided reservation system which does not seem to benefit the really underprivileged.

Many people have painted a rosy picture of life in the United States and said that this is one place where merit and nothing else counts. They have gone to great pains to convince me that the US is the place where one can work without fear or favour and that it brings out the best in any man.

Well, I beg to differ. While acknowledging the superiority of US over India and the rest of the world in the standard of living and in the facility they provide and the materials with which we can work,  the US too is fallible and there have been many instances of  biased US attitude towards Indians and even some of the best have been denied their rightful due.

To drive home my point, I would like to post the case of a Brahmin from South India  who made the US his home A pioneering biochemist, he is credited with the discovery of the energy source in cells and also developed an antidote for treatment of cancer.

Yet, this pioneering scientist was denied tenure at Harvard and he remained in the US without a Green card throughout his life.

If this can happen to such a person, then imagine what would happen to the rest of the mortals. You don’t believe the story. Then here goes………….

Born Yellapragada Subbarao in Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh on January 12, 1895, he was a Telugu Niyogi Brahmin. He had a traumatic early life as he lost his relatives when he was a student of a school in Rajahmundry. He managed to clear the matriculate examinations in his third attempt from the Hindu High School in  Madras. He passed the Intermediate Examination from the Presidency College and entered the Madras Medical College where his education was supported by friends and Kasturi Suryanarayana Murthy, whose daughter he later married. He obtained the LMS certificate degree and in 1922 he landed in United States.

After earning a diploma from the Harvard Medical School, he joined Harvard as a junior faculty member. He soon began showing his remarkable prowess. With Cyrus Fiske, he developed a method for the estimation of phosperous in body fluids and tissues. He then went on to discover the role of phospocreatine and  adenosine trihosphate (ATP) in muscular activity. This achievement won him a mention in textbooks of medical science in the US in 1930 itself. The same year, he obtained a doctorate degree.

He joined Lederle Laboratories after he was denied a regular faculty position at Harvard. At Lederle, he developed a method to synthesize folic acid. He isolated folic acid from liver and a

microbial source and then synthesized it in 1945.

Subsequently, he developed the important anti-cancer drug methotxerate - one of the very first cancer chemotherapy agents and still in widespread clinical use.

He also discovered the drug Hetrazan which was widely used by the World Health Organisation in its fight against filariasis.

It was under the guidance  of Subba Rao that Benjamin Duggar discovered Aureomycin, the world's first tetracycline antibiotic. This was in 1945.

The discovery of this antibiotic was the result of the largest distributed scientific experiment ever performed till date. Under this programme, American soldiers at the end of the second world war were asked to collect soil samples from wherever they were, and bring them back for screening at Lederle Laboratories for possible anti-bacterial agents produced by natural soil fungi.

Subbarao headed the project of which Duggar was an important member.

Tetracyclines have saved millions of lives over the last 50 years and the credit goes to Subbarao and Duggar.

Although Subbarao led much of the, medical research in America during the world war, he remained a simple and unassuming man. He never promoted himself and he rarely gave press interviews.

A patent attorney in the US was astonished to note that Subbarao had not taken any of the steps that scientists everywhere consider routine for linking their name to their work. He also discovered polymyxin which is still used in cattle-feed.

His one time colleague, George Hitchens, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in medicine with Gertude Elion once said, “Some of the nucleotides isolated by Subbarao had to be rediscovered years later by other workers because Fiske, apparently out of jealousy, did not let Subbarao's contributions see the light of the day”.

American Cyanamid Company,  a leading American conglomerate,  which became one of the nation’s leading 100 manufacturing companies during the 1970s and beyond, named a fungus after Subbarao and called it  Subbaromyces Splendens,

One of the finest tributes to Subbarao was paid by in April 1950 by  American author Doron K. Antrim who said,  “Because he lived you may be alive and are well today. Because he lived you may live longer.”

He died on August 9, 1948 of a massive heart attack and even today few Indians and fewer Americans are aware of him. India has honoured him with a postage stamp and his admirers still remember  him as the “Man of miracle drugs”.

Scientists have won Nobel Prize for a single invention or discovery, a few of them for two discoveries but Subbarao remains among the few who have been denied the Nobel though he has many discoveries to his credit.   

The bears that took over the fort

It is one of the most historic forts and it was the centre of five major dynasties. The fort itself is located on the banks of a river atop a hill. The fort and its surroundings make for an interesting getaway.

Over centuries, the fort was in the possession of the Qutb Shahis, Mughals and Asaf Jahs. The Kings of these dynasties took over the fort and strengthened its ramparts. But in the last few years, the fort has been in the news as it has been taken over by bears. Yes, bears. This can happen only in India. Mera Bharat Mahaan.

Read on about the capture of the fort by the bears…..

This is the Elgandal Fort in Karminagar district of Andhra Pradesh. It is situated on the banks of the Manair River which is a small tributary of the Godavari. The fort is on the Kamareddy road and it is just ten kilometers from Karminagar.

The fort is an important historical link as it has been the centre of  five dynasties, including the Kakatiyas of Warangal, Bahamanis of Gulbarga and Bidar, Qutb Shahis of Golconda, Mughals of north India and Asif Jahs of Hyderabad.

During the Nizam rule, Elgandal was the headquarters of Karimnagar province. It is believed that there is a secret tunnel connecting Elgandal Fort and Manakondur Fort which is nine kilometers away Karimnagar on the Karimnagar-Warangal highway.

Well, all this is now past. Now for the bear attack. In 2011, the fort was closed for two months and tourists were denied entry to the fort after the bears took over the ancient citadel.

The fort remained closed for more than two months and it was reopened only after the residents of  Elgandal and scores of tourists pleaded with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the local administration to reopen it.

The ASI and local administration had acted swiftly after they were informed that several bears had  entered the fort and made it their home. These sloth bears had lumbered into the fort in the first week of November 2011 from the nearby hills and forests.

The bears had been obviously driven out of their lair by continuous blasting and setting off of explosives at stone and quarry units operating both legally and mostly illegally in and around the hills ringing the fort.

Initially, the bears took over the fort only during nights. But soon, they decided to make it their permanent home. The fort afforded them protection from the continuous blasting and also gave them relief from any human movement.

The bears were noticed moving about in the fort and the Forest Department was quickly informed. When the Forest officials visited the fort, they found that six bears had made the ancient monument their home.

Moreover, one female bear had delivered several cubs and it was in an aggressive mood snapping at anyone who came near her and her cubs.  

They realised that it would be extremely difficult to shift them out of the fort. Moreover, they could not stop the continuous blasting at stone and quarry sites. With the villagers piling on the pressure to do something, they did what is best known to them. Close the fort and let the bears be.

The Forest officials then called in the ASI. When apprised of the “bearish” visitors, the ASI agreed to close down the fort, albeit temporarily.

This was in November first week of 2011. After the ASI closed the fort to the public, the villagers too on their part, prevented visitors from entering the fort.

The fort remained closed for over two months before it began pinching the pockets of  some residents of  the area who made a living by guiding the visitors around the fort, providing food and accommodation. The many shop keepers around the fort too faced difficult times as business dried up.

When weeks turned into months and there was still no sign of the local authorities in evicting the bears from the fort, the residents once again approached the authorities and this time it was for reopening the fort. You see, the earlier caution about bear attack had now been replaced by the lure of the lucre.

The local authorities dithered but gave in when the residents and elected members made a pitch for reopening the fort and if need be chase away the bears which had taken over the fort.

It was then that scores of residents of  the area, sarpanch, MPTC member and enthusiastic youths entered the fort to the beating of drums and blaring of horns and shouting . You see, these people were as scared of the bears as the animals were of human beings. The while party went to the fort like conquerors to the beating of drums and waving of fire torches. Alas, their bravado was in vain as the bears, it seems, had beat a retreat.

The bears had magnanimously left the fort that had so effortlessly captured a few months ago. Later, Forest official found tracks showing that the bears had made their way back to their lair through the hillocks and thick bushes surrounding the fort.

The bear retreat was brought to the notice of the ASI which then threw open the fort for visitors again.

However, the residents of the area are still wary of a renewed bear attack. Even to this day, they fear that the wild bears may intrude into the fort. They wanted the authorities to chalk out a plan to protect them and the tourists entering the fort.

By the way, this was not the first time that the fort came under bear attack.

In 2010, the fort remained closed  for visitors and tourists for ten days following bear sightings. The ASI and locals had put up a poster on the fort walls stating that the “fort remained closed due to intrusion of wild bears”.

Elgandal was the first headquarters of Karimnagar during the Nizam rule. It has several monuments of architectural value, including shaking minarets and minarets that are almost the same height as those of  Char Minar in Hyderabad.

The fort was once surrounded by a wide moat which was five metres in breadth and four metres deep. Crocodiles were let into the trenches to stop enemies from venturing near the ramparts. Visitors who came to the fort are in for a surprise when they see greenery amid huge rocks.

A climb of 250 steps leads to the entrance of the fort. The Brindavan tank, mosques, temple of  Narasimha swamy and ruined buildings greet you here. There is a four- minar mosque which reminds the visitors of Char Minar in Hyderabad.

The fort has 17 cannons with 16 of then being forge welded and the lone one cast in iron. Blacksmiths of Kodimyal constructed the Kodimyal Tope on the ramparts of the fort.

The place was earlier known as Bahudhanyapuram, Tellakandula and Veligandula. In course of time, it came to be called as Elgandal. It was the capital of Telangana till 1905.

The Kaman is one of the oldest constructions that greets visitors to the town. It was built by a trader in 1937 at the entrance to the town on the Hyderabad road. Christian missionaries entered Karimnagar town in 1882-87 and built landmarks like the Mission Hospital in the town.

The temple to a tortoise

This is the only temple in India where a fossil of a large tortoise is worshipped. It is also the only temple where Vishnu is worshipped in the form of a tortoise, the second of the Dashavtars.

The temple has more than 200 black granite pillars and two flag posts or Dhwaja Stambha. Each pillars is distinct from the other and this no two pillars are similar. Besides, the two Dhwaja Stanbhas face different directions.

There are in all 127 in four Indian languages, including Devanagari, Prakrutha and Oriya. Some of the Oriya inscriptions are ascribed to Narahari Teertha, the Madhwa saint and follower of Madhwacharya.

This is perhaps one of the few temples where Shankaracharya,  Ramunajacharya and Narahari Theertha, each of hem representing the three main streams of Brahminism- Adwaitha, Vishistawaitha and Dwaitha-have come prayed and left relics behind which can be found even today.

This is the temple of  Vishnu or Srikurma, which is 18 kilometres away from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh. 

The first mention of the temple goes back to the second century AD. Subsequently, it was renovated by the Cholas and later by the Gangas.

This is the only place in India where Vishnu is worshipped as a tortoise. The moolasthana or the central piece of the idol is considered to be large Saligrama. The Koorma (or Kurma) is the fossil of an actual and large-sized turtle. The head of the deity is in the form of a Kurma or tortoise and it is represented by a Vishnu nama and the tail is represented by a Saligrama presented by Shankarachayra.

The idol faces west and this is another peculiarity. There is an interesting story behind this.

The villagers of  Srikurma and naighbouring villages had all along believed that the idol was of Shiva. When Ramanujacharya came to the place, he saw that the villagers were wrongly worshipping Vishnu as Shiva. When the villagers refused to listen to him, Ramanajucharya called out to the idol, saying that it would have to turn towards him if he was indeed Vishnu.

Even as he said it, the idol turned towards him. Since then, the idol is turned to the West and it is being worshipped as Vishnu and not Shiva. The villagers then constructed a Dwaja Stambha facing the deity. This pillar or Stambha faces West. The earlier Stambha faced East. Thus the temple has two Dhwaja Stambhas.

There is another interesting story on why Vishnu opted to take the form of a Koorma or tortoise here.

Several thousand years ago, King Swetha Chakravarthi ruled the Kingdom of Swethapuram. His wife was called Hari priya. She had her own palace at Vanitamandala which was 14 kilometers away from Swethapuram or present day Srikurma.

On day, on a Magha Sudha Ekadasi, the King visited the queen in her palace. The Queen was immersed in worship of Vishnu. The King then asked the Queen to give him company and this put her in a dilemma.

The Queen did not know what to do-participate in the Ekadashi or join her husband. She prayed to Vishnu to give her a solution. Vishnu then created a huge river which began to flow between the King and queen and divided them. This is the river that is today called the Vamsadhara.

The king panicked and fled to Swethachala mountain to escape the fury of the swirling river. He then sat alone. Sage Narada appeared there and told him the reason why the river had created a distance between the royal couple.

Narada then suggested to the King to pray to Vishnu in the form of a Koorma and also chant the mantra, “Om Kum Kurmaya Nama”. The King then started worshipping Kurmanatha at Chakra Thirtha.
When Vishnu appeared before the King and asked him to seek a boon, the king said he wished to see the lord in his second incarnation of Kurmanatha.

When asked why, the King said he wanted see the incarnation which was part of the Manthara Parvatha at the time of churning the ocean.
Vishnu then appeared in the form of a tortoise. On the request of the King, he agreed to reside here as a tortoise. He also allowed the King to build a temple. Narada then went back to Deva Loka and

led Brahma to Srikurma who then consecrated Kurmanatha.

It was then that the Sudarsana Chakra became active and flames soon arose. Brahma subdued the flames by chanting the Gopala mantra.
The Bramanda Purana says Durvasa and their followers visit this place regularly for penance. Krishna’s brother Balarama visited this place and declared that this would be the only kind of such a temple in the world. He then built the Uma Rudra Koteshwara Temple on the banks of Nagavali in Srikakulam.

Balarama created Nagavali by using his plough (nagali) to till. The Stala Purana tell us that Lava and Kush, sons of Rama, worshiped Kurmanatha by offering Abhishakam to get rid of  Shani Dosha.  
Shankaracharya and Narahari Theertha-the second disciple of Madhwa, have visited the temple and worshipped the deity.

Srikurma is on the Walter - Kolkata railway route.

The Nava Brahma Temples

There are several cities in India where there is a temple dedicated to Lord Brahma. The most famous of such temples is the one at Pushkar near Ajmer in Rajasthan.

There is also a temple for Brahma near Vellore. It is just off the Chennai-Bangalore highway and it is in Virinchipuram, 15 kms from Vellore. It is called the Margaparendeshwar Temple.

The other main temples for Brahma in Tamil Nadu are the Brahmapureshwara Temple at Tirupattur near Siriganur,  Trichy and the Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara temple at Kodumudi which is 40 kms away from  Erode.

However, there is only one place in ancient India where there are several temples dedicated to Brahma in India. Though the temples were built by the Chalukya emperors of Badami who were Kannadigas, they are today located in Andhra Pradesh.

The Chalukyas have built some of the most magnificent temples ever seen in the world. The Badami-Aihole-Pattadakal area is called the cradle of temple art. The rock cut caves of Badami, which was the capital of the Chalukyas, defies imagination.

The Banashankari Temple in Banashankari near Badami is one of the most impressive temples of its kind. The Banashankari temple in Bangalore is only a pale shadow of this original.

The Chalukyas ruled over a vast area in south India and  its greatest emperor, Pulekeshi, defeated Harshavardhana or Harsha on the banks of the Narmada.

One of the most beautiful group of temples left behind by the Chalukyas are the Nava Brahma temples at Alampur in Mehaboobnagar district in Andhra Pradesh.

Alampur is a small town near Kurnool and the Nava Brahma temples date back to the 7^th century. Some of the temples are believed to have been built by Pulekeshi.

As the name implies, there are nine temples dedicated to Brahma, Hence, the name Nava Brahma. The temples are on the banks of the Tungabhadra. It is at Alampur that the Tungabhadra and Krishna rivers meet. Hence, it is also known as Dakshina Kashi.

Alampur is located 200 km from Hyderabad, 88 kms from Mantralaya, 78 kms from Bellary and 381 kms from Bangalore. Kurnool is the nearest railhead and it is 28 kms from Alampur.

It is considered to be the western gateway of Srisailam which houses one of the sacred Jyotirlingas.The southern, eastern, and northern gateways are Siddhavattam, Tripurantakam and Umamaheswaram respectively.

The Nava Brahma temples are Taraka, Swarga, Padma, Bala,  Garuda,Kumara, Arka, Vira  and Vishwa. All the temples are located within a courtyard on the left bank of the Tungabhadra.

You enter the courtyard through a narrow gate.On the left is the Taraka Brahma and on the right is the Swarga Brahma. The Padma Brahma is to the west of the Swarga Brahma. The Garuda Brahma is to the Southeast of the Padma Brahma temple. The main shrine,  Bala Brahma, is in the compound to the north. Towards another end is the Kumara Brahma. In one Compound are the Shrines dedicated to Arka Brahma, Vira Brahma and Vishwa Brahma

Of the nine temples, the Bala Brahma temple is considered to be the most important shrine of worship. This temple dates back to  702 AD. It is the main shrine of worship during Shivaratri. The temple also has the disfigured idols of Jogulamba and her consorts.

The Taraka Brahma temple is partly in ruins, and it has no idol. It is built on a raised platform with a square sanctum.  
There are Telugu epigraphs dating from the 6th-7th century AD.  The Swarga Brahma temple has a beautiful Gopura-Rekhanagara Vimana- which is awe inspiring. It contains several sculptures in bas relief. This temple  was built between 681-696 AD by Lokaditya Ela Arasa in honour of the queen of  Emperor Vinayaditya (680-696).

The Padma Brahma temple is also in ruins. However, unlike the Taraka temple, this has a Linga with a beautiful finish. You can see your reflection on the Linga. This temple has the biggest sanctum sanctorum.

The Vishwa Brahma temple is considered the most artistic of the temples. The walls depict scenes from the epics. It has a reference to Vishwakarma or the Lord of the Universe.

The Arka Brahma is the smallest of all temples. The gopuram and kalasa are missing in this structure, presumably vandalised.
The Kumara Brahma temple is near the main shrine. It is one of the oldest temples.

The Garuda Brahma has a carving of Garuda carrying Vishnu. The Veera Brahma temple is a partially damaged structure.
There is also a temple dedicated to Suryanarayana in the courtyard. Images of Vishnu and his avatars are carved on the temple walls.  the 9th century.  There is also a Narasimha temple with inscriptions from the period of Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagar Empire.

Another tourist spot near Alampur is Papanasam which has nearly two dozen temples. The most important of these temples is dedicated to Papanaseswara (Shiva). They belong to the 11^th century AD.

Alampur, in ancient times,  was known as Halampuram, Hamalapuram and Alampuram. Another of its name, Hatampura, is mentioned in an inscription dated 1101 AD.

All the temples are dedicated to Lord Shiva and each of structure has a long rectangular mantapa with a Nandi in front.

Legend has it that Brahma meditated here for a very long time and Shiva conferred the powers of creation to him. Therefore, the Bala Brahma is also called Brahmeswara and his consort Yogini or Jogulamba (Parvathi).

Would you believe  it that this site would have been submerged by the backwaters of the Srisailam project. However, it was saved after a barrage was constructed downstream to contain the water flow.