Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Sree Bhadrakali Sametha Veerabhadra Swamy Temple, Bonthapally.


‘Sree Bhadrakali Sametha Veerabhadra Swamy Temple’ is an ancient Temple located 36 km. away from our house at Secunderabad.  If you are looking forward to a short outing, away from the hustle and bustle of city life or for religious reasons this is certainly a place to visit.
The Temple is located in Bonthapally village in Jinnaram Mandal of Medak district. For driving directions, you may see the route map I have provided below this article. The Temple is 36 km. from Paradise along the route I have indicated.
This Temple of Lord Shiva and Goddess Bhadrakali is a very ancient one and is said to be in existence from times before the Kakatiya Empire. The main Temple is of Lord Veerabhadra Swamy and just behind it to the right is the Temple of Goddess Bhadrakali. You can see these Temples and the area around them in the above photographs. And at the bottom of this article, you can see the images of the idols in these two Temples.
According to popular folklore, after King Daksha Prajapati (a hater of Lord Shiva, more so as his daughter Sati / Dakshayani married Lord Shiva) got killed, his followers came to live in the area between River Musi and River Manjira. And here they began to persecute devotees of Shiva. Then Lord Shiva appeared in the form of Lord Veerabhadra Swamy to end this persecution and choose to settle down at the present place of this Temple which was then a dense forest with many Bilva trees considered to be dearest to Lord Shiva. As this place was full of trees and always dark, people felt it was like a black-haired caterpillar; called 'Bontha purugu' in Telugu and named this place after the insect as Bonthapally.
Even today; there is a dense forest adjacent to Bonthapally spanning over an area of 40 sq. km. It is known as Narsapur Reserve Forest and it is the largest forest close to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
You may click on the following link to see the official website of the Temple: 


8 comments:

  1. Hi are there any nice restaurants near by

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  2. No, you may just find a few dhabas along the highway. But at the outskirts of the city, in Suraram, Jeedimetla and Balanagar you can find some Restaurants.

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  3. Raghu bro super historic sence... Keep it up...

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  4. could you please provide veerabhadra swami history books.

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    1. I am not aware of any historical books on Lord Veerabhadra Swamy, I am sorry. I wrote this article based on the information I could collect at the Temple. However you may click on the following wiki link which has very important information on Lord Veerabhadra Swamy, a list of his popular Temples spread all over the country and there are some references cited, which may give you more information:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virabhadra

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    2. There are several books on individual manifestations of Siva such as Natariija, Ardhaniirisvara, Sadasiva and so on. There is no exhaustive study of a fierce form of the Lord Virabhadra. This work fulfils the need. In seven chapters and three appendices the mythology, art and cult of Virabhadra is systematically sketched. The first chapter deals Prolegomena, second chapter deals exhaustively with most of the Sanskritic puranas and other liturgical works. The speciality is the summary of Tamil ideas from literary sources that scholars in the field usually neglect maybe due to lack of knowledge or oversight. The other chapters deal with the following aspects: third deals with some of the select temples for the Lord in south India and the case study of a clan temple; fourth, Pratimalaksana of Vira and allied deities from silpasastras and agamas; fifth, Vira in early medieval art of the Pandyas, , Pallavas, Calukyas of Badami and Vengi and Rastrakuts; sixth, Vira in later medieval art, particularly Vijayanagara-Nayaka; seventh, Festivities and cult orientation as gleaned from travel accounts and the case study of a clan temple at BoQinayakkaupat1i. The annexures deal with Sarabhamutri Astamukhagandabherunda Nrsimha and Vira in the art of Andhradesa. The bibliography is comprehensive. The book is richly illustrated with plans of temples and photographic samples of Vira in colour and black & white. The book is a monumental contribution to art historical scholarship.
      Some pictures from the book.
      TERRIFIC MANIFESTATIONS OF SIVA : VIRABHADRA by-jeyapriya rajarajan.
      IF ANYONE WANTS TO BUY THE BOOK,PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW.
      https://www.amazon.in/Terrific-Manifestations…/…/ref=sr_1_1…

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  5. Recently visited this temple... experience great feel...

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