One of the Best Temple in South India- Madurai Temple

South India Temple Madurai:-

Madurai is a place where people often tend to visit. There are many places with national importance. It is also known as temple city. Madurai is situated on the banks of Vaigai River in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. It is the second largest city of Tamil Nadu and has a population in excess of 1.1 million. It is well known for the Meenakshi temple situated at the heart of the town which attracts tourists as well as pilgrims. Today, religion and culture remain a vibrant part of the city’s daily life.

Madurai has a rich cultural heritage passed on from the great Tamil era more than 2500 years old, and has been an important commercial centre even as early as 550 AD. Madurai was the capital city of the Pandya kings of South India. Madurai has been a centre of learning and pilgrimage, for centuries. Legend has it, that the divine nectar falling from Lord Shiva’s locks, gave the city its name – Madhurapuri, now known as Madurai. Being mentioned in all holy books, scriptures and folklore, this temple town is one of the most ancient human settlements of India.

Madurai is popular for its temples and as known as temple city. When we hear about Madurai, Meenakshi Amman kovil comes to our mind. Words are not enough to glorify this temple. Visitors need 2 complete days to admire each and every side of the temple. It brings us a desire to make a complete study about this temple. This is a twin temple. The temple in the southern side is dedicated to Sri Meenakshi, the consort of lord Sundareswarar (Shiva) and the other to lord Sundareswarar. This is one of the biggest temple complexes of India.

Best time to visit Madurai

Madurai can be visited any time of the year, but the best time to visit the city is from October to March.

How to reach Madurai by Road

Altogether there are 6 bus stations in Madurai city for both government and private buses. From the New Central bus station Interstate buses are available while all the other stations are mainly intended for local buses. The names of bus stations are Periyar Bus stand, Shopping complex bus stand, Anna Bus stand, Arapalayam Bus stand and Palangantham Bus stand. Where you can easily find the Bus.

How to reach Madurai by Rail

Madurai is one of the major railway junctions of South India. The Madurai Railway Station is within the city center. Regular trains connect Madurai to Coimbatore, Chennai, Rameswaram, Kanyakumari and other towns of South India.

Happy Journey & safe Journey to all Travellers

 

Beautiful Adventure in Summer- Gulmarg Jammu & Kashmir

Gulmarg :-

Popularly known as ‘the meadow of flowers’, Gulmarg is a valley of unparalleled beauty. Film goers can easily recognize this scenic valley of Baramulla district as it has been the location for several movie scenes like Betab, Tahan etc. But today, apart from filmmakers this place also attracts thousands of tourists and adventure seekers every year.

Sonmarg:

State: Jammu and Kashmir
Location: 80 km from Srinagar in Kashmir Valley
Area: 3 sq km
Languages: Kashmiri and Hindi, English.

Sonmarg, renowned as “The meadow of gold”, is yet another spectacular place to get rid of the scorching heat of summer season. Sonmarg is a tranquil place set amongst the glaciers and azure lakes, Sonmarg is a place adorned with large trees of fir, silver birch, pine and alpine flowers. The turquoise and chilly water of Sind river that meanders through the region, enhance the beauty of Sonmarg. Similar to Gulmarg, Sonmarg is also a paradise for both the tourists and the adventure buffs.Although Sonmarg is also an important travel destination, but in this section we will mainly talk about the Gulmarg Tourism.

Ski Gulmarg

The first thing that comes to mind while planning a holiday in Gulmarg is of course the Gulmarg skiing adventure. This place is one of the most prominent and most popular skiing destination of India. Adventure enthusiasts from all around the world come to Gulmarg for an ultimate thrill and to feel the rising adrenalin rush. The snow covered Himalayan peaks, make skiing in Gulmarg an unforgettable affair, that you will always cherish. Even though you are a professional or an amateur(although you can take some skiing lessons), you can enjoy skiing in Gulmarg without any second thoughts.

Other Adventure Activities In Gulmarg
Besides Gulmarg ski you can also try your hands at different adventure sports like:

Trekking: Gulmarg, offers numerous trekking and hiking sites. Trekkers can opt for Sonmarg to Vishansar, Krishansar and Gangabal lakes.

Golfing: Gulmarg is famed around the globe for having one of the world’s highest green golf course as well as clubhouse. If you are an amateur golfer than you can hire golf sets and also seek the help of an expert golfer to give vital instructions.

Shiva Temple:

It is the royal temple of Dogra rulers of Jammu and Kashmir. Built by Mohini Bai Sisodia, the wife of last king of Kashmir, in 1915, this temple is a unique one. It can be seen from all the corners of Gulmarg.
Apart from them, you can even try out long trail to jungles, mountaineering, white-water rafting, angling, sledging etc.

Best time to visit :

The weather of both Gulmarg and Sonmarg remain very pleasant throughout the year. Light woolen clothes are common in the summer season whereas during winters one has to cover himself or herself with heavy woolen garments. So, the best season to visit these wonderful areas is between April to June. But if you are looking for skiing experience than it is advisable to visit Gulmarg and Sonmarg during winter season, when skiing activity is at its peak.

How To Reach:

By Road: J&k SRTC operates regular deluxe and ordinary bus services to Gulmarg and Sonmarg from Srinagar. Even private transportation is also there to commute to both this town from Srinagar. Avoid roadways during winter season as the roads get blocked.

By Rail:

The nearest railway to Gulmarg is at Jammu, which is well-connected to major Indian cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata etc.

By Air:

One can even reach Gulmarg and Sonmarg by air. Srinagar has the nearest airport to both Gulmarg and Sonmarg, which are just one to two hour drive from Srinagar. Regular flights operates between Srinagar and various major Indian cities.

 

Siddhivinayak Temple Mumbai,

Ganesha the Divine: The old temple was consecrated on Thursday, 19th November 1801. According to our Hindu Calendar it falls on Kartik Shudha Chaturdashi, Shake 1723 in “Durmukh Sanvatsar”. It’s build-up area was 3.60mtr. x 3.60mtr. square. It was ground floor structure. It had 450mm thick brick walls and old type dome, again of brick with a Kalash above. Around the dome, a parapet walls with grills was structure of the temple. The floor level of the temple and road level were also same. This temple is on the corner of Kakasaheb Gadgil Marg and S.K.Bole Marg in Prabhadevi, which is facing heavy vehicular traffic It was built by a professional contractor, Late Mr.Laxman Vithu Patil as per the financial support and instructions of Late Mrs.Deubai Patil, who was a rich lady of Agri Samaj from Matunga. Although she was rich enough, she had no child.The idea of the construction of the temple struck to Late Deubai during the prayer time, she humbly requested Lord Ganesh and said, “Although I cannot have a child, let other ladies who are childless get the pleasure of child on visiting the temple and praying you”. Looking at successful subsequent history of the temple, it appears like the Lord Ganesh nodded to this humble request and pious thoughts and deeds of Late Deubai Patil. It is, therefore, this Siddhivinayak is famous for it and known as “Navasacha Ganapati” or “Navasala Pavanara Ganapati” in Marathi (Ganapati bestows whenever humbly genuinely prayed a wish) among devotees. The idol of Shree Siddhivinayak was carved out of a single black stone and is 2’6” (750mm) high and 2′ (600mm) wide with the trunk on the right. This is rather unusual appearance of Lord Ganesh. The upper right and left hands hold a lotus and an axe respectively while the lower right and left hands hold a rosary (japmala) and bowl full of “Modak” respectively.

As it resembles the sacred thread, a snake appears on the left shoulder to right side belly. On the forehead of deity is an eye, which almost looks like the third eye of Lord Shiva. On both sides of the Lord Ganesh idol, are placed one idol each of Riddhi and Siddhi goddesses who are appearing like peeping out of the Ganesh idol from behind. Because of these two deities along with Lord Ganesh, this temple is known as the Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple. These goddesses signify sanctity, success, wealth and prosperity. Around 125 years ago, Shri Akkalkot Swami Samarth’s great disciple, Late Ramakrishna Jambhekar Maharaj, who was also ardent devotee of Lord Ganesh and Gayatri Mantra was blessed with Assyssinian ( Siddhi ). One day Swami Samarth asked Shri Jambhekar to bring divine idols. Out of the idols, except two idols, Swami Samarth told to bury in the front courtyard of the house of Swami Samarth’s another disciple Shri Cholappa, where Swami Samarth used to temporarily reside. Shri Jambhekar was also told to inhume remaining two idols in front of Lord Ganesh that he usually worshipped. During his attendance with Swami Samarth, Shri Jambhekar foretold that a Mandaar tree would grow on the place after 21 years, Swayambhu ( Swayambhu ) Ganesh would appear on the sacred place. From that onward people’s devotion would grow in leaps and beyond. After few years, Jambhekar Maharaj whose Math is near sea-shore at Dadar, Mumbai, asked Late Priest Govind Chintaman Phatak to look after, perform regular religious pooja etc. of Shree Siddhivinayak Temple. The predecessor of Priest Phatak, there was Late Namdev Kelkar performing priest-wood job in the temple. From the available information and records, the land of the temple complex was around 2550 sq.mtrs. There was a lake towards eastern and southern side of temple admeasuring approx. 30 x 40 sq.mtrs. This lake was built by Nardulla in early 19th century, to overcome the scarcity of the water, faced by the area. The lake was, later on, filled up, and now it is playground and a part of Kakasaheb Gadgil Marg. There was also a rest house, sought of Dharmashala and a pair of beautiful 3.6 in high, stone masonry “Deepmalas”. There was also a dwelling unit for the owner of this complex. In the earlier days when there were not many structures of residential and commercial type in its neighborhood area. The devotees in large numbers started visiting the temple only after 1952 and the long standing Q’s were seen in 1965 onwards. Since the owner had divided the original plot and subleased it to different parties and naturally the space available around this old temple reduced and became quite small. After 1975, the number of devotees visiting the temple started growing by real sense of Geometrical Progression. It became difficult to enter the temple or even to have “Darshan” of Lord Ganesh, the devotees were finding it quite troublesome to enter through the two small doors.