Mahayogi Lakshmamma Avva Samadhi Adoni

The Mahayogi Lakshmamma Temple, Adoni

Mahayogi Lakshmamma Avva - The first time I heard this name was during one of my initial visits to Mantralayam way back in 2008. A poster with details in Telugu and a picture of a frail woman in an unusual posture looking down attracted my attention. My friends travelling with me,told me that she was a Siddhar/Avadhootha, and once someone in jealousy had chopped off her limbs while she was sleeping and found them intact the next morning as she resumed her chores. This really amazed me and the Samadhi went into my "Must Visit" list. However it was only about ten visits to Mantralayam later, that I was able to go to Adoni and visit the samadhi of Avva (grandmother) as she is affectionately known. From then on, I have gone whenever possible.

Portrait of Mahayogi Lakshmamma Avva as found in the temple

The life of Mahayogi Lakshmamma is extremely interesting and awe-inspiring. Born to Bandeppa and Mangamma, in a poverty stricken Dalit Family at Moosanapalli, a small village 7 km from Adoni, Lakshmamma roamed about the streets of the village as a young girl., stark naked, mumbling nonsensical words. People thought she was mad and advised her parents to get her married to cure her of her insanity. The parents chose a groom for her, a young lad called Mareppa and got her married. Being an Avadhootha, Lakshmamma demonstrated her spiritual status to her husband and returned to her parents house the same night. People who did not realise her spiritual powers, pelted stones at her, thinking she was mad. Those who inflicted injuries on her, found misfortune in their lives for their deeds.

Lakshmamma joined a group of people coming to the village shandy at Adoni. She settled herself beside a garbage dump in the silver market and never went back. She ate whatever was offered to her. She continued to roam around the streets, mumbling nonsensical words. People called her Thotti (Garbage Dump) Lakshmamma or Thikka (Mad)  Lakshmamma.

Entrance to the Mahayogi Lakshmamma Temple

In Adoni, Lakshmamma's grace flowed to all those who sought her sincerely. Several people gave her food and fruits knowing her spiritual state. She cured people of ailments and disease.

• A lady called Gowramma came to her seeking cure for her husband suffering from cancer. Lakshmamma looked at her with compassion and muttered a few words. In due course, Gowramma's husband was cured. As a token of gratitude, Gowramma gave her an anna. Very soon, Gowramma became the owner of sixty acres of land. A small token given in sincere prayer yielded rich rewards for her.
• Avva gave fruits bitten by her to women longing for childbirth and they would have their prayers answered.
• Once there was a huge downpour and all the roads and drains in Adoni were flooded. People were worried about Avva as she stayed and slept in the open air next to the garbage dump, but could not venture out fearing their own safety. Once the rain subsided, they found her coming out safely from an overflowing drain, totally unaffected.
• Once as mentioned earlier in this article, Avva was once found with her limbs mutilated. But the next morning she appeared normal.
• The merchants in the silver market felt that if Lakshmamma came to their shop and asked for food, then their business will do well for that day. One day, a Jeweller in the bazaar had lost a small pouch containing exquisite and valuable diamonds. He searched his shop high and low, but could not find the bag. He was terribly upset as he had paid a handsome price to acquire the diamonds and hoped to make a good profit by selling them. Avva walked into the shop and dumped some garbage right in the middle and walked out. The jeweller was perplexed. He knew she did nothing without reason. Triggered by her action, he asked his attendants to search the garbage dump, and found the bag of diamonds intact.
• People who recognised Lakshmamma Avva's divine powers were adequately blessed. One of her ardent devotees, Late Sri Raichooti Ramaiah performed a cart festival for her even when she was alive.
• Lakshmamma Avva attained samadhi in the year 1933. Her samadhi was built at the same spot where she spent her life.

Lakshmamma Avva Samadhi

The Samadhi is built in an underground chamber and a gold idol of Lakshmamma Avva is placed over it in the Sanctum Sanctorum. The beautifully decorated and bejewelled idol is a delight to watch. What was most endearing is that the idol was decorated with a saree made from pomegranate seeds. During her life, Lakshmamma Avva had considered even clothes as a burden. It was ironical to see her gold idol with so much finery. However, the devotees were showing their deep love, gratitude and devotion to Avva by decorating her to their pleasure.

Sanctum Sanctorum of Lakshmamma Avva

The Poojari offered harathi with devotion and gave us flowers as prasad. Unlike other temples in Andhra and Karnataka, this temple thankfully has a large board describing the life and miracles of Avva in English for the benefit of all visitors. 

A beautiful Silver Utsava Moorthy is placed in a seperate shrine as we circumambulate the sanctum sanctorum. This silver moorthy of Avva is taken out in procession in a silver cart every year, a ritual that had begun while she was alive.

Silver idol taken out in procession

Even today, several hundreds of devotees throng her samadhi every day, seeking blessings and offering gratitude for prayers answered. The environment in the temple is calm and soothing amidst the glaring marble tiles. Some people also go into the underground samadhi and meditate in peace in front of Avva.

How to reach here:

Adoni is located at 15.63 N 77.28 E. It is a commercial town in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. It is about 300 kms from Hyderabad and 494 kms from Chennai. From Chennai, one can reach Adoni easily by trains that ply towards Mumbai. There are also daily trains from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kanyakumari, Mumbai, Gulburga, Ahmedabad and Tirupathi. State Transport Buses connect Adoni from Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kurnool, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Bellary, Tirupathi and Mysore.

Nearest Airport is Hyderabad and nearest domestic airport is Bellary at 68 km.

Adoni is an hour's drive from Mantralayam. So if you are on a pilgrimage to Mantralayam, it would be easy to visit here. There are a number of buses available from Mantralayam to Adoni. Private jeeps charge approximately Rs.1300 for a two way trip.

THANK YOU WRITE UP CAFE FOR AWARDING "THE LINK OF THE WEEK" TO THIS POST - 12/12/2011

Diwan Venkanna & the Moola Brindavana at Mantralayam

The Moola Brindavana of Sri Raghavendra Swamy

While writing about Bhikshalaya and Appanacharya a few weeks ago, I thought my next post must feature Diwan Venkanna, another devotee of Sri Raghavendra Swamy and all the grace and blessings he received. But then, God destined otherwise. So here it is, the soul-touching story of Venkanna and how the blessings of Guru Raghavendra changed his life forever.

Venkanna was a young Brahmin boy in Adoni, which is a town about an hour's drive away from the present day Mantralayam in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. His parents had died while he was young, and his maternal uncle took charge of his property and brought him up. Planning to usurp all his wealth, the uncle did not educate Venkanna and sent him to graze cattle. He also beat him up all the time. 

One day, while he was grazing cattle, he saw the saint walking by with his folllowers. Something in his eyes, the compassion on his face and benevolence in his demeanour, made Venkanna run to him and fall at his feet. All he could do was weep, thinking of all that he had gone through at such a young age.

The Swamy looked at him with kindness, and gave him Mantrakshatha, and asked Venkanna to remember him whenever he was in difficulty. Venkanna felt a strange sense of peace washing over him. He saved the mantrakshatha carefully.

Days rolled by. One day, the Nawab Siddhi Masood Khan, was passing through that region. His messenger brought a note to him. Not knowing the local language, the Nawab called out to Venkanna who was nearby, to read the message for him . A startled Venkanna politely told the Nawab that he was illiterate. The Nawab could not believe that a young Brahmin would be uneducated and so ordered him to read the message, failing which he would be beheaded for disobedience.

Venkanna did not know what to do. With tears in his eyes, he prayed to Raghavendra Swamy and took the scroll in his hand. Like magic, he was able to see and understand what was written there. The message was one of victory for the Nawab. The happy Nawab appointed Venkanna as the Diwan of Adoni.

The illiterate cowherd Venkanna had become Diwan Venkanna !!

Years rolled by. Sri Raghavendra Swamy had by then started on his journey towards the location for his Jeeva Samadhi. Hearing that he was passing through Adoni, Venkanna made arrangements to receive his Guru because of whose mercy he was the Diwan today. He received the Swamy at the entrance of Adoni with music and garlands, falling at his feet and washing them with rose water.

By this time, the Nawab had heard a lot about Guru Raghavendra's grace from Venkanna and was eager to test him to see if he was really that magnificent. That day as Raghavendra swamy was performing his daily poojas to Moola Rama, the Nawab went to meet him with a covered tray of mutton. He offered the plate to Guru Rayaru with feigned humility. The Guru accepted his offerings with a smile and placed it before moola Rama and continued his pooja. At the end of the pooja after the Harathi was made and water sprinkled around the offerings, the Swamy removed the cloth over the plate of mutton. Lo! and behold! It had turned into fruits and sweet smelling flowers. The Nawab was ashamed of his act and wanted to make amends. He was willing to give Raghavendra Swamy anything within his capacity.

The Guru smiled and asked him for Manchala Village. The Nawab was surprised, since Manchala was a dry land. He was willing to give a more fertile and prosperous land to the Swamy. However, since the Guru was insistent, he made out a deed granting the village to the Swamy. A satisfied Raghavendra Swamy then went to Manchala Village and took permission from Manchalamma, the Grama Devatha to enter his jeeva samadhi there. He also promised her, that anyone who came to visit him, would worship her first before seeing him. This tradition continues even today.

Goddess Machalamma - at the  old shrine

Sri Raghavendra then took Venkanna to the location where he wanted the Moola Brindavana to be built. He explained to him that this was the location where he had performed yagnas during the time he was Prahalada. He described the stone that he wanted to be placed on his moola brindavana and requested Venkanna to bring it from Madhavaram, a village about 5 kms away from Mantralayam.

Venkanna and his men, went in search of the stone and brought it back with a great deal of devotion. They constructed a lovely brindavana and invited Sri Raghavendra to look at it. The Guru was silent for a few minutes, and then told Venkanna that this had not been the stone that he had spoken about. Venkanna was disappointed and felt miserable that he had failed to identify the stone requested by his beloved Master. The Guru consoled Venkanna and asked him to keep that brindavana empty and build another next to it with the stone he had requested for.When the time came, they would know who would occupy this brindavana, built with so much devotion.

This brindavana is now occupied by Vadeendra Theertharu, Poorvasrama great grandson of Sri Raghavendra Swamy and the fifth Yathigalu after Sri Raghavendra Swamy. When he sang the Guru GunaSthavanam in front of the Moola Brindavana, the entire Brindavana is said to have shook in appreciation of the verses.

Vadeendra Theertha Brindavana located right
next to the Moola Brindavana (Photo Courtesy:
sumadhwaseva.com)

Venkanna wanted to know the signficance of the stone that Guru Raghavendra had requested and the Guru explained that it had been the stone on which Sri Rama had sat for some time on his way to Kishkintha in search of his wife Sita and once again gave him the description and the location to find the stone. This time Venkanna brought the right stone and the Moola Brindavana was built by him with extra care and devotion.
Guru Raghavendra Swamy also asked him to make an anjaneya idol on the remaining piece of the stone and place it opposite to the Moola Brindavana.

Mantralaya Hanuman

To this day, the Hanuman stands opposite to the Moola Brindavana and is being worshipped by Guru Raghavendra Swamy and all his devotees who visit him.

One piece of the stone was left behind at Madhavaram, at the spot where it had been located to show the significance of the location and the event.

Rama Shila at Madhavaram

This stone is housed in a small shed and people who know its significance, visit it on their way to Mantralayam. If one travels by train, Madhavaram is on the way from the Mantralayam Road Junction to Mantralayam.

The small shed in Madhavaram wherein the stone is preserved

Venkanna had the fortune of witnessing the Brindavana Pravesa of Guru Raghavendra Swamy. Pleased with his devotion, the Guru gave him the Padukas that he had been wearing .Today the 11th generation of Venkanna, still stay at the old Manchala Village on the banks of Tungabadra and perform poojas at the Moola Brindavana. The Padukas given by Sri Raghavendra Swamy is still protected by them, and worshipped in their personal pooja room. This house is close to the Venkataramana Swamy temple, installed and worshipped by Guru Raghavendra Swamy.

Raghavendra Paduka

Venkanna was an able administrator and performed several tasks for the interests of the people of Adoni. In fact the tank that he had built for storing water at Adoni, called Venkanna Bhavi stands till date bearing testimony to the devotion and efficiency of Venkanna who from a mere cowherd had become a Diwan,purely through the grace of Guru Raghavendraswamy.

Venkanna Bhavi at Adoni

If you are visiting Mantralayam, do take time out to stop by at Madhavaram, and to walk behind the temple to the banks of Tungabadhra, to visit Manchalam Village and the temple of Venkataramana Swamy and the house of Venkanna, where the Padukas of Sri Raghavendra Swamy are being worshipped.

Venkatramana Smamy, the Kula Devatha of
Sri Raghavendra Swamy installed and worshipped by
him at Manchala Village

Sri Ranamandala Anjaneya Swamy Temple, Adoni

I had planned to write my next post as promised about the Shenbakkam Navabrindavan, but who am I to plan when HE decides what one does next :) I left with my friends to Mantralayam for New Year for the third year in succession, and I was overwhelmed when I realised it was my fifth visit for the year. We reached there on 30th evening and after spending hours at the temple, watching the Silver and Gold Chariot Sevas and feasting our eyes on the maha haarthi, we came back to our room and decided to go to Adoni the next day. It was my second visit to Adoni and I was extremely excited that the second opportunity of witnessing Sri Ranamandala Anjaneya swamy had come.

The rocky terrain of Adoni

Adoni - originally called Yadhavagiri is about an hour's drive from Mantralayam. It is easily connected by train from Hyderabad and Chennai. For those of you who are familiar with the life history of Sri Raghavendra Swamy, or happened to watch the Kannada Movie made on his life by Dr.Rajkumar or the tamil movie made by Rajinikanth, or else watched the latest Vijay TV series Mahaan - Guruve Saranam will immediately recognise Adoni, as the place where a poor shepherd devotee of Sri Raghavendra, named Venkanna had met with him while he was on "Desha Sancharam". To read all about the grace of Sri Raghavendra Swamy in the life of Venkanna, click here. 

A beautiful Ganesha among the ruins 

Sri Raghavendra asked the Nawab of Adoni, Siddhi Masood Khan to donate Manchala village (now called Mantralayam) to him and the Nawab readily agreed. Venkanna was involved in bringing the stone that would make his brindavana ready. The Nawab was very sad that the Saint was going to attain samadhi since he would not be allowed to visit a Hindu temple to pray to his Guru. In appreciation of his devotion, Sri Raghavendra instructed his devotees to build a miniature brindavana on top of his temple, wherein the prana prathista of the saint has been done and that which the Nawab could view from outside and pray. Also in appreciation of the Nawab's generosity, the dome in  back portion of the the temple is a replica of the fort at Adoni built by Nawab Siddi Masood Khan.

Remains of Nawab Siddi Masood Khan's fort

Adoni is a classic example of Hindu-Muslim Unity and we can still find delapidated remains of the fort and ramparts of Nawab Siddi Masood Khan among Hindu temples and statues. But to go back in time before the Nawab and Diwan and Sri Raghavendra, Adoni or Yadhavagiri was one of the favourite places of Sri Vyasaraja, the previous incarnation of Sri Raghavendra. He has spent several days worshipping the Ranamandala Anjaneya Swamy who is a " Swayambu" on top of the hill. Nobody knows when the Hanuman appeared there, but everybody agrees on the extremely powerful radiation generating around him.
Sri Vyasaraja has installed nine Hanumans in all in and around Adoni.

The Ranamandala Anjaneya Swamy temple is atop a hill and one has to climb about 600 steps to reach the top. The steps are not very steep but considering the exertion when it is hot, it is advisable to visit either before 11 am or in the evening between 4 and 5 30 pm. There are no temple timings as such as there are no gates or structures to prevent anyone to go and visit the gigantic and powerful Hanuman.

As we go up, we find a Hanuman statue that originally was installed at the foothill of the temple, been placed under a tree. We start climbing after offering our pranams to him.

There is a dilapidated mandapam with pillars midway up the climb. There is a very old shivalingam and nandi left unattended there. We stop by for a few minutes and offer our prayers to Lord Shiva and continue to climb.

Catching a breather at the Shiva Mandapam

Midway up, there is a small shrine which encloses the Santhana Hanuman . Several childless couples come and pray to this Santhana Hanuman to be blessed with children as brave and strong as the Vayu Putra himself.

Santhana Hanumanji

We keep moving further up, at a comfortably slow pace. The entrance of the temple is now visible and that increases the excitement. We are just a few steps away from what is possibly the most magnificient sight I have ever witnessed in my life. I first learnt about Sri Ranamandala Anjaneya Swamy while reading Sri Amman Sathiyanathan's Sri Raghavendra Mahimai. A deep rooted desire to visit Adoni and the shrine built in me while reading the narration of the temples and the miracles that the Hanuman had played in the life of Sri  Hanumathdasan and I was all eager to witness all that I had read about first hand.

My friends found it fun to climb the rocks directly
instead of using the steps to climb up

We reached the top of the steps and offered our pranams to the Lord Ganesha ( he seems to be of recent times) at the entrance and stepped in.

Lord Ganesha at the entrance of the temple

Lo....and behold! The gigantic, swayambu Ranamandala Anjaneyaswamy was standing there, towering above us, fully anointed with Sendhoora, and decorated with Tulsi and Betel leaves, in the open air. With no roof or barriers around him, he seemed to reach the sky, the clouds seemed to bend low to touch him, and an ethereal feeling of standing in Sathyaloka enveloped us.

This is a very poor picture of the magnificience of the Lord
I was so awestruck that I just clicked something

It is believed that in the past several attempts were made to build a temple around this idol. But it was not to be. Once Anjaneyaswamy is said to have appeared in the dream of one of his devotees and said that a temple could be constructed only if it could be finished in one day's time. However, it is irritating to find that marble tiles have been placed around him in a semi-structure ruining the glory and the ancientness of the Lord.
The first time when we went to Ranamandala there was nobody there except the three of us. We were able to enjoy the solitude and sit in meditation for several minutes before the Lord. But this time, we found a young man who was doing puja. He introduced himself as Ramam, and soon started showing us around the various places that we had missed on our first visit.
Just behind the Hanuman, whom Ramam says appeared here more than 500 years ago,at Sri Vyasaraja's request, there are few more shrines that have come up in relatively later times. One of them is a beautiful small shrine of Sri Rama, with Lakshmana and Sita. It was sad to see the beautiful eye structures that are fixed on idols not there on Rama.

Ramam then took us to a shrine on the other side of the hill, wherein there was a goddess with three eyes to whom women prayed for childbirth. He simply called her Bhagavathi but did not know how that temple had come about. There was a swayambu Ganesha just on the way to the Bhagavathi temple.

Swayambu Ganesha

The way to the shrine was between two rocks and we had to duck at some places to avoid hitting ourselves against a boulder. It was as if we were in another world.

Entrance to the Bagavathi temple between two boulders

The Goddess had an almost human looking face, actually it was only the bust of the Goddess with a couple of Padukas before her. We wanted to find out about the significance of why only the bust of the Goddess was found, and why Padukas were placed before her bust, but Ramam had gone back to his prayers so we did not want to disturb him. We worshipped the Goddess and came out through the other exit after circumambulating around her.

Goddess Bhagavathi with three eyes

On our way out, we found several pieces of cloth with coins or stones in them tied on tree branches above the shrine. These are tied by women who come here praying for childbirth.

Coming out of the Bagavathi temple

We came out and went back to the Ranamandala Anjaneyaswamy temple. By now, Ramam had finished his puja and was ready to give us prasad of sindhooram and flowers. He took us behind the Anjaneya and asked us to pray by placing coins on the back of the statue. To our amazement, once we prayed and placed the coins there, they stood as if stuck to a magnet.

Coins sticking on the backside of the Anjaneyaswamy statue

After, we finished praying, Ramam removed the coins, and put them promptly into the Hundi. He refused to even take any money that was placed on the harathi plate and put them too into the Hundi.

A View of the Venugopalaswamy shrine on the right and Shivamaruthi
Shrine on the left

He pointed out to the temples on adjacent hills - the Venugopalaswamy temple, the Shiva Maruthi temple and the Navatheertha Hanuman temple. He also showed us the remains of the fort on top of the hill. Ranamandala is surrounded by hills and we could not decide where to go next. Ramam said that the Venugopalaswamy temple had an equal amount of steps as Ranamandala and that the Navatheertha Hanuman temple did not have any steps. One had to just climb over rocks and jump down to reach there. He also warned presence of snakes on the way. We hesitated...not because we were scared but considering the age and attire of some of our friends. " Kyun didi...aap aa jao...aap tho Jhansi ki Rani jaise ho!" Ramam goaded me to accept the challenge. Much that I was tempted, I decided that was not the right opportunity to do so. So we decided to visit Shiva Maruthi Shrine next. Ramam offered to go with us. He said the temple had only 108 steps. We got deceived by the word "ONLY"

Steps going up to the Shiva Maruthi Shrine

The steps going up the Shivamaruthi hill were indeed steep and the 108 were equivalent to the 600 we had climbed on the other side. We started panting half way through. Ramam, who had now changed into trousers and was joined by his friend, were climbing up quickly. We struggled to keep pace. He moved up and pointed to a body of water half way up the hill. He mentioned that the water had medicinal qualities. The water looked green with moss and we were a little hesitant to taste it. But he quickly jumped down and collected the water in an empty water bottle we had. When he brought it up we found the water was actually clean and refreshing.

Ramam in front of the body of water

We could finally see the gopuram of the Shiva maruthi shrine. Ramam explained that the temple was being renovated as it had become very old and dilapidated. He pointed below and showed us another temple at ground level. He mentioned that that was where Hanuman had made a Shivalinga and worshipped Shiva and Vyasaraja had installed this Shivamaruthi on top of the hill to commemorate it. He told us that we could go down and visit that very ancient temple also.

Entrance of the Shiva Maruthi Shrine

The Shrine was very old and cool despite being on top of the hill. The Shiva Maruthi Idol and Shivalingam found in the shrine looked very old and valuable. There was also a picture of Hanuman sitting in the shrine below and worshipping Lord Shiva.

Shiva Maruthi

The ancient shivalingam inside the shrine

Picture of Hanuman worshipping Shiva

The view from the top was breathtaking. It was huge boulders and rocks jutting out at angles to one another that made a magnificient sight. After siting on the parapet of the temple for a few minutes we decided to climb down and go to the temple where the Shivalingam installed by Hanuman was placed.

A view from the top...Ramjala Lake and beautiful boulders

Our descent this time was quick. We came down and went into a shrine that looked extremely ancient. It was small, with just the shivalingam and a Ganesha in it. There was a huge Dwajasthamba in the courtyard outside the shrine and several Eucalyptus trees had grown around the Dwajasthamba. It was not like a conventional temple...yet there was something unique about it.

The huge Dwajasthamba and the hill behind it

The Shivalinga worshipped by Hanuman

By the time we came out of the temple, we were tired but absolutely thrilled with our experience. We thanked Ramam for all his assistance and gave him some fruits and biscuits to eat. He mentioned that he lived on the hill and did Pooja to Hanuman as that was what he wanted to do. I mentioned about my blog to him and asked him if he would assist anyone who contacted him after reading the blog. He was very happy and immediately gave his mobile number - 009533716113.

Ganesha on a side panel in the temple

Our journey was far from over. We came into the town of Adoni and visited several other temples like Mahayogi Lakshmamma Temple, Mangarayaswamy Temple, three Anjaneyas installed by Vyasaraja etc. before moving back to Mantralayam. I will write all about those temples in another post. I am sure by now, you would have decided to visit Adoni the next time you are in that area!