It is said that the Anjanadri Hill is the birth place of the monkey God – Hanuman. Hanuman was the son of Vayu (The Wind God) and Anjani. It is therefore that his hill is named as Anjanadri Hill. Hanuman is said to have born here on this hill in one of the caves. The temple is located on top of this hill. There are about 570 plus steps to be cleared before you can reach the top. The climb is quite steep on rough stone steps and at some places the steps are dangerously steep. However once you reach the top the scene is breathtakingly beautiful, serene and windy with bright sunshine. It was an act of divine intervention that both of us were able to climb to the top effortlessly and get back safely.
There is stone idol of Hanuman and priests chant the “Hanuman Chalisa” and offer worship. There is a regular recitation of the Hindu Epic Ramayan (Ramayan as narrated by poet Tulsidas) and as many of you may know that Hanuman played a significant role in the epic Ramayan.
The priests are from Madhya Pradesh (one of the Northern States of India) and have come with their family. There is accommodation from them to stay. We also met some young boys who are being initiated into priesthood and have taken their job very seriously.
At the end of the morning session we were invited by the priest to join them for lunch. By then we were quite hungry and lunch which consisted of hot rice, daal (lentils sauce) and a vegetable was delicious, divine and heavenly. We considered ourselves to be blessed to have had a good worship of the God as well as the opportunity to partake of the offering to the deity.
One interesting feature here is that the expenditure to run the temple, food etc is entirely met from the charity of philanthropists. There is no other way to reach the temple except by climbing the 570 plus steps. Thus all items of food such as rice, lentils, milk, vegetables etc and items that are required for conducting the various ceremonies and prayers on a day to day basis have to be carried physically to the top of the hill via the 570 plus steps regularly. In fact we happened to see people carrying 75 kgs bags of rice etc on their backs and climbing up the hill. This is a regular feature over here.
As many of you may know Ramayan is said to have taken place towards the later half of the Treta Yug. Historians have calculated that this must have happened about 850,000 to 900,000 years ago. Thus the Anjanadri Hill would have existed for this period and for us to visit now. How blessed are we!
Enjoy the pictures.
Shankar Adisesh
Category:Lifestyle and Recreation
Subcategory:Worship
Subcategory Detail:
Keywords:Anegundi, Anjanadrihill, Hanuman, Kishkinda, Monkeygod, Ramayan
