Bhongir fort ——-80 KMS (all distances from hyderabad) ·

Yadagirigutta temple——-90 KMS · Pembarti——100KMS ·

Kolanupaka a jain temple

Jangaon. “Ram” from Ramayana once visited this place!!!!!!!!!

Warangal 150 KMS

Ramappa lake and ramappa temple 220 KMS After covering a stretch of about 80 kms from our residence we reached the 12th century made Bhongir Fort. The fort is built on an isolated gigantic rock. The fort was earlier known as Bhuvanagiri. We did not climb the fort; instead we decided to have scrumptious breakfast. I guess its good to reach this place early morning or late evening, as there is no shelter from the sweltering heat up there.

Also (I think) its better to come in groups as the place looked isolated from below!!!!!!!!

The small fort has nothing much to show except the panoramic view of the neighboring places which it offered at 500 feet above the ground. Yadagirigutta, home to a hill temple. After Bhongir watch out for the left turn you need to make under a huge sculpted archway where the road leaves the main highway to proceed to the temple. About 3 kms before the foot of the cave temple is a shrine to Shiva, which has an enormous, and hugely kitschy, Hanuman-Shiva concrete statue straddling the courtyard. You can actually see the top of Yadagirigutta from there. Keep going. The drive is uphill and because it was a Saturday the place was crowded and we had difficulty in parking our vehicle The temple: The sanctum of this hill temple is a natural cavern on the hill. Jwala Narasimha, Ghandabheranda Narasimha, and Yoga Narasimha are held in worship here, in addition to a silver image of Lakshmi Narasimha and a shrine to Aandaalamma. There was a huge crowd and so we took the special darshan ticket, we could speed up the process other wise we would have to wait in the queue for another 3 hours. This is one of the very famous temples of Andhra Pradesh .Wow!!!! what a sacred start to our weekend!!!!!!!!

The next stop was Pembarti, which is about100 km from Hyderabad and about 60 kms from Warangal. It is famous for statues, carvings and castings made of attractive copper alloys like bronze and brass, which are famous all over the world. So the statues in the Manhattan hotel or Tokyo corporate office may be from Pembarti. U can buy beautiful pandaans (betel nut carrying boxes), ittar daans (scent containers) but what I liked the most was the brass lamp.

You have to take a detour of about 8 km to reach Kolanupaka. This was the second capital town of Kalyani Chalukyas during the 11th century AD .The 2,000-year-old Jain temple of Mahaveer is a famous place of worship for Jains in the country. The temple is embellished with beautiful images of Thirthankaras. The 5ft high image of Mahavira is entirely carved of Jade. It was a nice quiet place but by the time we reached this place, it was hot and we were tired. The road to this temple is full of potholes, a stretch of shops on either side, a railway crossing and no traffic control.

We landed in a Catch 22 situation and had to move towards the temple, as there was no way we could turn back. With no offence to the Jain community, I thought we could have skipped this detour. We must be one of the few Non-jains to have visited so many Jain temples in India!!!!!!!! Next stop was located at a distance of 10 kms from Jangoan. It was the Sri Ramchandra temple Jeedichal The temple is an ancient one and legends goes that, Lord Sri Rama visited this temple on his way to ‘Lanka’ (Sri Lanka) after separation from his wife Sita. People also believe that, Rama has killed the ‘Maricha’ who was in the guise of the Magis deer. A boulder namely ‘Ledi Banda’,'Jeedigundam’ and ‘Palagundam’ the two pushkarinis for the holy dip of the pilgrims are seen here.

We had seen so many temples that we were having a feeling that we were on a pilgrimage…but this temples that we saw had familiar names from the Ramayana which we just read in books…so the thrill of seeing the places live took us to this temple!!!!!!! Anyway we soon reached Warangal ……

According to legend, Warangal and Hanamkonda were linked with the dynasties of the Great Vishnukundins. Warangal, known as Orukal during the 18th century AD, was a capital city of the Yadava King of Tuluva. This city was also ruled by the Kakatiyas or Ganapathis, from the middle of the 12th century AD up to two hundred years.

Few kings like Polaraja Rudra Deva-I, Rani Rudrama Devi, Ganapathi Deva and Prathaparudra were able to occupy great positions in Warangal History. Though the city has seen phases of success under the rule of several kings, historians have divided the development of the city into four stages on the basis of important historical events and growth of the city.

Warangal is situated 148 kilometres north-east of Hyderabad. The place is 870 ft above mid sea level and is bound on the west by the Medak district, on the east by Khammam district and on the south by Nalgonda district. Spread over12846 sq km, the district has a tropical climate and is very hot in summer and moderately cold in winter. It generally tends to be dry and warm during the summer season and remains like this till August and September.

The culture of Warangal is mainly recognised for fine arts and literature. Various art forms like modern songs, poetry, dance, painting and films has emerged and flourished in this city. Every two years, the district hosts a Samakka-Sarakka Jatara (congregation), commemorating the fight of a mother-daughter duo with the reigning ruler over injustice. Besides this, the Batkamma festival is an important festival of this place.

Warangal has several ancient temples including Thousand Pillars Temple, Swayambhu Temple, Rayaparthy Shiva Temple, Siddeshwara Temple, Inavolu Temple, Veeranarayana Temple, which are popular tourist attractions. The place is also known for its lakes, parks and wildlife. Other tourist attractions of Warangal include Padmakshi Gutta, Musical Garden, Laknavaram Lake, Pandavula Guttalu, Champak Hills Sri, Khush Mahal, etc.

The nearest airport to reach Warangal is in Hyderabad, which is 160 km away. Warangal has its own railway station and is linked to major cities in India by rail as well as road. The best time to visit Warangal is the months of November to March, when the temperature lowers down slightly.