In Search of Gyan: A Trip in Train, Auto and Boat
1. Source: Secunderabad
2. Destination: Basara
3. Distance: 205 km from Secunderabad
4. Journey duration: Total 12 hrs. (To and fro)
5. On date 30thAugust 2014
Summary: -
It is believed in Hindu Mythology that Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge. Recently learnt that there are very few temples which are dedicated to Maa Saraswati in India and one of them is pretty close to Hyderabad. Don’t want to miss the opportunity to visit this temple while I am in Hyderabad.
History:
According to some myth, Maharishi Vyas and his disciples and sage Viswamitra decided to settle down in a cool and serene atmosphere after the Kurukshetra War. In the quest for a peaceful abode, he came to Dandaka forest and, pleased with serenity of the region, selected this place. Since Maharishi Vyasa spent considerable time in prayers, the place was then called "Vasara" and turned into Basara due to the influence of the Marathi language in the region.
A quick summary:
Basara is having good connectivity in terms of Road and Train. A railway station is in Basara, nearest city is Nizamabad and frequent buses are played from Hyderabad (200 Km) as well as from Nizamabad (35 Km) every 30 Min to 1 Hr.
We opted for the train option for comfort; did the bookings and started on Saturday 30th Aug Morning. It was cloudy again while we started and I was expecting some rains on the way. Train was @ 9.30 Am, however it was delayed by 30 Min and finally we boarded the train @ 10 AM. Due to monsoon and rains all the fields were lush green, wherever you see all the places were looking like someone had just washed them and painted with the soothing green colour. We were soaked in to beauty of the Mother Nature. Rain water was accumulated in small pits and was giving a look of small ponds all over the places.
I recommend anyone who wants to travel to Basara opt for Train as one can enjoy nature and view of hills. And…then it started raining heavily ..I thought this trip is gone as water was all over the places. However Train reached to Basara station around 1.00 PM. It was raining outside, we waited for some time and then we hired one auto for temple. Please take a note there are a lot of Autos available outside of Train station. They operate on shared basis as well on private. Rate is fixed @ 10 Rs / Head if shared, else 30 Rs or so if individual. Temple is approx. 3 km from railway station. In next 10 Min we were in the temple. Please take a note temple is closed between 1 to 2 PM.
Campus of temple is huge and being maintained by trust. There is one restaurant also available in temple campus and a lot of other shops in and around of temple which are selling different puja items such as coconut, flowers, stationaries (As this is maa saraswati temple, goddess of knowledge devotees offer the stationary and books as prasadam and distribute them to poor children’s).
There is a shoe deposit counter, electronic item deposit and cloak room counter also being operated by Temple trust on nominal charges. There is a continuous announcement made that Mobile and cameras are not allowed in side of temple but no one was bothered to check if you are carrying those items inside.
In any case we waited for the temple to open @ 2 PM and started for darshan, there was a small que in temple. There were families who were carrying their small children’s for their first letter writing practice. Children are brought to the temple for the learning ceremony called as Akshara abhyasam.
Priest of temple make the child to sit in his lap, hold the hand and assist the child in writing one letter on slate while chanting Vedic mantra.
The temple is basically dedicated to Goddess saraswati, however Maa Lakshmi and Mahakali temples are also in the same premises. Lakshmi stands beside the Goddess Saraswati in the sanctum sanctorum and the temple also has a Mahakali idol situated on the 1st floor very near to the main temple. Devotees often go to the nearby mountain which has an Idol of Goddess Saraswati on the top of the rock. Due to the presence of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali, Basara is considered as the abode of the divine trinity.
Maa saraswati who sits on the peacock and holding veena (a musical instrument) due to this reason goddess also called by another name i.e. maa saraswati veenavadini.
After the darshan of divine trinity we headed for Vyas cave. This cave is situated on a hillock near to temple and if believed it is said that Maharishi Vyas stayed in this cave while doing the aaradhana of Maa Saraswati. He used to walk till the Godavari River (Another 3 Km from temple place) and after taking a dip in return brought the clay and made the Goddess statue. This cave is having a very narrow opening and one has to crawl to go inside of the cave. In side of cave a small place with goddess saraswati statue is available. This place is very scenic; one can see the panoramic view of Basara and lush green fields from the hillock.
After darshan we came back to Temple and proceeded towards Prasadam Counter. Pulihora and laddoos are available in Prasad counter on a nominal token price of INR 5 & 10 respectively. After having the prasadam, we came out of the temple and headed for Godavari River for boating.
Note: Basara Bus station is very near to temple and walk able from temple.
There are shared autos outside of temple which will take you to Godavri Ghat for INR 10 per person. We reached to Godavari by 4 PM. The river was on its peak lot of water in Godavari even though it was muddy due to rains. Godavari is having a big delta here approx. 100 Meters (A rough guess).
There is one saraswati statue near the Godavari ghat. A lot of boats (Approx. 50 Numbers) were lined up on ghat by the boatwala’s. The moment we reached there, people started approaching use for the boating, boating is priced reasonably Rs 20 per head to mid of river and return. There were devotees who came for Ganesh Idol nimmerjan in Godavari and after doing the puja at ghat they took the boat and went in mid of Godavari and completed the ritual. All of them were chanting “Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Agle Baras tu jaldi Aa”.
After boating and capturing the beauty of Godavari we started back for Railway station, we took the auto which had dropped us @ Railway station. Railway platform one side is open to open fields and gives a feel of hill station, some hills are visible at a distance (Not to mention it was all cloudy and drizzling for entire day). We sat some time on platform and enjoyed the view with Irani Tea and then the return train arrived. We boarded the train with a wonderful experience and reached to Secunderabad @ 9 PM.
This was one of the good spot for a weekend outing includes nature, river, boating and temples to cover.
Happy Reading !!
Some Pics !
1. Source: Secunderabad
2. Destination: Basara
3. Distance: 205 km from Secunderabad
4. Journey duration: Total 12 hrs. (To and fro)
5. On date 30thAugust 2014
Summary: -
It is believed in Hindu Mythology that Saraswati is the Goddess of Knowledge. Recently learnt that there are very few temples which are dedicated to Maa Saraswati in India and one of them is pretty close to Hyderabad. Don’t want to miss the opportunity to visit this temple while I am in Hyderabad.
History:
According to some myth, Maharishi Vyas and his disciples and sage Viswamitra decided to settle down in a cool and serene atmosphere after the Kurukshetra War. In the quest for a peaceful abode, he came to Dandaka forest and, pleased with serenity of the region, selected this place. Since Maharishi Vyasa spent considerable time in prayers, the place was then called "Vasara" and turned into Basara due to the influence of the Marathi language in the region.
A quick summary:
Basara is having good connectivity in terms of Road and Train. A railway station is in Basara, nearest city is Nizamabad and frequent buses are played from Hyderabad (200 Km) as well as from Nizamabad (35 Km) every 30 Min to 1 Hr.
We opted for the train option for comfort; did the bookings and started on Saturday 30th Aug Morning. It was cloudy again while we started and I was expecting some rains on the way. Train was @ 9.30 Am, however it was delayed by 30 Min and finally we boarded the train @ 10 AM. Due to monsoon and rains all the fields were lush green, wherever you see all the places were looking like someone had just washed them and painted with the soothing green colour. We were soaked in to beauty of the Mother Nature. Rain water was accumulated in small pits and was giving a look of small ponds all over the places.
I recommend anyone who wants to travel to Basara opt for Train as one can enjoy nature and view of hills. And…then it started raining heavily ..I thought this trip is gone as water was all over the places. However Train reached to Basara station around 1.00 PM. It was raining outside, we waited for some time and then we hired one auto for temple. Please take a note there are a lot of Autos available outside of Train station. They operate on shared basis as well on private. Rate is fixed @ 10 Rs / Head if shared, else 30 Rs or so if individual. Temple is approx. 3 km from railway station. In next 10 Min we were in the temple. Please take a note temple is closed between 1 to 2 PM.
Campus of temple is huge and being maintained by trust. There is one restaurant also available in temple campus and a lot of other shops in and around of temple which are selling different puja items such as coconut, flowers, stationaries (As this is maa saraswati temple, goddess of knowledge devotees offer the stationary and books as prasadam and distribute them to poor children’s).
There is a shoe deposit counter, electronic item deposit and cloak room counter also being operated by Temple trust on nominal charges. There is a continuous announcement made that Mobile and cameras are not allowed in side of temple but no one was bothered to check if you are carrying those items inside.
In any case we waited for the temple to open @ 2 PM and started for darshan, there was a small que in temple. There were families who were carrying their small children’s for their first letter writing practice. Children are brought to the temple for the learning ceremony called as Akshara abhyasam.
Priest of temple make the child to sit in his lap, hold the hand and assist the child in writing one letter on slate while chanting Vedic mantra.
The temple is basically dedicated to Goddess saraswati, however Maa Lakshmi and Mahakali temples are also in the same premises. Lakshmi stands beside the Goddess Saraswati in the sanctum sanctorum and the temple also has a Mahakali idol situated on the 1st floor very near to the main temple. Devotees often go to the nearby mountain which has an Idol of Goddess Saraswati on the top of the rock. Due to the presence of Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kali, Basara is considered as the abode of the divine trinity.
Maa saraswati who sits on the peacock and holding veena (a musical instrument) due to this reason goddess also called by another name i.e. maa saraswati veenavadini.
After the darshan of divine trinity we headed for Vyas cave. This cave is situated on a hillock near to temple and if believed it is said that Maharishi Vyas stayed in this cave while doing the aaradhana of Maa Saraswati. He used to walk till the Godavari River (Another 3 Km from temple place) and after taking a dip in return brought the clay and made the Goddess statue. This cave is having a very narrow opening and one has to crawl to go inside of the cave. In side of cave a small place with goddess saraswati statue is available. This place is very scenic; one can see the panoramic view of Basara and lush green fields from the hillock.
After darshan we came back to Temple and proceeded towards Prasadam Counter. Pulihora and laddoos are available in Prasad counter on a nominal token price of INR 5 & 10 respectively. After having the prasadam, we came out of the temple and headed for Godavari River for boating.
Note: Basara Bus station is very near to temple and walk able from temple.
There are shared autos outside of temple which will take you to Godavri Ghat for INR 10 per person. We reached to Godavari by 4 PM. The river was on its peak lot of water in Godavari even though it was muddy due to rains. Godavari is having a big delta here approx. 100 Meters (A rough guess).
There is one saraswati statue near the Godavari ghat. A lot of boats (Approx. 50 Numbers) were lined up on ghat by the boatwala’s. The moment we reached there, people started approaching use for the boating, boating is priced reasonably Rs 20 per head to mid of river and return. There were devotees who came for Ganesh Idol nimmerjan in Godavari and after doing the puja at ghat they took the boat and went in mid of Godavari and completed the ritual. All of them were chanting “Ganapati Bappa Moriya, Agle Baras tu jaldi Aa”.
After boating and capturing the beauty of Godavari we started back for Railway station, we took the auto which had dropped us @ Railway station. Railway platform one side is open to open fields and gives a feel of hill station, some hills are visible at a distance (Not to mention it was all cloudy and drizzling for entire day). We sat some time on platform and enjoyed the view with Irani Tea and then the return train arrived. We boarded the train with a wonderful experience and reached to Secunderabad @ 9 PM.
This was one of the good spot for a weekend outing includes nature, river, boating and temples to cover.
Happy Reading !!
Some Pics !
Basara Temple
Lush Green fields
enroute Railway station
Nature soaked in water
Nature Shot
Basara Temple Garden
Maa Saraswati Idol on Godavari Ghat
Boats in Godavari
Godavari
Boat Man: Sahil
Godavari Bridge
Hope you will enjoy the trip !
Lush Green fields
enroute Railway station
Nature soaked in water
Nature Shot
Basara Temple Garden
Maa Saraswati Idol on Godavari Ghat
Boats in Godavari
Godavari
Boat Man: Sahil
Godavari Bridge
Hope you will enjoy the trip !
