Vidurashwatha
Vidurashwatha
Vidurashwatha (ವಿದುರಾಶ್ವತ್ಥ) | |
|---|---|
city | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Karnataka |
| District | Chikkaballapur |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Kannada |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 561208 |
Vidurashwatha (Kannada:ವಿದುರಾಶ್ವತ್ಥ) is a small village located in the Gauribidanur taluk of Chikkaballapur district in the state of Karnataka, India. Situated near the Karnataka - Andhra Pradesh border and about 6 km from Gauribidanur, it had a major role to play in the freedom movement of India.
Etymology
The name Vidurashwatha is derived from that of a big Ashwatha (Ficus religiosa) tree located in this village. According to a legend of the times of Mahabharata, this tree was planted by Vidura, a courtier in the kingdom of Dhritarashtra; and hence the name Vidurashwatha.[1] Unfortunately, in 2001, this ancient tree fell to the ground.
The legend says that Vidura who was actually Yamadharma Raja, was cursed to be born as a human being and was thus born as Vidura. After seeing all the bloodshed during the war, Vidura beomes remorseful and asks Lord Krishna for Salvation. Lord Krishna asks him to go for theerthayatra. After visiting many places Vidura comes to this place which was actually a hermitage of Maithreya Maharishi. Once during sandhyavandhana in the river, Vidura gets a small sapling when he was about to offer argya to Lord Surya. Maithreya Maharishi asks Vidura to worship the sapling to get salvation. With great devotion Vidura worships the saplings and Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva pleased with the devotion give him and dharshan, and thus the name stuck Vidura Ashwatha.
There is another intresting story on how the arachaks were selected by the lord himself, long time ago when the river was flowing in full rage, two brothers who could not cross the river took shelter on the other side of the river bank where there exists a shiva temple. In the night in one of the brothers dream Lord Ashwathnaryana came and asked him to worship him so that he and his future genrations would be benefitted. The next day the said brother was found on the other side of the river bank under the great Ashwath Tree. From then on the worship of the Lord is done by this family only.
Significance
Vidurashwatha is known as the Jallianwala Bagh of the South.[1] On April 25, 1938, as a part of the freedom struggle of India, a group of villagers had congregated in a ground to organise a Satyagraha. Similar to what happened at Jallianwala Bagh, police fired indiscriminately at the group resulting in the death of 10 people. A memorial has been erected in this location bearing the names of those who lost their lives in this incident.[3]
There is also Naga Devatha Temple which is as old as the tree, here people do the prathishtapana of the naga god, to fulfil their desires, like having child, do better in business etc., the pooja here is done to alleviate all problems concerned with Naga dosha. There is also lots of monkeys which are harping at people to get something to eat. There are few charity halls which give food to the devotees these charity halls are mainly the religion based, like the arya vysya choultry which provide food for their community people who come to visit the temple, there is new Sri Raghavendraswamy math, on the way to temple for Brahmins also they have provision for lodging which is charged very nominally on a weekend about 200-250 people are fed. (there are no good hotels in the vicinity for about 10 km on either side). Moreover the peace you get after going to the temple is astounding, it is said that snakes used to visit the temple during festivals and take the offerings given by the devotees. The place is very close to Bangalore (about 100 km) and from Gauribidnaur (10 km), it is also close to Hindupur (Andhra border). The other nearby interesting place is the Lepakshi Temple (about 30 km from Vidurashwatha. Vidurashwatha can be reached by bus directly from Bangalore, the nearest railway station is about 4 km to 5 km but the next best option is to get down at Gauri bidnaur and take a private vehicle to the temple. There is one more option to get down at Hindupur station (18 km) from Vidurashwatha. You can get hotel accommodation and can reach the place by bus.
Contact Details
9980142212 : Nagendra Sastry 9886504878 : Ashwath Narayan Prasad
Notes
- ^ a b A brief description of Vidurashwatha is provided by Priyanjana Dutta. "South India's forgotten Jallianwala". Online Website of IbnLive.com. IbnLive.com. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ^ Vidurashwatha: End of Flora-era "The fall of Vidurashwatha's big tree". Online webpage of Thatskannada. Greynium Information Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 2007-04-15.
- ^ "Vidurashwatha".
