Ma Kok Miu - A-Ma Temple

Name : A-Ma Temple. The former name of A-Ma Temple (Ma Kok Miu) was Ma Tsou

Location : Macau, China

Description :

The oldest temple in Macao, which has a history of over 500 years. It is so alleged that over 400 years ago when Portuguese reached Macao and landed on the sea promontory opposite the A-Ma Temple, they noticed the temple of goddess and asked the local inhabitants the name of the whole place who misunderstood they were denoting the temple and answered "Ma Kok". In this way, the Portuguese transliterated into "Macau" which was the origin of the Portuguese name for Macao.

The whole Temple includes the main hall, stone hall, great mercy hall and Kun lam (Goddess of Mercy, Avalokitesvara) hall four buildings.

At the gate, there are stone lions guarding the temple and the eaves pointing the sky, full of Chinese folk characteristics. The A-Ma Temple was built by the cliff. There are winding paths around upwards the hill. Along the cliff, there are many poems and verses inscribed on stone in all scripts, regular, cursive, seal character and official.

Legend :

Inside the courtyard, there is a relief stone sculpture of Chinese junk. Here goes the allegation that A-Ma sailed out to sea from her native land by this junk. After coping with strong typhoon and fierce-waves, she reached Macao safely. It is said, the Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven and Protector of Seafarer who was from Pu Tien, Fujian Province, is otherwise known for Niang Ma. She could predict auspicious and inauspicious things and after death made her presence felt on the sea, helping merchants and fishermen to dispel calamity, overcome difficulty and turn danger into safety. Later generations built temple here to pay homage in her memory.

Festivals :

On 23 March every lunar year, the birthday of A-Ma, and in the spring festival, the Temple is crowded with worshippers.

Many male and female disciples gather here to pay homage and to pray for good fortune. Even young men and young women in western-style clothes and in long boots and short skirts come to burn incense to pray for good luck, a quite warm scene.

Website :
http://www.orientaltravel.com/province/city/area/Macau_A_Ma_Temple.htm

Prasanna Veeranjaneya Temple

Name : Prasanna Veeranjaneya Temple

Location : The Prasanna Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple, atop a hillock in Mahalakshmi Layout in the Bangalore city.

Description :

This temple won the cleanliness award for "The Best-Maintained Temple" in 1999. In addition to its 22-foot deity Prasanna Veeranjaneya, carved out of a single monolithic rock, the temple is well known for its free medical services. The temple occupies 13 acres of land.

History :

During the rule of Mysore Maharaja Mahalakshmipura was a nice place for shooting practice. There was an graceful huge rock upright on the top of a small hill. It was a wonderful view to see the rock from the distance. When the BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) were developing new layouts in Bangalore, Mahalakshmipura was renamed Mahalakshmi Layout.

The rock on the top of the hill was 22 feet high and 16 feet in breadth and 4 feet wide. Local residents of Mahalakshmi Layout made a majestic painting of Lord Anjaneya on the rock and the Lord Anjaneya was named as Sree Prasanna Veeranjaneya Swamy. In the year 1973 on the occasion of Ramanavami the first pooja was performed. 

Later a committee was formed and the committee decided to have a statue of the deity of Sri Prasanna Veeranjaneya Swamy in the place of the painting. Sri Shanmugananda Stapati was the person who completed the carving of the idol ( S.Shanmugananda Sthapathi during 1974 ). This vast idol is 22 feet tall black stone.

Until the 1960s, the hillock 22-foot deity, Prasanna Veeranjaneya and surrounding area was barren. In 1968, people began to be occupy the area. In 1973, the people in the area began worshipping the rock and painted an image of Anjaneya flying with the Sanjeevini Hill. Later, the same painting was sculpted into an idol of Anjaneya in 1975 by a sculptor, Shanmugananda. Since then, people have worshipped the idol with deep reverence.

On June 7th 1976, the idol was installed with traditional ceremony, with former chief minister, Kengal Hanumanthaiah, the then Congress general secretary P V Narasimha Rao and others in attendance. A 15-member trust currently manages the temple.

Dhyanamandira silent zone for peace lovers within the temple is the Meditation Hall or Dhyanamandira. Lovely greenery surrounding the hall adds to the ambience. Colourful idols of Lord Srirama and his beloved devotee Hanuman attract the attention of devotees sitting in silence. It is believed that disturbed minds are consoled here.



The Philanthrophic activities of Prasannaveeranjaneya Temple :

Hospital at the TempleThe Veeranjaneya Swamy Temple is well known for its free medical services. The temple's hospital has treated eye patients and conducted 730 cataract operations, while more than 616 patients have been treated for teeth problems in its dental clinic. "For a nominal fee of Rs 5, our dental clinic performs treatments like removing aching tooth, filling cement (to decayed teeth), and other dental treatments," says the temple trust founder secretary, Mr Krishnamurthy Rao, who has been associated with the temple since its inception 28 years ago. The dental clinic does not insist on the nominal fees for dental treatment if the patient is too poor to pay, says Mr Rao.



The temple hospital receives unused medicines from convalesced patients around the city area and prescribes them to its patients. Convalesced patients are happy to donate their unused medicines to the Temple. The doctors here take care while prescribing medicines to their patients. The temple hospital has a Medical Storephysiotherapist, pediatrician, dentist, and general physician in addition to the specialists visiting three to four times in a week. Every day, the hospital works from 9 am to 1.30 pm. The dental clinic is open on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The hospital also has a Homeopathic Clinic and a medical store. An 18-bed hall, which was opened in June 1996, is used once a month for eye cataract operations. The temple provides food to patients and their caretakers at the monthly three-day cataract operation camp.

The temple is encouraging local musicians and dancers by holding their concerts in the temple every Saturday evening from 6-8 pm. Budding artistes can register with the temple on Saturdays. The temple honors artistes by giving an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per concert. The local Mahila Samaja conducts bhajans (devotional prayers) on Sunday mornings at the temple.

Festivals :

Benne Alankara (decoration with butter) of the deity Anjaneya at Prasanna Veeranjaneya Temple is done every year in the month of August. For the Benne Alankara, 420 kilograms of butter is used. About 18,000 devotees contribute the butter required for this ritual. The day after the ritual, the butter is removed and distributed to the devotees as prasada. On Hanumat-jayanthi day the temple distributes fruits to about 5,000 monkeys in and around Bangalore.

The temple's anniversary is celebrated in June. Srirama Kalyanotsava and Samoohika Lakshmi Puja rituals are held as part of the anniversary celebrations. Anyone can participate in the rituals of the temple, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, says the temple's founder secretary, Mr Krishnamurthy Rao.

Website : http://www.bangalorebest.com/discoverbangalore/sightseeing/religion/temples/veeranjneya.asp

VijayaWada Kanaka Durga Temple

Name : VijayaWada Kanaka Durga Temple

Location : Located in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. The temple is located on the Indrakeeladri hill, on the banks of Krishna River.

Legends :

There are lot of legends associated with this temple.

According to a legend, the now verdant Vijayawada was once a rocky region strewn with hills that obstructed the flow of River Krishna. The land was thus rendered unfit for habitation or cultivation. Invocation to Lord Shiva for His intervention directed the hills to make way for the river. And lo! the river started flowing unimpeded with all its might, through the tunnels or "Bejjam" bored into the hills by Lord Shiva. That is how the place got its name Bezawada.

One of the many mythologies associated with this place is that Arjuna prayed to Lord Shiva on top of Indrakeela hill to win His blessings and the city derived its name "Vijayawada" after this victory. Another popular legend is about the triumph of goddess Kanakadurga over the demon King Mahishasura. It is said that the growing menace of demons became unbearable for the natives. Sage Indrakila practiced severe penance, and when the goddess appeared the sage pleaded Her to reside on his head and keep vigil on the wicked demons. As per his wishes of killing the demons, Goddess Durga made Indrakila Her permanent abode. Later, She also slayed the demon king Mahishasura freeing the people of Vijayawada from evil.

Legend has it that the demons acquired great powers by appeasing the Gods and began harassing the sages on the earth. Goddess Parvathi assumed various forms to kill these demons. It was kausiki to kill Sumbhu and Nisambhu, Mahisasura Mardini to kill Mahishasura and Durga to kill Durgamasura. "Kanaka Durga because she was aglow with golden hues, and prayed Her to stay on earth and bless them. Kanaka Durga asked Keeludu an ardent devotee to take the form of hill to enable Her stay on him. Thus Keeladri became the abode of Durga. She took the form of Mahisasura Mardini with eight arms holding different weapons, riding on a lion and trampling Mahishasura on the hill of Indrakeeladri. Her consort Shiva took his place on an adjacent hillrock as Jyothirlinga. He was worshipped by Lord Brahma with jasmines (Mallelu) whereby he got the name of Malleswara Swamy. As celestial beings like Indra visited the place, the hill came to be called Indrakeeladri.

Here it was according to another legend, that Arjuna performed penance and fought with Lord Shiva, who had appeared in the guise of Kiratha to win pasupathastra, the most powerful weapon. So this place is also called phalguna theertha.

When Indrakeeladri came in the way of the River Krishna the Gods requested the hill to allow the river to pass through it to join the sea. Keeludu obliged and gave a small passage for the river. But the ferocious Krishna made the passage larger than permitted and carried a part of the hill four miles downstream to Yanamalakuduru, where there is now a hillrock called "Thelukonda" or floating hillrock. According to another legend, Kanaka Durga borrowed the nose-stud of the Krishna and to avoid returning it jumped up the hill. Krishna vowed to take back her ornament by raising her level to the hill top by the end of kaliyuga.

Description :

The origin of the temple is unknown and it is believed that the deity of the temple is 'Swayambhu', that is self manifested. Hence the deity is believed to be immensely strong.

Adi-Sankaracharya visited the temple and installed the Srichakra and initiated workship of Kanaka Durga in vedic ways.

Hiuan Tsang, a Chinese traveler wrote that he has seen many stone inscriptions in the vicinity of the temple that revealed historic events.

Kanaka Durga is specially decorated as Balatripura Sundari, Gayathri Annapoorna. Mahalakshmi, Saraswathi, Lalitha Tripura Sundari, Durga Devi, Mahissura Mardini and Raja Rajeswari Devi on each day of the Narvarathri festival. On Vijaya Dasami day, the deities are taken in a swan-shaped boat around the Krishna river, popularity known as "Theppotsavam".

Though a ghat road was laid in 1969, most of the pilgrims prefer to climb the steps leading to the temple an arduons task for women and children. Some devotees climb the hill, decorating the steps with turmeric powder and vermilion to redeem their pledge of Metla Pooja.

Festivals :

Special pujas are performed during Dasara also called Navaratri. The most significant are Saraswati puja and Theppotsavam.

The festival of Dasara for Goddess Durga is celebrated here every year. A large number of pilgrims attend the colourful celebrations and take a holy dip in the Krishna river.

Vijaywada Kanaka Durga Devi Avatars during Dasara
Sri Kanaka Durga Devi, the chief deity of the temple is portrayed as blessing the visiting devotees in various forms (avatars) during the ten day festival. A symbolic representation of the 10 forms of triumph of good over evil, this form (known as 'Alankaram') of the day is chosen as per the astrological star of each day, in accordance with the lunar calendar. This year, the devotees are being blessed according to the following schedule of Alankarams:

Day 1 -SRI SWARNA KAVACHALAKRUTA DURGA DEVI

Day 2 - SRI BALA TRIPURA SUNDARI DEVI

Day 3 - SRI ANNAPURNA DEVI

Day 4 - SRI GAYATRI DEVI

Day 5- SRI LALITHA TRIPURA SUNDARI DEVI

Day 6 - SRI SARASWATI DEVI

Day 7 - SRI MAHA LAKSHMI DEVI

Day 8 - SRI DURGA DEVI

Day 9 - SRI MAHISHASURA MARDHINI DEVI

Day 10 - SRI RAJA RAJESWARI DEVI

Alankarams may change according to Thidis and nakshatrams every year.

Website :
http://hindugodsandtemples.blogspot.com/2009/10/vijayawada-kanaka-durga-temple-kanaka.html

Galtaji Temple

Name : Galtaji Temple

Location : Near Sisodia Rani ka Bagh, On Jaipur-Agra Highway

Built by: Diwan Rao Kriparam

Built in: 18th Century

Dedicated to: Sun God, Lord Hanuman/Balaji

Highlights: Fresh Water Springs

Galtaji is a holy pilgrimage of India, located 10 kms away from Jaipur in Rajasthan. The vast complex of Galta Ji has several temples in it. The Temple of Galtaji is famous for its natural water springs. Set amidst the beautiful landscape, Galtaji Temple offers a picturesque view of the city. Galtaji is considered holy place, as Saint Galav spent his life meditating here. However, the temple was built much later by Diwan Rao Kriparam, a courtier of Sawai Jai Singh II, in the 18th Century.

The outstanding structure of the Temple looks more like a mansion or Haveli.
The complex of Galtaji has numerous temples, pavilions, natural springs and holy 'kunds'. Built in pink sandstone, Galtaji Temple appeals to the aesthetic sense of the visitors. The temple, dedicated to the Sun God, is the most famous temple built on the top of a hill. The temple is decked with rounded roofs, exquisitely carved pillars and painted walls. Out of all other temples, Hanuman temple stands out, being surrounded by hundreds of monkeys. Besidesall other attractions, Natural water springs draw special attention of the visitors.

The water of these springs is accumulated in the tanks or 'kunds'. In all, there are seven tanks, holiest being the Galta Kund, which never goes dry. It is considered auspicious to take bath in the holy waters of Galtaji. Thousands of people come every year to take a dip in the tanks to rinse out their sins. Makar Sankranti is regarded as a special day to take bath in the holy waters of Galtaji.

Galtaji Temple is a prehistoric pilgrimage location, in a lush green landscape of nature. The location of temple is such that it provides awe-inspiring views of the surrounding plains. The Galtaji Temple is a souvenir of the former age and a sacred pilgrimage of the Hindus. The tranquility of the Temple, attracts people from far and near, to visit it again and again.

http://india-jaipur.blogspot.com/2008/06/galtaji-temple.html

Avaniapuram Nava Narasimhar Temple

Name : Avaniapuram Nava Narasimhar Temple

Location :
Located near Cheyyar in the Vandavasi-Arani route.

Legend:

AVANI means LION in Sanskrit and hence the name AVANIYA PURAM to this place, originally this sacred place called as ‘AVANI NARAYANA PURAM” and during the days it became Avaniyapuram.

During the time of Thretha Yuga Lord Brahma was doing the yaga and at that time from the yaga’s fire Lord Narasimha has appeared in front of him. Due to the heat lord doesn’t had the face when he come up. Seeing this Mahalakshmi Thayar told to Narasimhar that how you will give darshan to bhaktas without face hence please grant me your face to me. Pleased by the Thayar lord gives his face and hence in this Kshetra Thayar with lion face giving darshan to all and this day is celebrated once in 60 Years of Sarvadhari Samvathsarm.

Description :

The temple enshrines Nava (nine) Narasimhars apart from Shri Venkateshwara, Shri Ranganathar and Shri Varadarajar. It is a small hill with temples at 2 tiers and about 200 steps to climb.

The steps are painted with colorful painting and the either side of the walls are enmarked with Narayana tiru Namam in blue background color adds more beauty. Steps can be easily climbed by even older persons also.

This is a two tire temple on the first entrance where moolavar is housed along with Thayar. Lord Narashima is in a sitting posture, Mahalakshmi Thayar seated on his left thigh. His left arm is around his consort and his right hand is in abhaya hastha position. His upper hands are holding the chakra and conch. Here Lord has no face and Thayar having the Lion Face.

The Uthsava moorthy of lord Narashimhar had a face of lion. He has four hands and is in standing position flanked on either side by Sri Devi and Bhoodevi. On the Right side of the prakaram Pancha Narashimar separately in a row. Garudan in a Separate Sannidi.

After climbing approx 100+ steps there is an another beautiful temple. It’s Lord Venkateswara a Swayambhu moorthy standing armed with chakra and conch.

Behind the Srinivasa Perumal temple, there is a separate sannidhies in a cave- Lord Ranganatha with his Consort Ranganayaki on his Serpentine bed, Sri Perundevi Sametha Sri Varadaraja Perumal, Sri Yoga Narashimhar. Lord is said to have obliged Brigu Maharishi by appearing before him in the form of five Divya desa deities.

Festivals :
During the Sarvadhari Samvathsaram AANI month 9th day is the day THAYAR got the LION face and it is celebrated once in 60 Years of Sarvadhari Samvathsaram Aani Month 9th day. Only on this day 4 types of nevedhya prasadam will be offered to lords of this hill temple.

* For Mahalakshmi Thayar -> Sakkarai Pongal
* For Narashimhar -> Puliyogarai
* For Srinivasa Perumal -> Tair sadam
* For Yoga Narashimhar -> Ven Pongal

By visiting this kshetram itself one can get the benefit of

* Kalyana Prapthi
* Putra Sowbhagyam
* Runa Vimochanam
* Vyaparam

Website : i got all information about this temple from
http://rameshjs.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/avaniyapuram-nava-narashimha-skeshtra/

Jotiba Temple - Kolhapur

Name : Jotiba Temple

Location :
Jyotiba Temple is located 14 km north-west of Kolhapur in the Panhala Range, in Maharashtra. It is situated at an altitude of 3124 ft above the sea level.

Legend :

This temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. This is also called Kedarnath and Wadi Ratnagiri. Mythology says, Jotiba helped Mahalaxmi in her fight with the demons. He founded his kingdom on this mountain. He belongs to the Nath cult. He was born in the hands of Vimalmbuja, the wife of the sage Pougand, on Chaitra Shukla 6. This God is avtaar of Guard (Bhairav).

The temple is dedicated to Jyotiba (also Dattatreya), which was formed by the amalgamation of the jyotis (souls) of three gods - Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. Legend has it that the three gods took the form of Jyotiba to destroy the evil Ratnasur who troubled civilians.
With this incidence name of village was Wadi Ratnagiri. Instead of taking such long name public accepted this place as the name of God ‘Jotiba’ and this name became famous.

Description :

The original temple was built in 1730 by Navajisaya. The interior is ancient and the idol is four-handed. There are other temples and Light-towers.



Decorated bamboo sticks called as SASAN KATHI are attraction of this fair. Not less than 2000 sticks are traditionally involved in fair. Sequence of these sticks is a convention. It is not changeable. A colorful procession of SASAN KATHI is main attraction of fair. Devotees from abroad and various parts of country take part in this procession.

Festivals :

On Chaitra Poornima (appr. In Mar-Apr.) a big fair is held, when lacs of devotees come with tall (Sasan) sticks. Due to scattering of 'Gulal' the whole mountain is turned pink.

Sunday is a preferable visiting day. On the full moon day a Palkhi procession is carried out.

There is other temple of goddess ‘Yamai’ on the northern part of hill. She is believed to be sister of Jotiba.

Website :
http://tourism.kolhapurworld.com/jotiba_temple.html