When Ewa asked me if I’d like to join her on a field trip to Ahobilam during the brahmotsavam, I was overjoyed. I had been to Ahobilam over a decade ago, and never thought I would go back again. Splendid! For those who don’t know, Ahobilam currently contains 9 Narasiṃha shrines, and the Man-Lion is said to have courted and married a local huntress, Chenchulakshmi, an incarnation of Lakṣmī.
And the Chenchu tribespeople take part in the many festivities, which are dedicated to their “son-in-law”. Ewa had already written about the Pāruveṭa festival, and other articles on Ahobilam (which you can read here), and a particular event during the Brahmotsavamis one in which Chenchulakshmi steals something from Narasiṃha and gets chased (like the Vēṭupari Utsavam in Śrīraṅgam). And this is going to be Ewa’s next article. Anyway, we roped in Prathik (the more, the merrier!) and left on March 17, via Arani, Vellore, Kadappa and Allagadda. After hours of non-stop chattering, we stopped only to get food or make photos of anything that caught our attention, mostly trees and waterbodies in my case, like the following ones.
ached Chittor, there were mango groves on both sides. I really couldn’t resist sneaking in and taking photos (no, not stealing mangoes, although that temptation was not allowed to rise in this grove, as the trees were devoid of mangoes… To think that the mango season is round the corner!
And the most interesting break is at this no man’s land, called Maṭhapalli – I asked the seller the obvious question of whether there’s a maṭha there and the answer was no. But there’s an agrahāra and a big Brahmin settlement with temples and all.
A lactating dog approached us and I fed it some biscuits. And it was the first of the many dogs to approach us throughout our trip, in Andhra. In Tamilnadu, they tend to be cautious and perpetually afraid (except on circumstances, of course), whereas there, there seems to exist a harmonious coexistence between wo/man and their best friend. Which is truly touching.
As we approached Ahobilam, Prathik spotted this picture of Chenchu Lakshmi and we stopped for taking a photo, and discovered a shrine nearby.
One of the Chenchu women nearby nodded as we asked if this was Chenchulakshmi. A couple of other ladies turned up and asked us where we cam from. And told us that Narasiṃha visits here during one of the events of the festival, and pointed at the flag among the branches.
At that time, a man who is a guide (who could speak a handful of languages) said the same thing, and that pointed out to us that a child found a statue of Lakṣmī from a termite mound a year or so ago. The temple people checked if it was gold (it wasn’t) and built a structure to place the Lady.
The villagers were genuinely overjoyed at showing us this place, and beamed with joy and pride. Such a good thing to stop and ask questions! One of the ladies said that of course she would attend the “theft and chase” event!
After going to the rooms in Harinagaram, well away from the main shrine (which is probably surrounded by a protected area by the forest department, as Ewa pointed out), we drove into the town. And the tēr (temple car) was being readied for the Rathotsavam the following day.
And the carvings were exquisite, of course…
And unsurprisingly, the whole town was abuzz with activity, as I discovered to my horror that people (clearly villagers from close-by places and far) simply lay down wherever they could to spend the night. It was going to be a cold night, but I guess they’re stronger (and more used to this) than I am.
The following day, there were dance performances by children, plays enacted, and plenty other such entertainment for the people. And the different maṭhas were cooking away pots and pots of food and distributing it freely. A litte scary during these Covid days… These ladies from the same family (Janjala? tribe) were singing a song about Chenchulakshmi and playing that stringed instrument. As we gathered around to film them, more people crowded around them, so they asked us to listen to a second song, probably to attract more crowd.
And then we marched on towards the lower Ahobilam temple, much more recent than the upper one, but very interesting nonetheless.
suganyasmusingsscribblings.wordpress.com 
4 thoughts on “Ahobilam photo-musings – 1”