Miles and Trails: Caves and Pushkarini, Yaganti

"It doesn't matter if a cave has been in darkness for 10,000 years or half an hour, once you light a match it is illuminated"-Paramahansa Yogananda

There are three mystifying caves in the Yaganti Hills just adjacent to the Sri Yaganti Uma Maheshwara Temple. A well-paved bridge lead us to the base of the cave. The task of climbing up and down the rocky caves seemed tough considering the time of the day. Our only hope was that the interiors of caves will provide some respite.

Venkateshwara Cave: After climbing a flight of stairs we were at the mouth of the first cave, Venkateshwara, which was at the western corner of the rocky mountain. Because of a tiny opening in the mountain beam of light illuminated the cave moderately, yet not bright. The steps were broad so the flight was not tough. At top on the porch lies the idol of Venkateshwara, the one we have mentioned in our previous post. Presumably this idol was present in the cave long before Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple was constructed. The temperature dropped dramatically inside the cave as we expected. We relaxed at the corner of steps without blocking crowd's ascension or descension.

Agastya Cave (Rokalla Cave): By far this is the toughest climb. The steps were dangerously steep with narrow treads. We had to hold the jagged wall for support for the fear of slipping. Inside was dim, yet not dark; dank yet not stench. As you can guess sage Agastya observed penance to Lord Shiva when he was disturbed about the broke nail of Venkateshwara idol. One more story is that Agasthya cursed crows to be absent from this place when they were troubling his atonement. Hence, it is said there are no crows in the temple premises. Since crow is the vehicle of Shani, the feared deity of planet Saturn will not be able to come to Yaganti who is capable of bringing misfortune and fortune to people according to their deeds. In our limited time we could not put that theory to test. Amazement was the feeling when we looked at the elderly people who were clambering up and down these 120 steps or so. Having said that we do not recommend this adventure to elderly people, small children, or parents carrying babies or toddlers.

Shankara Cave (Veera Brahmam Cave): The last and the easiest. This cave is extremely short and congested. To pass through we had to squat and crouch, another kind of workout. The priest was about to close the gate When we reached the spot. It is supposed to be his lunch time we guessed. Seeing us he retracted back to allow us few moments. Considering his kindness we decided to move out as soon as possible. There were nothing much, but for few idols. The sage Shree Potuluri Veera Brahmendra swamy wrote his book on Kalagnana (future predictions) in this cave. He was the one who said Yaganti Hills can be alternative to Tirupati Timmappa. There was porch outside where we sat to the blowing breeze. From here we could see the panoramic view of Yaganti. Uma Maheswara Temple, Nandi, dhwaja sthamba (pole), gopura (tower), and Pushkarini were visible from these caves.

Pushkarini is were we are headed now, again. Earlier we had dipped our feet in the Pushkarini (pond) before entering the temple, and seeing the beauty around the place we decided to relax here a bit before heading out. Water flows into Pushkarini through the mouth of a Nandi idol. The water reaches pond throughout the year from the hill and is considered one of the marvels of architects of that period. It is said no one knows from where the water reaches here, which is hard to believe according to us. Some people were swimming in the pool while others like us were relaxing on the portico. The square-shaped Pushkarini is surrounded by stone courtyard on all sides, with elegant pavilion in the middle. Due to continuous flow the pond remains fresh all the time. It goes without saying taking a dip in the holy water before going to temple is considered auspicious. The breeze that ran over the rippled surface was a balm to our tired selves.

There were few shops outside selling artifacts, toys, artificial jewellery, typical for temple town. We noticed one big water tank near the parking lot. We bought a kilo of Indian plum that looked tender, crunchy, and juicy to satiate our craving.