Surendrapuri – Relive Indian Mythology
Srirang always had told me to visit his house in Hyderabad but somehow it never did happen. Finally when I did get the chance to visit Hyderabad with my wife for the marriage of my cousin's daughter I felt this was the time, I should take some time off and visit my college friend Srirang.
Srirang is a Maharashtrian settled in Hyderabad. So you would find him inculcating the culture of both the places. His wife Surili is from Uttar Pradesh so whenever I visit Srirang's house, I always feel it is a mini India!
Over dinner, Srirang asked me to stay over after the wedding and said he would take us around. Very soon, we were at his house and off to a place called Surendrapuri which Srirang said we should surely like. My nephew Steve was also with me, and he was excited to know more about Indian destinations.
Surendrapuri is a place located on the road from Hyderabad to Yadagirigutta and is in the district of Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh. One could reach here by road, rail or air. There are many buses connecting Surendrapuri with Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Raigiri is the nearest railway station and there are regular auto rickshaws which reach you to Surendrapuri. Then the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad is the nearest airport, so you can reach it by flight too. Surendrapuri is around 75km from the airport.
After having collected all the information about how to reach Surendrapuri, Steve was quite eager to know more about the place. I was quite struck by his childish excitement in making a scrap book out of the whole tour.
We first went to the temple complex here in Surendrapuri. This is situated on the Yadagirigutta Road and is around 2 km from the small town of Yadagirigutta. This place was actually famous earlier for the tall idol of Lord Hanuman, in fact it is the tallest. This is the Panchamukha Hanuman temple. Today Surendrapuri temple complex is very popular because of the “Kunda Stayanaranayana KalaDhamam”. This is a great mythological centre for Awareness and is a recent construction. We went into the centre and I got a strange calm feeling. Here is where all the tourists normally come just to get rejuvenated. We went around this place and saw the models of many temples displayed here. It was exhilarating to see a smaller version of Gantry, Badrinath, Kashi, Amarnath, Kedarnath, and the other Sapta Lokas like the Vishnu Lok, Brahma lok, naga lok, Shiva Lok, Yama Lok and also Indra Lok. I just went into a trance and actually felt that I had visited al these places. The way the whole thing was set up was so beautifully organized that I admired the kind of creativity and talent that existed in our country. Steve was really dazzled with Indian culture and I was happy I had brought him along.
Then the Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were also depicted very well and I think all children should surely visit this place which is a great educational and spiritual experience. There is a Nehru children’s Museum in Kolkata which has similarly depicted the epics very well in a tabular model form.
It is better to visit this museum before 3 in the evening as it takes around 3 hours to finish the tour around the museum. So I was happy we reached here first. Also Srirang was very particular we carried our caps and umbrellas as it was required whenever we were in an open area. We deposited our belongings in a locker that was provided for us and they made us go through a security check as there are many things that are not permitted inside. Inflammable articles and other objects are not allowed inside.
It was nice to see the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, the Gajendra Moksham, the Shirdi Saibaba, Khajuraho works, Bharatmata with a lion on the Globe, Kanaka Mahalakshmi, and many more representations from Indian Mythology and religion.
On the whole the experience was very
interesting and educative. It gave me a lot of information that I wasn’t aware about and some which I had forgotten. With the sculptures from Bhagavata, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the museum depicted even the ancient Puranas in a very informative manner. The sculptures especially were eye catching and certainly something to cherish about. The entire place spanned over some 18 acres of land. The replicas of famous Indian temples made us feel that we had come to a mini spiritual India. If you ever want to see India in just one place then visit this Awareness Centre at Surendrapuri. You can see Kashi Vishwanath and Madurai Meenakshi. You can pray to Kolkata Kali Mata and Tirupati Balaji. Get enchanted with the statue of Shirdi Saibaba and Ayodhya Rama. Isn’t that wonderful? See the Gods come alive her. The stature of Palani Swami and Lord Ganesha makes you feel like you are in Kailash – the abode of Lord Shiva.
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