Visiting Ahobilam is an enriching experience. It not only
requires devotion but also the strength to visit all the nine Narasimha temples
spread across lower and upper Ahobilam. Visiting all these temples in a day is
quite difficult and two days are sufficient to see all temples including
Ugrasthambham leisurely. Planning in advance for staying at Ahobilam is
necessary as days of Swathi Nakshatra and Brahmotsavam attract huge crowd.
Lower Ahobilam has guest house maintained by Ahobilam mutt and as well as
private ones. Upper Ahobilam has a small guest house maintained by some
community. Lunch is provided for all by this community Anna sathram at free of
cost. Ahobilam can be reached from Allagadda, it takes forty minutes to reach
Ahobilam and first bus starts at 5:00 AM. The last bus to Allagadda from
Ahobilam is at 8:30PM.
Upper Ahobilam Narasimha Swami Temple
view from Upper Ahobilam
Bhairava cave
Upper Ahobilam has Ahobila Narasimha Swami, Varaha or Kroda
or Krodakara Narasimha Swami, Malola Narasimha Swami, Jwala Narasimha Swami and
Paavana Narasimha Swami Temples. Upper Ahobilam also has Ugrasthambham and
Prahlada Gudi which are not counted in the nine Narasimha temples.
Ugrasthambham is the place where Lord Narasimha is believed to come out of the
pillar to kill demon Hiranyakashyapu as described in Hindu mythology. Lower
Ahobilam has Yogananda Narasimha Swami, Chatravata Narasimha Swami and Bhargava
Narasimha Swami Temples. On the way to Lower Ahobilam to Upper Ahobilam Karanja
Narasimha Swami temple is present next to main road. Distance from Lower
Ahobilam to Upper Ahobilam is eight kilometers.
back side entrance of Ahobilam temple, closed always
way to other temples at Upper Ahobilam
It is better to start early in the morning as rocks gets
heat by noon making it bit difficult to trek. Most of the path is with rocks
and steep at few places making it necessary to climb with the help of rocks. Make
sure that you carry enough water as there is no source of water from Varaha
Narasimha Swami temple to Jwala Narasimha Swami temple. Also, there is no water
source at Ugrasthambham which takes two hours of moderate to difficult trek.
From Ugrasthambham once can take the same path to come back to the starting
point of trek or can take alternate path. Alternate path is not much steep and
it is a simple trek of six kilometers.
near the junction to take left or right path
entire route map of Ahobilam both Upper and Lower Ahobilam
Kroda Narasimha Swami
We started our trek from Upper Ahobilam Narasimha Swami
temple. Just next to the temple there is a path for going to other temples at
Upper Ahobilam. Crossing small bridge made of wooden pieces and walking a
little we will get a junction with way to left and right. Take the left one to
visit Kroda Narasimha Swami, Malola Narasimha Swami, Jwala Narasimha Swami
temples and Ugrasthambham. Take right one with steps to visit Paavana Narasimha
Swami Temple.
on the way to Jwala Narasimha Swami
on the way to Jwala Narasimha Swami, this bridge also takes to Malola Narasimha Swami temple
just spot the bridge seen in two pics above
We took the left path reached Kroda Narasimha Swami temple
and started to Jwala Narasimha Swami temple as we were planning to visit Malola
Narasimha Swami temple while coming back taking the alternate path. It took
around two hours to reach Jwala Narasimha Swami Temple from Kroda Narasimha
Swami temple and two more hours to reach Ugrasthambham from Jwala Narasimha
Swami temple. Don’t plan to stay uphill as there is no possibility with narrow
paths and no plane surface.
Jwala Narasimha Swami Temple
Jwala Narasimha
tasty water on the top of hill near Jwala Narasimha temple
Malola Narasimha Swami Temple
We visited Malola Narasimha Swami temple on the way back and
on the trek we experienced many scenic places. It was almost 4’0 clock by the
time we came back to Ahobilam, the place we started. Had nice lunch at Sathram
and relaxed for the day going to lower Ahobilam.
way to Ugrasthambham
Ugrasthambham
Next day we started early to Upper Ahobilam and from there
to Paavana Narasimha Swami temple. Except the initial seven hundred odd steps
climbing, the trek was simple and took almost two hours to reach temple. We
also visited Chenchu Lakshmi temple just near to Paavana Narasimha Swami temple.
We started back and reached Ahobilam starting point by lunch time. Having lunch
at Sathram we started to other temples visiting Karanja Narasimha Swami temple
on the way to Lower Ahobilam as other temples are in Lower Ahobilam itself.
We visited other Narasimha swami temples at lower Ahobilam
hiring an Auto rickshaw. We could return with pleasure and satisfaction of
having darshan of all Nava Narasimha temples. Later we visited Lakshmi
Narasimha Swami temple at Lower Ahobilam, it is not included in the list of
nine Narasimha temples.
view of Ahobila temple from alternate path
On first day, we visited Ahobila Narasimha Swami, Varaha Narasimha
Swami, Malola Narasimha Swami, Jwala Narasimha Swami and Ugrasthambham all at
Upper Ahobilam.
One second day, we visited Paavana Narasimha Swami at Upper
Ahobilam, Karanja Narasimha Swami on the way to Lower Ahobilam from Upper
Ahobilam. Yogananda Narasimha Swami, Chatravata Narasimha Swami and Bhargava
Narasimha Swami Temples at Lower Ahobilam.
Paavana Narasimha Swami Temple
Karanja Narasimha Swami Temple
Yogananda Narasimha Swami
Chatravata Narasimha Swami Temple
Bhargava Narasimha Swami Temple
Temple at Lower Ahobilam
It is up to you to hire a guide or not. It is not necessary
to hire a guide we felt as path is not much confusing. We can take help from
temple priests. Only place where we may feel little confused is near the small
bridge (blue in color) on the way to Jwala Narasimha Swami temple from Kroda
Narasimha Swami temple. If you take the bridge you will reach Malola Narasimha
Swami, if you are coming back the same way we can take the bridge to reach
Malola Narasimha Swami temple instead of going till Kroda Narasimha Swami
temple. Paavana Narasimha temple can be reached by road by hiring a jeep from Lower Ahobilam itself.
