Mantralaya

Location: Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh

Distance: 595 Km from Chennai, 690 km from Mumbai, 406 km from Bangalore and around 360 Km from Hyderabad.

How to reach there: Buses are available from chennai, mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. By train one has to unboard at Mantralayam road located around 12 km from Mantralaya. From Mumbai one can take Udyan Express, from Bangalore you can take the Bangalore – Delhi route trains and from Chennai one can take the Chennai – Mumbai route trains. One can also try KSTDC package tour from Bangalore.

Route: 1. Bangalore -> tumkur -> Hiriyur -> Bellary -> Mantralaya

2. Bangalore.. Yelahanka ( Byepass ).. Chickballapur.. Penukonda.. Anantpur ( Byepass ).. Gooty.. take left at junction after passing thru town…rly level crossing…Jonnagiri.. Pattikonka ( Byepass ).. Aspari ( cross road – go straight ) …Adoni… Madhavaram.. right turn.. Mantralayam ( Manchala ).

For more info visit – http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/34286-bangalore-mantralaya.html

Journey time: Around 8 hrs by private vehicle, 9 – 9.5 hrs by bus and 10 – 10.5 hrs by train including 1 hr by road from Mantralayam road.

Where to stay: There are several guest house offered by the temple for a nominial free. Private guest houses are available. Hotel Guru International for high end accomodation, Holiday Home and Lodge Prasuna.

Where to eat: Temple offers free prasadam or food. You can also try Hotel Pannaga.

Sri Raghavendra Swamy Temple

Mantralaya is the final resting place of the popular vaishnava saint Raghavendra swamy. The local name of this place is Maanchale and it was sankritized to Mantralaya. He lived in the 16th century and propagated the Vaishnava sect of Hindu religion and the Dvaita philosophy of Madhavacharya. Raghavendra swamy was born as Venkanna around 1595 at Bhuvanagiri, a
small town near Kanchipuram in South India (now Tamil Nadu). His fore-fathers were all renowned musicians and he too became a good player of the veena. The samadhi of Raghavendra swami is in the Sri Raghavendra swami mutt also known as Sri Raghavendra Theertha, Guru Rajaru or Rayaru. For more info visit:

http://www.dvaita.org/scholars/raghavendra/
http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/mar99/0118.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghavendra_Swami

What to see:

1. Samadhi temple: Samadhi temple or Brindavan is the final resting place of Sri Raghavendra Swamy. It is a religious place and attracts thousands of devotees every year.

2. Panchamukhi Anjaneya Swamy: Panchamukhi Anjaneya Swamy temple is located on the bank of Tungabhadra river. It is said the Sri Raghavendra swamy did penace here for 12 years in a cave and lord Hanuman gave him darshan in the form of various avatars. Thats why the idol of Hanuman is five faced.

2. Venkateswara Swamy Temple: This temple is located inside the village. It is said Raghavendra swamy worshiped this idol during his time.

3. Bichali: It is a beautiful and peaceful place on the banks of river Tungabhandra, around 20 km from mantralaya. At this place Apnacharya, the closet diciple of Raghavendra Swamy used to meditate.

4. Narasimha Swamy Temple: The 200 year old Narasimha Swamy temple is located around 25 kilometers from Mantralayam off the Adoni Road in Chinna Tumbalam.

Sri Raghavendra Swamy statue

Around Mantralaya:

1. Alampur: It is a famous temple town. Navabhramma temple which is a cluster of 9 temples dedicated to lord shiva. This temples were built by the Badami Chalukya in 7th century.

2. Belum Caves: It is the second largest cave network in India and is located in Kolimigundla Mandal around 106 km from Kornool, Andhra Pradesh. It has very interesting history.

Contact:

Shri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt,
Mantralayam, Kurnool District,
Andhra Pradesh – 518345, INDIA.
Phone- (91)-(8512)-279429, 279459
Email-info@srsmutt.org

Useful websites:

http://www.gururaghavendra1.org/