HYDERABAD: Women are busy making ‘vankai kura’ (a curry made of brinjal) and other specials for lunch as they have come with their families to offer prayers at Veera Anjaneya Gudi at Gatupalli, Maheshwaram mandal, Ranga Reddy district. This is around 40 kms from Hyderabad.
The temple itself is at Gattupalli thanda, with the village being a couple of kilometres away on a fairly decent road. It is about six kilometres away from Maheshwaram, mandal head quarters, but there are not many hotels on the way and cooking with fire wood is probably a much better option, being easy on the pocket. This is also known as the ‘vana samaradhana’ or a forest feast.
There is a picnic ambience here, with numerous trees, some green some dry, and about three stands selling kumkum, colourful glass bangles still wrapped in their plastic covers, and colourful red and yellow strings to be tied on the wrist with the blessings of Lord Anjaneya. Lord Anjaneya is known for granting wishes, especially ‘santhanam’ (children) and good health. But it is not that simple that you ask and it shall be given.
You have to pray intensely for 48 days, do 108 perambulations at the temple daily and tie a coconut to a tree, stating your wish and then, the priest Anand Mohan Sharma who has worked here for the past 15 years, assures that the wish is granted.
The number of coconuts on the tree opposite the main sanctum, point out to the aspirations of the people to have children of their own.
While the whole of eight-and-a-half feet Swayambhu Lord Anjaneya is not visible to us and that is because He is deep inside with only the idol’s right arm being visible. His right eye is also visible and here Lord Anjaneya is looking towards the East because the early morning sunlight is good for health. And He is covered in Sindhuram.
Till 2003, this idol of Lord Anjaneya sat under a ‘raavi chattu’ (a fig tree) and then it was decided to give him cover, but the crowd poured in even then.
Part of the Endowments Department since the year 2000, there are five priests with an EO-cum-manager C.H.S. Srinivasa Rao, in attendance since 2003 and all of them are kept busy on Tuesdays and Sundays and during Karthika, Shravana and Magha months.
The department spent close to '2 lakhs to build a ‘mandapam’ and the ‘raj gopuram’. One of the priest’s insists that five perambulations should be done before ‘archana’ can be done. The temple premises are kept clean, even as the devotees eat the ‘prasadam’ and drop the coconut shells and peels on the ground. It is immediately taken away, keeping the temple clean. There is also betel leaf puja and ‘Sindhuram alankaram’.
The temple performs the Laksha Tamalapaku puja and the Vaishakha Bahula Dashami puja on the day Lord Anjaneya was born.
It is said that during the period of Akkanna Maddanna, the two brothers who played an important role during the early Nizam days, they wanted the Lord Anjaneya idol, which was under a tree, to be taken and brought to Maheshwaram. But the legend goes that though several horses and elephants, along with strongmen were used, the idol could not be moved a bit. That night, the brothers had a dream telling them that Lord Anjaneya did not want to be moved and that a temple should be built for him right there at Gatupalli. So he was left there and till 2003, remained under the tree, which is still around. Now a formal temple has been built, with enough moving space. People perform Satyanarayana pujas and even some weddings are conducted here.
While Moghul marauders did try to attack this place, since there was not a temple in existence, nothing much could be done. Surprisingly, there is no lake, Koneru or a rivulet running by and the temple uses water from a borewell. Head shaving and offering of the hair is also a ritual done at this temple, but yet the temple is kept clean.
The tree cover in summer is sparse but otherwise the temple is almost situated in the midst of a forest. There are new sanctums of Lord Rama, Shiva and Navagrahas inside the temple. Tickets are sold for archana/puja and prasad here is tamarind rice and laddus. Crowds throng this place because they think Lord Anjaneya will grant them all their wishes.
