Temples Of India-2

SRI BALA BALAJI TEMPLE-APPANA PALLE-1

  

SRI BALA BALAJI TEMPLE-APPANA PALLE

The Bala Balaji Devasthanam or Temple at Appana Palle or Appana Pally is perhaps not so famous but a very ancient site. It is a temple of Lord Balaji or Lord Venkateshwara. Bala Means child. Here Lord Balaji is worshipped in the form of a child.

This is popularly known as Konaseema Tirupathi. Konaseema -kona means corner seema means region -the rich delta region of East Godavari District surrounded by River Godavari  and Bay of Bengal. It is full of tributaries and aqua ducts. The silt soil brought in by the River Godavari and its tributaries makes the region very fertile. One can find acres and acres of lush green Paddy and Sugar Cane fields, Coconut, Cashew, Mango and Plantain Orchards. The region has a rich cultural heritage with many famous laureates-Vedic scholars, astrologers, poets, musicians, philanthropists etc. There are many ancient and well known and not so well known temples in this region. My humble attempt is to introduce you to as many such places as I can an provide you with as much information as I can to the best of my knowledge.

One of these temples is that of Sri Bala Balaji Temple at Appana Palle.

LOCATION

APPANA PALLE is a small village in Mamidi Kuduru Mandalam of East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. Its situated on the banks of River Vainateya a tributary of River Godvari. 

                                     River Vaineteya-Tributory of Godavari

The legend of how Appana Pally got its name:

Appana Palle was originally known as Arpana Palle. Arpana means sacrifice and Palle means a place or village. The meaning of Arpana Palle is a place where a sacrifice was made.

Now who made the sacrifice and why? For that we need to go into very ancient times. Read on.....

Legends related to the site

Sage Kashyapa

Kasyapa was one of the ancient sages or Rishis and is one of the Saptha Rishis or the seven sages. He was the son of Marichi- who was the son of Lord Brahma (the Creator). That is Kasyapa was the grandson of Bramha. 

Kashyapa had thirteen wives- Aditi, Diti,Vinata, Kadruva, Danu, Arishta, Surasa, Surabhi, Tamra, Krodhavasa, Ida, Khasa and Muni -who were the daughters of Daksha Prajapathi and were sisters to Sati -Consort to Lord Shiva. There are some variations in the names of some of the wives and also the number and names of the offsprings they begot. I am not going to discuss that here. But broadly I will give the details.

He had many sons from these wives as follows:

	Name of the Wife	Sons/daughters   known as	Details of Sons/daughters
1	Aditi Eldest wife very virtuous  and  kind	Devatas (Gods)  and 12 Adityas (Suns)	Gods –Indra, Agni etc  and Aṃśa, Aryaman, Bhaga, Dhūti,  Mitra, Pūṣan, Śakra, Savitṛ,  Tvaṣṭṛ,  Varuṇa, Viṣhṇu , Vivasvat or Vivasvan *
*These started the Surya Vansham or Solar Dynasty. Later on this was known as Ikshwaku Vansham (dynasty) after King Ikshwaku and after that Raghu Vansham (dynasty) after King Raghu. Lord Rama belonged to this dynasty
2	Diti	Daityas (Demons)	Hiranyakashapu Hiranyaksha and daughter Sinhika
3	Danu	Danavas (Demons)	100 sons Viprachitti.
4	Kadruva	Nagas (Serpents)	1000 serpents (Adi Seshu, Vasuki and Taksha etcare well known) from whom the  reptile clan started
5	Vinata		Garuda and Aruna or Surya
6	Surabhi	Cows and Buffalos
7	Surasa Or Samras	Dogs
8	Muni  Or Manu Or Pradha	Apsaras (Devine Maidens)
9	Khasa  Or Vishva	Yakshas, (Demi-Gods)
10	Krodha Or Khrodhavasa	Rakshasas
11	Arishta	Gandharvas (Male nature spirits possessing musical  skills)
12	Illa or Eda	Trees
13	Tamra	Daugters	Six daughters who started the line of animals and birds

In the next post know about the Tale of two sisters-Vinata and Kadruva and how it is related to this site........So follow my posts on this blog......