A weekend trip - ok - conditions apply, only for people in Hyderabad, Telangana. For rest of people who are not living in Hyderabad, plan it sometime when you visit the city at leisure.
The main reason behind writing this post is that I felt there is incomplete information in the internet about the hills or the temple. So, I thought I would share all the information that I have since I visited this place recently.
Anantagiri hills are small bunch of low altitude hills, located 5 KM from Vikarabad, a town in Rangareddy district of Telangana state. It is a 2 hr drive from Hyderabad and is exactly in the dense reserved forest area between Vikarabad and Tandur. Anantagiri hills got their name from the temple of Sree Ananta Padmanabha Swamy, also is a place where the Musi river originates and is a place of interest for Trekking as well as nature lovers. The Telagana tourism department built a resort here and it is also sometimes referred to as Hill Station of Telangana. There is accommodation available right beside the temple on pay and use basis where I noticed people from Karnataka stay to complete their "vrata".
To know more about the history of the temple, read the Wikipedia page and the Telangana Tourism page about the place and the temple.
The temple is small, the sanctum is similar as that of Yadagirigutta temple. The Lord is not an idol but a "Shaaligramam" and lie inside a cave in the sanctum. However, an idol of the Lord is also worshiped in other side of the temple. The place is very peaceful with no long queues although I visited on a Saturday. So we can assume, it is even less dense on weekdays. There are few places in the temple that made me remind that this temple was built by Nizams. The timings of the temple are shown below.
The swamy Pushkarini (the holy pond), lies few meters below the actual height of the temple and is connected with the temple with stairs. A shrine is built where Maharshi Markandeya did meditation and is also located on these steps. I have not been to trekking and so I could not see the water falls as well as fresh water streams but they are the places of interest for the adventurists. We started to the temple from Hyderabad around 9:30 AM and we are back home by 3:30 PM on same day while the mode of travel is car. If you wish to take public transport, you can opt for the TSRTC buses which are destined to Tandur. Food is available in the resort mentioned above. Having said that, it is a great picnic spot for a family get together and potlucks.
I hope I did not miss any information but I will update if I find something more about it.
The main reason behind writing this post is that I felt there is incomplete information in the internet about the hills or the temple. So, I thought I would share all the information that I have since I visited this place recently.
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| A panaromic view of the temple entrance |
Anantagiri hills are small bunch of low altitude hills, located 5 KM from Vikarabad, a town in Rangareddy district of Telangana state. It is a 2 hr drive from Hyderabad and is exactly in the dense reserved forest area between Vikarabad and Tandur. Anantagiri hills got their name from the temple of Sree Ananta Padmanabha Swamy, also is a place where the Musi river originates and is a place of interest for Trekking as well as nature lovers. The Telagana tourism department built a resort here and it is also sometimes referred to as Hill Station of Telangana. There is accommodation available right beside the temple on pay and use basis where I noticed people from Karnataka stay to complete their "vrata".
To know more about the history of the temple, read the Wikipedia page and the Telangana Tourism page about the place and the temple.
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| As you can notice, the picture is taken from half the height of the temple. We need to take stairs to go down and then into the temple. Further down the stairs, there lies the "Pushkarini" |
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| Everyday from 7:30 AM to 1 PM and 3 PM till 8 PM. |
The swamy Pushkarini (the holy pond), lies few meters below the actual height of the temple and is connected with the temple with stairs. A shrine is built where Maharshi Markandeya did meditation and is also located on these steps. I have not been to trekking and so I could not see the water falls as well as fresh water streams but they are the places of interest for the adventurists. We started to the temple from Hyderabad around 9:30 AM and we are back home by 3:30 PM on same day while the mode of travel is car. If you wish to take public transport, you can opt for the TSRTC buses which are destined to Tandur. Food is available in the resort mentioned above. Having said that, it is a great picnic spot for a family get together and potlucks.
I hope I did not miss any information but I will update if I find something more about it.
