Photo courtesy : Sri Mohan Rao, Hyderabad

Cuddapah alias Kadapa

Cuddapah city of Andhra Pradesh is situated eight km south of the Penna River. This city is surrounded on three sides by the Nallamala and Palakonda hills. Cuddapah derived its name from the word ‘Gaddapa’ which means entrance or doorway in Telugu. It is considered the entrance to have the darshan and blessings of Lord Venkateswara of Sri Sheashatrishyla. Hence the city came to be known as Devuni Caddapah, or Cuddapah.

Pligrimage route for Tirupati

Places like Adoni, Kurnool, Ananthapur, etc, formed the Northern part of Cuddapah. These places had dense inhabitation by Vaishnava Devotees ever since the era of the Vijayanagar period of rule. These devotees while going to Tirupati will travel through Cudappah which is a part of Eastern Ghats. The Eastern Ghats form a picturesque divinity of the great serpent Sri Adisesha with its hood at Tirumala, its body at Ahobilam, and its tail-end portion at Srisailam. Therefore before taking a journey to Tirupati, devotee would halt at Kadapa and offer their prayer for a safe pilgrimage to Sheashatrishyla. Walking from Kudapa to Tirupati along the western ghat is mesmerizing, where one can witness the majestic flow of the river Penna and Papagni River.

Prosperity and Drought

These areas presently known as Rayalaseema are prone to drought and famine. Despite these adverse conditions, people were content and were leading a happy life. There was no dearth of learned people in this place. Many scholars had lived here and had produced much literature in Telegu, Kannada, and Sanskrit as, their contribution to the Bhakti movement. These areas were either under the patronage of rulers of the Vijayanagara dynasty or the Gandikota Pemmasani dynasty.

Thippayapalli Village

Once around five hundred years back, a staunch Vishnava devotee was on his way to Tirupati on pilgrimage. After offering his prayers at Devuni Caddapah he started his last leg of the pilgrimage towards Tirupati. There were no rains and people were suffering from some ailment or the other. Farmers could not grow much grain and the people of the area were suffering because of these multiple factors.

While this devotee was near a village called Thipayapalli, villagers got together and requested this Vishnava devotee to stay for some time in the village and offer his prayers for the welfare of the people of the village. Villagers offered that they would take care of his daily needs. They showed him the dried-up lake near the village, which otherwise used to be a huge source of water. The lake dug with the patronage of the king is as huge as an ocean hence known as Samudra and named as ‘Deva samudram’ after the king.

Stay of Pundit in the village

Seeing the condition of the people of the village, the pundit decided to help them by offering prayers to the deity by staying in the village. He camped in the southern end of the village and started his prayers. He had installed a stone block and with the help of another stone wrote a few ‘Akshara’ in the stone. ['Akshara' in general means alphabet. But in Sanskrit 'shara' means one which is perishable and 'Akshara' means one which is NOT perishable.]

He had asked ‘prasadam’ [cooked food as an offering to the deity] to the deity to be prepared by the man folks of the village. He used to sit in meditation in front of the deity and offer his prayers for hours together. At the end of his prayers, he would offer the prasadam to the deity which used to be his daily diet. These prayers continued for a couple of days. After some time, the village started witnessing heavy rains. The deva samudram was then brimming with water. Gradually, the sufferings of villagers receded and their happiness and prosperity restored.

Parting Wishes of Pundit

Throughout the stay of the pundit, villagers took care of him and attended to his daily needs. Once the prosperity of the village was restored, the pundit decided to continue his pilgrimage to Tirupathi. He suggested the villagers continue the worship of this deity for continued health, prosperity, and peace of mind.

Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy

Villagers were keen to perform the daily pooja as suggested by him but they were not aware of the diety that had been invoked in the stone by the Pundit. When they asked the pundit, he replied that Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy [Sri Anjaneya Swamy] had been invoked in this deity. He suggested they pray to Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy with all devotion and how he prayed to Him. Lord Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy protects this village and villagers started pooja to Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy in the same way.

Temple Today

Thippayapalli is a Village in Pullampeta Mandal in Cuddapah District of Andhra Pradesh State and is covered under Rajampet Revenue taluk. Even today one could visit this temple in which Sri Sajeevaraya Swamy is worshipped in the same way as was in practice for the last five hundred years. Even today villagers from surrounding villages like Bavikadapalli, Kollavaripalli, Jaguvaripalli, Brahmanapalli, and Utukur visit this ancient temple of Sri Sajeevaraya at Thippayapalli and offer their prayers for well well-being of their village.

Makara Sankaranti festival at Thippayapalli

As a custom, the first crop after the harvest is offered to the deity of the village which is often a practice in all parts of our country. This annual festival is celebrated by all as Makara Sankranti. In Tamilnadu it is known as Pongal, in Punjab it is known as Lohri, in Assam it is Bihu, etc.

In this village every year, on Sunday prior to the Makara Sankranti, Pongal is offered to Sri Sanjeevaraya Swamy. As customary in this village, the Pongal offering is prepared by the men folks of the village. As per the custom, the poojas are conducted by the men while the women folks have darshan of the deity from the entrance, honoring the age-old custom for the welfare of the village.

 

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SRI HANUMAN THINKS DIFFERENTLY, THINKS FAST
THINKS AHEAD AND ACTS FOR SURE

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Ed [May 2017]
Updates: [Jan 2025]

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