Beechupally

Beechupally Village situated on the bank of the River Krishna is in Itikyal Mandal in Mahbubnagar District of Telangana State. It belongs to the Telangana region. It is located 87 kilometers South of the District headquarters in Mahbubnagar and 186 kilometers from the State capital Hyderabad.

One can reach Gadwal or Kurnool by train and take the APRTC bus to Beechupally. All major trains stop in these two places.

National Highway (NH7) passes through this place. The sacred confluence [Sangam] of Rivers Krishna and Thungabadra takes place here, making Beechupally a holy place.

Beechupally Today

The road bridge built in the 1950s on NH 7 helped connect Telangana and Rayalaseema with the rest of the country in a grand manner. Today many ghats along the river have been built and pushkara snanam is organised every twelfth year on a grand scale and lakhs of devotees take part in the event. The shrines along the rivers were also revamped for the convenience of the devotees for uninterrupted darshan.

Beechupally during Ancient time

The place was a dense forest without many inhabitants and the sage Kanva chose this holy place to do penance. During the Fifteenth century Sri Vyasaraja, the Rajaguru of Sri Krishna Devaraya of the Vijayanagar dynasty happened to pass through this holy place. He along with his disciples camped at this place for some time and the Sri Guru felt the holiness of this place. He felt installing a Sri Hanuman deity at this holy place where Maharishi Kanva had done penance would be most appropriate.

History of the Temple

Installation of Deity

Sri Vyasaraja wanted to transform his vision into practice and got a beautiful deity of Sri Anjaneya [Hanuman] made. He will be moving and leaving this place in a few days. And in his mind, the question of who should be performing the pooja after he had left was foremost.

That night in his dream Lord Sri Anjaneya appeared and gave him the solution for this. Sri Vyasaraja had installed the idol of Lord Sri Anjaneya on an auspicious day. The next morning when Sri Vyasaraja woke up, he saw a young tribal boy offering prayers to Lord Anjaneya installed on the previous day.

Why the place is named Beechupally

Lord Anjaneya had ordained Sri Vyasaraja that the first person who offers prayer the next day of installation should nominated as the archaka of the deity here. As instructed by Lord Anjaneya, Sri Vyasaraja nominated the young boy named ‘Beechupally’ belonging to the Boya tribe as Archaka of Lord Anjaneya from then on. From then onwards he became the Archaka and till today persons belonging to the Boya Tribe are the archakas of the temple. The village was named ’Beechupally’ after the first Boya tribe Archaka, and the Lord as 'Beechupally Rayudu'.

Temple for Beechupally rayudu

Gadwal kings built a small shrine about two hundred years ago. shrine for Siva was also built on the premises at that time.

Since the course of the River had changed over years the shrines of both Lord Anjaneya and Lord Siva were only two hundred meters away from the banks of the River. During the monsoon, the River used to swell and some years entered the Lord Siva temple. In the recent past, both temples were renovated and the river banks were strengthened with good ghats.

A temple for Lord Rama was also built in the area in 1992.

Click here for Sri Beechupally Rayudu Suprabhatam in Sanskrit script

Temple Complex today

The temple is situated on the banks of the Krishna River and is dhakshana vahini. A massive tall arch welcomes one to the Lord Beechupally Rayadu. The temple is south-facing.

There is an older dwaja stamba made of stone and a newly erected wooden dwaja stamba covered with brass. As one enters the main temple on the left there is a platform in which a lingam ‘Maheshwara’ is present and by His side, Parvati Ma is also present. Rama Lakshman Sita Hanuman vigraha made of marble stone is also present nearby. Near this, there is a footprint of Sri Hanuman. Then one enters an open space and then a mukha mandapam in two parts.

Beechupally rayudu

In the main garbhagraha facing south Sri Beechupally Rayudu, the presiding deity looks as if walking eastwards. The mighty-looking Sri Anjaneya is seen with Sri Rama parivara in the background. The monolith Ardha Shila deity is eight feet tall, mesmerising, and stunning especially when arti is performed.

Both His lotus feet are adorned with kolusu and thandai. He is wearing a koupeenam and the long tail is raised above the head with a small bell at the end. His left hand is resting on the hip and also holding ‘gadhaautham’. His right hand shows ‘Abaya’ mudra, protecting His devotees. He is wearing ornaments around his neck resting on His broad bosom. His ears are seen wearing ‘kundal’. His eyes are glowing with compassion, and bestows benedictions on the devotees.

There is a ‘uthsava vigraham’ of Lord Anjaneya Swamy in the garbagraham.

Festivals of the temple

Akupuja and Panchamrut abishekaham are conducted daily and are very popular among devotees. Hanuman Jayanthi in the month of Margasira and Narasimha Jayanti in Visakha are celebrated wonderfully in this kshetra.

Sri Beechupally Anjaneya Swamy is the family deity for many in the surrounding area. Regularly people from nearby places in Andhra and Karnataka visit this kshetra to have the darshan of the Lord. Many devotees prefer to perform their marriage in this holy place. Many devotees come just to do meditation in this kshetra for it is calm and peaceful surroundings. Vibhudi prasadham of the Lord is very powerful and it protects devotees from all evil forces and ‘doshas’.

Telangana was born on Monday the 2nd June 2014 as India's 29th state of India.
- This article is carried in this web site to commemorate this occasion

 

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

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Ed [July 2014] :: Updates: [Jan 2025]
*The author is an officer working in PSU bank

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