Top Stories
At this temple in Andhra Pradesh, Muslims line up for blessings | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: B Chand Basha and his wife religiously wake up at 4am on Ugadi, the day marking the Telugu new year. They prepare for darshan of Lord Venkateswara Swamy at Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Swamy Vari temple at Devuni Kadapa in Kadapa, southern Andhra Pradesh.
Afew days before Ugadi, they stop eating non-vegetarian food. Like Chand Basha, hundreds of Muslims in Kadapa and other places in Rayalaseema visit the Devuni Kadapa (god’s threshhold) temple every Ugadi. If they miss the temple visit on the day of the festival (on April 2 this year), they make it a point to visit the shrine on any other day till the next Ugadi. Strange as it may sound, for many Muslim families in Kadapa district, a visit particularly by the eldest child to the temple of Lord Venkateswara is a must at least once a year.
Basha said Devuni Kadapa temple is a symbol of religious harmony. “You witness moving scenes here like a Hindu priest offering blessings to a burqa-clad Muslim woman, or a Muslim man with a skull cap standing in the queue for the darshan,” he said. The tradition has been handed down by their forefathers since the time of the Golconda kings. “And we will continue the tradition,” he said.
The tradition likely started 350 years ago, when the nearby town of Kadapa was founded by Neknam Khan, a chieftain of the Golconda kings. But the folklore that bonds Muslims with Devuni Kadapa temple goes back to at least 800 to 900 years.
According to the official website of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), “A legend mentions that Lord Venkateswara married one of his consorts, Bibi Nanchari, in an inter-religious event, leading to establishment of close relations between Hindus and Muslims in Kadapa. ”
MKrishna Mohan, head priest at Venkateswara Swamy temple, said, “For Muslims of the region, Lord Venkateswara is their son-in-law. One of his consorts is Bibi Nanchari or Bibi Nancharamma, a Muslim princess. ”
Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple at Madanapalle in Chittoor district, and temples in Gattu and Kothavaripalle near Madanapalle also attract Muslim devotees.
Afew days before Ugadi, they stop eating non-vegetarian food. Like Chand Basha, hundreds of Muslims in Kadapa and other places in Rayalaseema visit the Devuni Kadapa (god’s threshhold) temple every Ugadi. If they miss the temple visit on the day of the festival (on April 2 this year), they make it a point to visit the shrine on any other day till the next Ugadi. Strange as it may sound, for many Muslim families in Kadapa district, a visit particularly by the eldest child to the temple of Lord Venkateswara is a must at least once a year.
Basha said Devuni Kadapa temple is a symbol of religious harmony. “You witness moving scenes here like a Hindu priest offering blessings to a burqa-clad Muslim woman, or a Muslim man with a skull cap standing in the queue for the darshan,” he said. The tradition has been handed down by their forefathers since the time of the Golconda kings. “And we will continue the tradition,” he said.
The tradition likely started 350 years ago, when the nearby town of Kadapa was founded by Neknam Khan, a chieftain of the Golconda kings. But the folklore that bonds Muslims with Devuni Kadapa temple goes back to at least 800 to 900 years.
According to the official website of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), “A legend mentions that Lord Venkateswara married one of his consorts, Bibi Nanchari, in an inter-religious event, leading to establishment of close relations between Hindus and Muslims in Kadapa. ”
MKrishna Mohan, head priest at Venkateswara Swamy temple, said, “For Muslims of the region, Lord Venkateswara is their son-in-law. One of his consorts is Bibi Nanchari or Bibi Nancharamma, a Muslim princess. ”
Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple at Madanapalle in Chittoor district, and temples in Gattu and Kothavaripalle near Madanapalle also attract Muslim devotees.
Source link
