Mantralayam Part 1

Mantralayam is the abode of Sri Raghavendra Swamy aka Guru Raghavendra Swamy,a Hindu Saint of 16th century.

Mantralayam is in Andhra Pradesh. Abundant amount of information is present about this place.
Consult Wikipedia and the Raghavendra Mutt  website for interesting facts. This website also is very useful.

Click on this link for a detailed write-up of interesting information by the Raghavendra Mutt.


I visited it from Chennai by  Mumbai mail. The railway station is Mantralayam Road and the temple/Mutt is situated at about 17kms from it. Vans are available from railway station to the temple.
The temple is actually the Jeeva Samadhi of Sri Raghavendra Swami and the timings are 6am  to 2pm and 4pm to 9pm.

I stayed in an accommodation of Sri Raghavendra Mutt which is very cheap for the high quality room they provide. I remember paying Rs 150/per day for a spacious double room (Non A/C). The Mutt accommodation should be easily available during non festival days (Thu is very auspicious here). I also saw Andhra Pradesh Tourism Hotel - Punnami that looked decent as well. The below pictures will give you an idea of what to expect from this Mutt accommodation.

 The marble corridors surrounding the inner most sanctorum is very good. One can sit there for hours together and soak into the busy ambiance.

Every night there is a procession on the golden chariot. The elephant piloted procession is a sight to behold. I was fortunate to visit the temple at night without realizing it and could witness this great spectacle..!

I shot a few small video clips of this procession that you can view under Videos section below.

On the return path, Don't forget to look for this small enclosure where a few cute deers would bid you good bye....!

This deer does not want me to leave ...See its expression..!

I can never resist some shots of colorful shops..! All temples oblige us in this aspect..!

Any thing written about Mantralayam will be incomplete , if  it does not include reference to Thungabhadra..
Mahoots were giving elephants a bath .. It was a great sight .. But the Mahoots prevented me from taking any photographs..! God only knows why..!

The mutt provides free lunch and dinner here every day excepting on Ekadasi days. The food was excellent.

Temple of Panchamukhi Anjaneyar worshipped by Sri Raghavendra and Bikshalaya-the brindavanam of Sri Padmapadhar, famous desciple of Sri Raghavendra are places worth visiting and are nearby.One can reach these places in an auto.

VIDEO - Procession on Golden Chariot

Panchamuki anjaneyar,Bhikshalaya in the next post HERE....!