Trip to Sholingur hill temple

We have planned to go Sholinghur (Tamil: சோளிங்கர்) is a town in Vellore District of Tamil Nadu, near to Arakonam and Thiruthani. The place is famous for Yoga Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Temple on a big hilltop (1305 steps) and Yoga Hanuman & Rama Temple on a smaller hilltop (406 Steps).

 We perceive Saturday is the best day for darshanam .So we have decided to go on the same day from T.Nagar. Now the mode of transport needs to confirm either by bus or train. In Bus we need to go from T.Nagar to CMBT and from there to arakonam. But one my friend Ram Kumar told ,train is the best way  because bus will lead to long journey and we will tired.

Hence we have started the journey on Friday evening at 5.00 PM by train.  We took train ticket from Mambalam to arakonam and boarding the Vellore fast express which is arrived at plat no.3 at 5.20 PM and reached to destination at 8.10 PM. Railway station to arakonam bus stand go by share auto, charge 10rs per head 10Min travel. From arakonam lot of buses are available for temple, it of 35 -40 min journey to reach temple entrance near Hanuman statue.

We reached at 9.40 PM and took a lodge near to the pound (Rs.500/). We need to see the earlier morning darshanam on Saturday.so we reach base of the big hill at 5.30AM. Once you reach the base, you need to leave your footwear and start your climb up the big hill barefoot (thank the good souls who have sponsored and put up a metal-sheet ceiling all through the path to protect the pilgrims from the heat). Climbing by foot is the only way to reach the temple; a cable car work in process and next year it will operate. The steps are pretty steep, but can be climbed by all able people with some effort. In our enthusiasm to reach up quickly, we hurried up the steps with full stamina and gasping for breath and reached top of the hill in 45 min and saw a beautiful temple and darshanam of yoga Lakshmi Narasimha swami. Thank god, I kept wondering how the priests and others working in the temple do this trip every day.

There are hundreds of Monkeys all through the path and in the temple corridors, so you need to be careful on your belongings. Especially if you are carrying anything the Monkeys consider as food (Bananas, Jasmine flowers) you got to be extra careful in covering them completely. Some Monkeys seem to have the ability to spot out people carrying items of interest to them more easily than others, even when the items are covered. We were warned about the monkeys in the flower shop at the base and were given a long wooden stick “free” to protect us (it is more to scare the monkeys, I can never get myself to beat these cute monkeys). We had our offerings, water bottle and flowers covered and hidden safely inside a “gym” bag and had little problem. On our way up and down, we found that as long as you mind your own business, don’t tease or stare them on their eyes, the Monkeys don’t trouble you.

References:

• Temple’s official site
• “Sholingur-a wonderful hill temple” by Sudha Mukunthan