Pavana and Bhargava Narasimha Temples

20 October 2019: Our target for this morning was to visit Pavana and Bhargava temples. These can be covered by foot or by Jeep. Since the walking track is through dense jungle and steep & precipitous and time consuming, we decided to hire a jeep instead. An old battered willy's jeep with four wheel drive probably a wreck discarded from World War II and subsequently retrofitted presented itself. We packed ourselves into this contraption and proceeded towards our first mission - the Pavana Narasimha Temple. The first five kms was on good tarred road. Then we had to go off road and travel through the jungle for 14 Kms - a narrow undulating kuccha path. The path had disintegrated due to recent heavy rains leaving huge craters on slushy ground and the ride was extremely bumpy. It required great driving skills on part of the driver to keep this medieval beast in control. We crossed large tracts of bamboo forests en route - do not know if this is part of the natural vegetation of the Nallamala forest or subsequently planted by local tribes. Took us approximately an hour to reach our destination - the Pavana Narasimhar temple located on the banks of the river Pavana. This is the most peaceful form of all the Nava Narasimhars. The Lord liberates all devotees from all sins from past and present lives. Sage Bharadwaja rid himself of Brahma Hati dosham here. By trek this place is some seven kms from Upper Ahobilam Temple and you can witness some breathtaking sights in the Nallamala forest during the trek.
After praying at Pavana Narasimhar shrine we climbed up a rocky incline to the sanctum of Goddess Chenchulakshmi: a low roof cave temple where you need to bend considerably low to enter. She is considered as Mahalakshmi reincarnated as a tribal woman do that she could marry the Lord in the Narasimha avatar.
Next we retraced the route back to Lower Ahobilam and went off road again to visit the Bhargava Narasimhar Temple.There is a small lily pond at the base of the temple known as Bhargava Teertham. The temple is atop a small hill and is reached after a short trek and clambering up around 150 steps. Bhargava Rama performed his penance here and hence this temple gets its name. The shrine is only 2 kms from Lower Ahobilam and hence can be easily approached by walk.
For more details you may read this blog: http://hindutemples-india.blogspot.com/2019/01/bhargava-narasimha-swamy-temple-ahobilam-andhra-pradesh.html