Every city, every town, every village,
every state and country has its own religious beliefs. Though none
of us have seen god in his original form, we deem and that god exist
and listens to all our prayers. With this firm believe in our minds,
many holy places are known for their grant of wishes. There are
a number of temples, mosques and churches in Hyderabad that are
known among the people to ward off problems.
The first and the oldest one is the
Chilkur Balaji Temple located at Chilkur district in Hyderabad.
Its devotees know this temple for decades for its grant of prayers.
Approximately 75,000 to 1,00,000 devotees visit in a week. The history
of this temple goes on like this. According to tradition, a devotee
who used to visit Tirupati every year could not do so on one occasion
owing to serious ill-health. Lord Venkateshwara appeared in his
dream and said, "I am right here in the jungle nearby. You
don't have to worry." The devotee at once moved to the place
indicated by the Lord in the dream and saw a mole- hill there, which
he dug up. Accidentally, the axe struck Lord Balaji's idol covered
by the molehill and surprisingly blood started flowing profusely
from the idol. The devotee could not believe his eyes when he saw
this. Suddenly he could not believe his ears also when he heard
a voice from the air that said, "Flood the mole-hill with cow's
milk". When the devotee did so, a Swayambhu idol of Lord Balaji
accompanied by Sridevi and Bhoodevi (a rare combination) was found,
and this idol was installed with the due rites and a temple built
for it.
The whole procedure of pooja is of
the normal kind. After the prayer is granted, the devotee is suppose
to go round the temple 108 times, that is, 108 Pradakhshanas. One
can always find many people going around the temple when visiting
the temple. Be it winter, rainy or summer people dutifully complete
the rounds. At times it is fun going round the shrine with a group
of friends. It is also a nice picnic spot.
PEOPLE GOING ROUND
THE TEMPLE
Next
in the wish list is the Moula Ali Darga at Moula Ali. It is a
long climb up of more than 400 stairs, which takes you to a building
built in the period of Asif Jahis. The Moula Ali Darga draws people
from all over the country and abroad too. No person till date
has gone disappointed from this holy place, assertively say the
people taking care of the Darga. This Moula Ali 'Darga' or mortuary
was built in the memory of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of prophet
Muhammad. Legend has it that Yakoob, a eunuch in the court of
Ibrahim Quli went to hill and saw the impression Of Hazrat Ali's
palm on a stone - the very same he saw in a dream. He had the
impression hewn out and installed in a shrine, then built an arch
over the spot. The procedure here is that one has to make a wish
and tie a thread round on an iron trishul at the top of the Darga.
After the wish is fulfilled, jalebis are distributed among the
poor people and also food is provided to them. Besides all this,
climbing the stairs is fun.
Same kind of prayers is done
in two other famous Dargas of the city, Yousofian Darga at King’s
Way and Yousufsab and Sharifsab Darga in Nampally. All these three
Dargas are strongly worshipped by people of all castes.
Another place, which is known
for its grant of prayers, is Pedamma Temple. It is Goddess Durga’s
temple in all her nine incarnations. It is located at Jubilee
Hills. It is a huge temple with a Naagraj temple within it. It
is not as old as the two mentioned above but people believe in
it strongly. Here, the person is supposed to right his or her
wish in a piece of paper with their name and tie it with a coconut
in a red cloth. This way the wish is granted in a quick manner.
After the prayer is answered, the coconut is broken and eaten
as Prashad. Apart from coconuts, goats and hens are sacrificed
to the Goddess once the wish is fulfilled. Weddings also take
place in the temple, for the reason that people believe it to
be a sacred place. People from all over the country come to this
temple.
Lastly, there is this Sai
Baba Temple in Panjagutta, where you can see umpteen numbers of
students right before the time of their exams. Here, there are
no special rituals to be done after the fulfillment of the wish.
It is a beautiful temple made completely with marble. The white
ambience of the temple itself explains the purity of the worship
done and it convinces the people that their prayers will be answered
here.
To sum it up, it is the believe
of the people that explains the sanity of these wish-granting
holy places.
Next
in the wish list is the Moula Ali Darga at Moula Ali. It is a
long climb up of more than 400 stairs, which takes you to a building
built in the period of Asif Jahis. The Moula Ali Darga draws people
from all over the country and abroad too. No person till date
has gone disappointed from this holy place, assertively say the
people taking care of the Darga. This Moula Ali 'Darga' or mortuary
was built in the memory of Hazrat Ali, the son-in-law of prophet
Muhammad. Legend has it that Yakoob, a eunuch in the court of
Ibrahim Quli went to hill and saw the impression Of Hazrat Ali's
palm on a stone - the very same he saw in a dream. He had the
impression hewn out and installed in a shrine, then built an arch
over the spot. The procedure here is that one has to make a wish
and tie a thread round on an iron trishul at the top of the Darga.
After the wish is fulfilled, jalebis are distributed among the
poor people and also food is provided to them. Besides all this,
climbing the stairs is fun.