Illandakunta gears up for Sri Rama Navami festival

Eeda Madhukar Reddy Karimnagar: Arrangements for the grand celebration of Srirama Navami festival at Illandakunta village in Karimnagar district were completed. Rama Navami would be celebrated all over the country on April 19.There are certain similarities between the Srirama temple at Bhadrachalam in Khammam district and the temple at Illandakunta village. The temple at Illandakunta is also an ancient one and according to historians, Lord Rama himself proposed it. According to the legend, Lord Srirama, Goddess Sita and Lakshmana, during their journey through Dandakaranya, were at Illandakunta village when they heard about the death of king Dasaratha. Lord Rama performed last rites to his father by using the seeds of Illanda tree. He also planted a plant of Illanda tree at the place and temporarily constructed a temple. Since then, the habitation was known as Illandakunta. The deities at the temple have moles to indicate grief (sorrow) as they heard the death of king Dasaratha. Some trees of Illanda are seen at the temple even today. Several hundreds of people from nearby villages and districts in Telangana region visit the temple on Srirama Navami day. The devotees believe that they would prosperif they perform marriages to their kin at the temple. Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's marriage was celebrated at Illandakunta temple. Later several leaders also had their marriage performed at the temple. Temple committee members said to The Hans India that Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu, MP Ponnam Prabhakar and local MLA Etela Rajender (TRS) helped to make the festivities a grand success. They would visit the temple on Friday along with their family members.