Dharmapuri, Karimnagar

Dharmapuri
—  village  —
Dharmapuri Location of Dharmapuri in Andhra Pradesh and India
Coordinates	18°56′51″N 79°05′38″E / 18.9475°N 79.094°E / 18.9475; 79.094Coordinates: 18°56′51″N 79°05′38″E / 18.9475°N 79.094°E / 18.9475; 79.094
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
District(s)	Karimangar
Nearest city	Jagtial
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)

Dharmapuri is a village and Mandal headquarters in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, India.^[1]

Background

Dharmapuri attained religious importance owing to the existence of the shrine dedicated to Narasimha Swamy, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Siva With Dakshinamurthy, Vinayaka and Sapitha Mathrukas carved on a single slab of stone and Mahishasuramardhani, the sixty pillared temple, Mahalakshmi temple, Akkapalle Rajanna, and over five hundred year old sri Sita Rama Swami temple are the other temples of importance that heighten the sanctity of the places of tourist interest in the state.

The Ramalingeswara Temple which is of about 1000 years old, is in the proximity of the Narsimha Swamy Temple. It is said among local inhabitants that the Shiv Lingam installed in this temple was installed by Lord Rama during his exile and on way to Lanka in search of Sitha Maatha.

Dharmapuri Narasimha swamy temple has two different statues of the lord Narasimha. The oldest one is called "Pata Narasimha Swamy" meaning Older Narasimha swamy and the one established later is called "kottha Narasimha Swamy" means the Newer one.

The Shiva Lingam established here by Lord Rama during his exile has an interesting story attached to it.

Lord Yama dharmaraj temple and statues of Lord Indra dev, Lord Kubera swamy, Lord Brahma dev, Lord Balarama krishna can also be seen in the proximity of Narasimha swamy temple.

Dharmapuri has one of the largest settlement of Vedic Brahmins in Andhra Pradesh. There is a Sanskrit College - Sri Laxmi Narasimha Sanskrit Andhra (SLNSA) College on the banks of river Godavari. The principal of this college, Dr. Sanganabhatla Narsaiah, has written a book on the history of this village 'Dharmapuri Kshetra Charitra' that has got accolades all over. There have been some traditional families practicing Vedic Hymns and some of the family even have old Talapatra scriptures. There are several small temples virtually in every corner of the street of the town. Until recently people, mostly Brahmin scholars have taken bath in river Godavari before they would perform vedic rites in the temple. There is one rare temple of the God Dattatreya [son of Lord Brahma] which is very rare.

Every year in March/April the devotees of Narasimha swamy come together and celebrates Laxmi Narasimha Swamy Jatara.

There are a number of Satakas (a compilation of 100 poems) written by poets in local script in 18th and 19th centuries. Narasimha Satakam from 19th century is one of them written by Seshappa.

Geography and demographics

Dharmapuri is situated at a distance of about 28–30 km from Jagityal town and 42 km from Mancherial railway station on the Kazipet–Balharsha section of the South Central Railway on the Bank of River Godavari. This river flows West to East except in Dharmapuri where it flows North to South hence the river is termed as Dakshina Vahini [South Flowing].

Though all the villages surrounded by Dharmapuri have regular Dialect of Telangana Accent of Telugu, Dharmapuri has a typical Telugu Accent spoken by local Vedic Brahmins which is very peculiar to this Ancient Vedic Village. For example, to say "ATU" meaning "That side", they say "Ashoo". Similarly "ITOO" referring "This side" they say "ISHOO". Local Brahmins used to refer the Godavari river as "Ganga" since Godavari is considered to be Dakshina Ganga.

Godavari river near Dharmapuri has a number of places (Brahma Gundam, Yama Gundam, Satyavathi Gundam, Pala Gundam, etc...) to take holy bath.

Dharmapuri has produced some of the best Sanskrit Scholars. The temple presently under the management of Endowment Department of Government of Andhra Pradesh, has an old Copper Relics depicting the "Sthala Purana" [The locational Description].

Local Brahmins had the peculiar custom of marrying within their own relations as such lot of families spread within themselves. Some of them married girls from Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Those young brides married way back in 1930s and 1940s during the time of Nizam, people of Tamilnadu married their young children presuming "Dharmapuri" to be one of Dharmapuri near Salem of Tamilnadu.

References

1. ^ "List of Sub-Districts". Census of India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/. Retrieved 2007-05-29.