What to expect
Highlights
- Dharapuram — An old market town on the Amaravathi river with a notable public Amaravathi statue and several historic temples, long a trading centre for the district's south.
- Kadu Hanumantharaya Swamy Temple — This is the central and largest of the 'Dasa Anjaneyar' (ten Hanuman) shrines around Dharapuram, installed by Saint Vyasaraja Theertha, Rajaguru of the Vijayanagara emperor Krishnadevaraya. The Hanuman deity stands about 7.25 feet tall, and the temple ceiling has an opening directly above the idol so that sun and rain fall on it. It is the most popular of the Dharapuram Anjaneyar temples and the connecting point of the local pilgrimage circuit.
- Uttara Veeraraghava Perumal Temple — An ancient Vishnu temple within the old Dharapuram fort, where regional kings are said to have crowned themselves. Local tradition links it to the Mahabharata, holding that the Pandavas spent their year of concealment here under King Virata, as Dharapuram was anciently called Viratapuram. The temple also houses two of the Vyasaraja Hanuman idols, Veera Anjaneyar and Kottaivasal Anjaneyar.
- Agastheeswarar Temple, Dharapuram — An ancient Shiva temple beside the Amaravathi River in Dharapuram taluk. By local legend, sage Agastya stayed here and, when his followers were delayed in bringing a Shiva Linga from Kasi, he shaped a Linga from the Amaravathi riverbed and worshipped it. Devotees regard it as a place of blessing from Lord Shiva.
- Upparu Dam — An earthen irrigation dam in Dharapuram taluk built across the Upparu, a river in the upper Cauvery basin, near Dhasarpatti. It has an earthen embankment of about 7,400 feet and a masonry section of about 118 feet, with a gross reservoir capacity of 572 Mcft irrigating roughly 6,060 acres.
- Nallathangal Dam — A dam about 15 km from Dharapuram town near Ponnivadi village, built in 2007 across the Nallathangal odai stream. It has a water-spread area of about 17.74 square miles and a storage capacity of around 223 million cubic feet, serving local irrigation.
