Vennamudda / Butter ball / Balakrishna Temple Chengizkhan Pet / Kondaveedu
Balakrishna Temple is located in a village called Chengizkhanpet (The name is derived from original ‘Sangi Sani Peta’, Sanga Sani being a court dancer of Sri Krishna Devaraya and this land (which now is a village) was gifted to her.
Vennamudda BalaKrishna temple is its Telugu name. (Venna stands for butter, mudda for a morsel or ball of food).
The village is near Guntur (a district in Andhra Pradesh) at the foothills of famed Kondaveedu hills which hold a fort, but now in ruins. (The fort is of Reddi Kings, who ruled this area in the past).
The village has good very motor-able access from Guntur town or Chilakaluripet and Narasaraopet towns. The road is good to go for small cars too.
A day trip from any of the above towns is good. Carry your own food and water.
The idol in this temple is beautiful, is very big and said to be only one such idol of lord BalaKrishna holding a butterball (Venna Mudda in Telugu) in India. The butterball is adorned with silver plating in this pic.
The temple has about 500 acres or more in its documents. Most of them are under illegal occupation and ISKCON is trying to gather all the lands back.
ISKCON is developing a beautiful Temple complex. http://centres.iskcon.org/centre/iskcon-kondaveedu-guntur-vennamudda-gopala-krishna-golden-temple/
This is ISKCON Kondaveedu Spiritual Heritage Revival Project (IKSHR). The temple and sanctum sanctorum would be coated with 24 karat gold.
Visit nearby places:
Very close to this temple you can visit,
- Siva Temple (in ruins) with its ‘kattula baavi’ (Water well with swords/lancets in the base)
- Trek up the kondaveedu hill or
- drive up the hill, made possible with recent road (we went up by cycles in one of our recent cycle trips)
- Look out for stone tablets strewn here and there and try to decipher the writings.
- Find some disfigured temple stones and idols here and there
The pictures below are of a Siva temple nearby which is in ruins with clues to its grand past. There is a self-appointed elderly Muslim man who acts as a guide and gladly receives your gracious ‘bakshish’
Pictured below, the Kondaveedu hills, that can be visited from the temple offer fantastic trekking opportunities. Rumoured to have hidden treasure in the hills. Legend is that there were some lucky hunters!
Visited this area again in June 2016 on cycles with my friend Anand who works in ITC. We cycled from Guntur. Total trip is about 60-70Km
Here are some photos from 2016
Balakrishna temple, Kondaveedu hills and other dilapidated temples and historical artefacts are a must-visit to one and all. Its a day trip.
Carry your own water and food.
Don’t forget to keep the environment clean.
Repeat cycling trip in 2018: We cycled up the new road on the hills. details: https://www.facebook.com/connect.gs/posts/10215626329266958
Kondaveedu was ruled by ?ed?y kings in the past. They built their fort atop Kondaveedu Hills. It was very difficult to climb these hills. Now a new ghat road has been laid up to the top. We decided to go for cycling. We started from Guntur at 5:30 it was an exciting ride and climb up to the top. Road is beautifully laid. We came back by 1030 to Guntur. Totally it was about 70 km ride
Google map
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