Manthani: A small village in Andhra, India

Now that I am back from a month long vacation, it’s about time I share with you all a few pictures I had taken while there. Actually I had taken many pictures, but I will post one location at a time.

I am starting with a small village in Andhra, Manthani.

Manthani is located about 65 km South of Kharimnagar on the banks of river Godavari. We visited this place because, one: its old, two: ancient temples all over the place, 3: years ago, as a little girl I used to go swimming in river Godavari in this village.

The picture above is the first thing you come across as soon as you enter one of the temples, Lord Shiva’s. Right now it’s hard to tell to which God this temple was originally built for because half of the temple is empty and is in ruins. It is unclear as to which year this was built, but is widely accepted (according to the temple priest) that this was built in early 15th century.

As you climb up a few stairs (made of rocks of course), we came across this another ancient master piece, not exactly sure who this is.
Manthani is filled with temples. Even though mainly it is an agricultural village (now), its name comes from Sanskrit, Mantra Kutam (House of Vedas). We were told by the temple priest that at one point, 100’s of years ago, Manthani housed one thousand Brahmin families/scholars and hence this name. No wonder the village is filled with temples.

This one of the many empty….place’s (not sure of the right word) where there should have been some God’s statue but there is none as of now.
This is Lord Shiva’s place. All these make me wonder, had it been anywhere else, this would have been made maintained well, publicized and made it into some museum/tourist place.
This must have been a big temple once up on a time. Every where we go we came across small temple type of structures. Perhaps it’s not a temple after all; this could have been a part of the village, just like a tree/well etc.
I found this below scene very interesting. A tree growing right through the rocks! I can’t believe that Manthani is not popular for all these amazing things to see around.
Another stone structure in ruins.
Below is the picture of river Godavari (now just sand) just a couple of minutes walk from the temple. Apparently the water from Godavari was the primary source of water for 100’s of years. Yeah, I know, there is no water as of now. You can actually see people walking right through the sand!
This place is special to me because, about 20 years ago my parents brought me and my sister here for picnic. I still have the pictures where my family was having a day out near this river.

On our way back home, we slowed down to see the cow-selling-place. Apparently, every week this happens. I had never been to a cow-selling-market, so took this picture. Don’t miss to notice how Milkshake is spell 

And yes…wait for pictures for another place! Will post soon.