Bala Kondarayana Swamy Temple

Bala Kondarayana Swamy Temple

Bala Kondarayanaswamy temple is on a hill located near Hosur – Krishnagiri highway near Shoolagiri in Tamilnadu. It was also called as Balagondarayanadurgam.
The temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is opened only on Saturdays.

The hill temple is at 923 mtrs height with close to about 1700 steps.This particular hill was one of the forts that constituted the Baramahal or the ‘Twelve Forts’ built around Krishnagiri during the reign of the Vijayanagara Kings and the fort of ‘Balagondarayana durgam is one among them.

Legend

Once upon a time when this place was under attack by the Nizam, the local army was on the verge of defeat. It is believed that sensing this defeat, Lord Vishnu hid himself inside a cave here after transforming into a young boy. When the army of the Nizam came to plunder this temple, they found no murti inside and decided to leave the place without causing any damage or destruction. The Lord has stayed inside the cave ever since, thus the name Bala Kondaraya swamy. Later a murti of Lord Venkataramana was installed here.

The temple here is functional only on Saturdays and on Pournami full moon days.