Clean and green: A view of Nakshatra Park, a part of Nrusimha Vanam, at the Simhachalam foothill at Gosala in Visakhapatnam. more-in Nrusimha Vanam of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Devasthanam combines environmental, health, farming and spiritual interests and offers an ideal and idyllic location for people to unwind in the lap of nature. On a hillock on the path to which greenery is developed a statue of Lord Narasimha slaying demon-king Hiranyakasapa with Prahlada praying has been installed. The location offers a panoramic view of the vanam and a majestic view of the hills of the Eastern Ghats across the BRTS road. Spread over 90 acres at the foothill of Simhachalam, Nrusimha Vanam abuts the Gosala of the devasthanam. It grows a variety of medicinal, floral and vegetable plants and green fodder for cows at its gosala. Forty varieties of trees, including mango, citrus, drumstick, karivepa, plantain, gherkin and brijnjal and a variety of flowers, including around 300 trees of the famous “Simhachalam Sampenga,” are grown in the vast expanse. Tulasi plants are raised on an exclusive piece of land. Nakshatra vanam has been raised with trees identified with the signs for each of constellation (janma nakshatra) and lawns developed. Following inter-cropping pattern and using 14 bore wells, rain guns and sprinklers, organic farming goes on in the vanam using vermi-compost made of food waste from the “annadanam” at the devasthanam and cow-dung and urine. Two ‘dhyana mandirams’ (meditation halls) made of environment-friendly bamboo are readied for any spiritual activity like bhajans or meditation. It gets power from its 1 MW solar plant in five acres on the premises and has power back-up. Earlier, water from the hill used to flow across and through a storm water drain into Mudasarlova. Now a check dam has been constructed in an acre of land for water conservation. “Our idea is to keep it as close to nature as possible and distinct from the manner in which parks are generally developed so that people enjoy a serene walk or quiet time there amid the natural surroundings. Some gravel roads will have to be laid,” says Executive Officer K. Ramachandra Mohan. Work on the ‘vanam’ started in early 2014 but cyclone Hudhud took its toll making them begin afresh. Now 80 per cent of the work is completed spending ? 45 lakh. It has become self-sufficient now with producing around ?15 lakh worth flowers for Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasmiha Swamy and Sri Ananta Padmanabha Swamy temple at Padmanabham helping the devasthanam do away with its budget for flowers. Besides, the quantity of vegetables grown had gone up from 35 tonnes in 2015-16 to 65 tonnes in the next year. “This year we expect it to go up to 100 tonnes and eventually we want to meet the total requirement for annadanam from it,” says Mr. Ramachandra Mohan. The ‘vanam’ is open to people, students to learn about plants and devotees intent on conducting spiritual programmes. Recently, Nrusimha Jayanti was celebrated there.

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