One NRIs Passionate Commitment Renovated 13th Century Surya Temple in AP
Sri Ramasharma Kasibhatla (Board Member of GHHF) and his family’s vision and passion brought back old glory into a historical temple when the doors of the Surya temple at 
Budagavi village in Andhra Pradesh opened to daily rituals after renovation in 2009. It took Kasibhatla five months of his time, and personal funds to renovate the temple as per Vastu Shastras, under able Agama Pundits.
This is the second Surya Temple in AP, first one being Suryanarayana Temple in Arasuville, in Srikakulam District. Other Surya temples in the country including The Dakshinaarka temple at Gaya, Bihar; The Bhramanya Dev Temple at Unao, Madhya Pradesh; the Sun Temple at Surya Pahar, Assam; the Sun Temple at Modhera, Gujarat; the Sun Temple at Konarak, Orissa; and the Suryanaar Temple near Kumbhakonam in Tamil Nadu;
“It is sad that such historic places that stand as symbols of the rich culture and heritage of India are neglected and used as animal shelters due to the lack of any initiative from the government,” says Kasibhatla. After his first visit to the temple site last year, Kasibhatla decided that he would take it upon himself to renovate the temple and bring back its old glory. He decided to dedicate his time and money for the restoration of this temple enabling people to engage daily worship of the presiding deities.
We recently accompanied Ram Sharma to the Surya Temple the last week of March 2018. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Temple and has become a hub of activities for the villagers and nearby educational institutions. More than 50 college students visited the and spent more than two hours experiencing the Temple. Muslim and Christian students also visited the Temple. In fact, one of the Muslim girls honored Nandini Velagapudi, Board member of GHHF For more information, please visit these websites and click on the links to get the richness of the renovated Temple that brought pride and devotion among villagers.
Temple website
http://budagavisuntemple.org/
Power Point Presentation with Invitation in GHHF portal
http://www.globalhinduheritagefoundation.org/files/Sri-Surya-Narayana-Temple-Punah-Pratishtha-03-18-11.ppt
Invitation to attend Radha Sapthami in 2015
http://www.savetemples.org/2015/01/23/invitation-to-attend-radha-saptami-poorvaka-aruna-yaga-mahotsavam/
NRI Pulse, Atlanta
http://www.nripulse.com/CityNews/SuryaTemple_AP.html
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Any questions, call: Prakasarao Velagapudi 601-918-7111
