billy and mandy eris Hotel Harsha HOTEL $$ (Map p898; %23201188; www.hotelharsha.net; Public Gardens Rd; s/d incl breakfa

Prasanthi Nilayam (Abode of Highest Peace) is the main ashram of the late Sri Sathya Sai Baba (1926 2011), the deceased afro-haired guru revered by followers from around the world. Setting up the ashram in his hometown of Puttaparthi 60 years ago, he lived here for most of the year, though with his death from a respiratory-related illness on 24 April 2011, the town faces an uncertain future. While the millions of dollars pumped into the nearby hospital, schools and university will ensure the town continues to thrive upon his legacy, long-term it remains to be seen whether devotees will continue to arrive en masse without the presence of the man himself.

Hotel Harsha billy and mandy eris HOTEL $$ (Map p898; %23201188; www.hotelharsha.net; Public Gardens Rd; s/d incl breakfast billy and mandy eris from 1600/1800; aW) Rooms don t have tonnes of character, and can be noisy (ask for a rear facing room) but they re bright, have fridges, billy and mandy eris the furniture billy and mandy eris is in good taste and the art is a step up from the usual schlock. The overall effect is polished but comfy. The lobby smells like success, with lots of glass and marble. One of the city s best deals.

910 STATE OF GOOD KARMA In its typically understated way, Andhra Pradesh doesn t make much of its vast archaeological and karmic wealth. But the state is packed with impressive ruins of its rich Buddhist billy and mandy eris history. Only a few of Andhra s 150 stupas, monasteries, caves and other sites have been excavated, billy and mandy eris turning up rare relics of the Buddha (usually pearl-like pieces of bone) with offerings such as golden flowers. Nagarjunakonda and Amaravathi billy and mandy eris were flourishing Buddhist complexes, and near Visakhapatnam were the incredibly peaceful sites of Thotlakonda, and Bavikonda and Sankaram, looking across seascapes and lush countryside. They speak of a time when Andhra Pradesh or Andhradesa was a hotbed of Buddhist activity, when monks came from around billy and mandy eris the world to learn from some of the tradition s most renowned teachers. Andhradesa s Buddhist culture, in which sangha (community of monks and nuns), laity and statespeople all took part, lasted around 1500 years from the 6th century BC. There s no historical evidence for it, but some even say that the Buddha himself visited billy and mandy eris the area. Andhradesa s first practitioners were likely disciples of Bavari, an ascetic who lived on the banks of the Godavari River and sent his followers north to bring back the Buddha s teachings. But the dharma really took off in the 3rd century BC under Ashoka, who dispatched monks across his empire to teach and construct billy and mandy eris stupas enshrined with relics of the Buddha. (Being near these was thought to help progress on the path to enlightenment.) Succeeding Ashoka, the Satavahanas and then Ikshvakus were also supportive. At their capital at Amaravathi, the Satavahanas adorned Ashoka s modest stupa with elegant decoration. They built monasteries across the Krishna Valley and exported the dharma through their sophisticated maritime network. It was also during the Satavahana reign that Nagarjuna lived. Considered by many to be the progenitor of Mahayana Buddhism, the monk was equal parts logician, philosopher and meditator, and he wrote several ground-breaking works that shaped contemporary Buddhist thought. Other important monk-philosophers would emerge from the area in the following centuries, making Andhradesa a sort of Buddhist motherland of the South.