Yaganti and Yaganti Caves - Place of Indian Nostradamus

After our successful trips in recent time, my group has planned to visit Yaganti and its Caves adjacent to temple which is located in Kurnool Dist, South AP (Rayalaseema Region) and here I want to share some vital information which I gathered.

Yaganti:

It is located nearly 10 km away from a town Banaganapalle, where one can reach from Cuddapah or Kurnool or Allagadda which are connected with National Higways. Yaganti is famous for "Sri Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple" which was build in 15th century.

As per puranas, Sage Agastya wanted to build a temple for Lord Venkateswara on this site after finding Lord statue in a cave while in his yatra to Dakshin Bharat after completing his North India theerthyatra. However, even the statue was swayambhu (Naturally born) but could not be installed as the toe nail of the idol got broken. The sage was upset over this and performed a penance for Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva appeared, he said the place suits Shiva better as it resembles Kailash. Then, sage asked a boon to Shiva to reside in this place for eternity with Mother Parvathi. So this place is called as Umamahesware (Uma: parvathi, Maheswara: shiva) temple. The shrine contains the statue of Shiva and Parvathi on a single stone.

Yaganti Caves:

There are three caves located in temple premises and each has its own importance.

1. Venkateswara Cave: The damaged idol of Lord Venkateswara is present in this cave, as the status has broken toe it is not worshipped. And it is used to be said that Lord statue was available here even before Lord resided in Tirumula Hills.

2. Rokkala Cave: Also called as Agastya cave and this is the place where Lord Shiva Linga was worshipped even now and to believed this is the place where sage performed his penance( tapash ).

3. Veera Bharham Cave: Small cave compared to the other two. Another sage Veera Bharham who predicted the future similar to Nostradamus has written his some of "Kala Gnaanam" here. 

Intresting Facts of Yaganti:

1. Growing Nandi: People and devotees believe here that the Nandi present in temple premises is growing in size. To trace the fact, ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) performed some tests and declared that the rock grows at the rate of 1 inch per 20 years. As per Sage Veera Bharham, the Nandi will come alive and shouts at the end of Kaliyuga.

2. Presence of Crows: While sage Agastya was performing his penance, crows disturbed him and he cursed that crows cannot enter the temple area. As crow is vahana of Sani Bhagwan, It is believed that Lord Shani cannot visit this place. So you cannot find a single crow in this surrounding area.