Srikalahasti Temple and its prominence

Srikalahasti Temple and its prominence

Srikalahasti Temple is located in the town of Srikalahasti, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the most famous Shiva temples in South India. Located nearly 40 km from Tirupati City and can be easily reached through train, bus and air.

This ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is one of the five Panchabhootha stalams (temples celebrating Lord Shiva as the embodiment of the five primary elements), air (wind) being the element in Srikalahasti temple; the other elements being water at (Jambukeshwarar Temple), fire at (Arunachalam Temple), earth at (Ekambareswarar Temple) and space at (Chidambaram Temple) that Shiva embodies.

Why the name is Srikalahasti?

Lord shiva has three devotees and all three uses to serve Vayulinga here in their own ways. They are the the Spider (Sri), the Serpent (Kala) and the Elephant (Hasti).

The elephant or Hasti used to clean the Shiva deity by watering the idol with the help of river-water carried in his trunks and pray for him by placing Bilva leaves. The spider or Sri tried to protect the deity from external damage by weaving his web and to provide shelter for the Shiva lingam. The snake or Kala used to place its precious gem on the linga to adorn the lord. In this way, they all worshipped the Vayu linga separately without knowing what the other was doing.

One day, the spider had built a very big and thick web around the vayulinga to protect it from dust and weather while the snake places its gem. The elephant not knowing this and assuming that this form of puja by Sri and Kala is a desecration by the seeming miscreants, pours water on it and cleans it up. This causes a fight between the three. The snake punishes the elephant by entering its trunk and in the process kills itself while the elephant runs amok and hits its trunk and head against the shiva linga. During this struggle, the spider is squashed against the linga by the elephant's trunk and the elephant dies due to the snake's poison. Lord Shiva then appeared and gave moksha to all three of them for their selfless devotion. The spider takes rebirth as a great king while the elephant and the snake reaches heaven for satisfying all its karma.

Appeased with their devotion, Lord Shiva gave them a boon that their names be merged with the Vayulinga and called as Srikalahasteeswara going ahead.

Srikalahasti famous for?

Srikalahasti temple has many stories linked to it. 

1.   Vayulinga, one of the five Panchabhootha stalams

2.   Patala Vinayaka

3.   Story of tribal devotee “Bhakt Kannappa” and his sacrifices

4.   Sage Agastya in Srikalahasti

5.    Arjuna during his Vanavasam

6.   Rahu – Kethu Sarpa Dosha Nivarana Puja, and many more


1. Vayulinga:

The Lingam here is swayambu , and it is white in colour. The Main lingam is untouched by the human beings , even by the priest. Abhishekam is done by pouring a mixutre of water , milk, camphor and panchamrita. Sandal paste , flowers, and the sacred thread are offerred to the Uthsava murthi , not the main Lingam. Even Kannappa has not offered his eyes to the main Lingam.

There is a lamp inside the inner sanctum that is constantly flickering despite the lack of air movement inside. The air can be observed even when the priests close the main deity room, which does not have any windows. When all the lamps in the sanctum glow steadily, one can notice two lamps flickering now and then, proving the Lord's inhalation and exhalation.

2. Patala Vinayaka:

Earlier there is not much water available at Srikalahasti. Sages and Pilgrims who use to visit Lord Shiva use to face lot of difficulties in performing poojas to Lord Shiva. Sage Agastya on his trip to Dhakseen Bharat was stopped at Srikalahasti and was asked to find a solution for the same.

Sage Agastya knowing that the fact that, Lord Vinayaka was relaxing near to temple after coming from Patala Lokam after killing Gajasura. Sage offers sincere prayers to Vinayaka so that he can put an end to this water problem.

Pleased with Agastya prayers, Lord Vinayaka removes sand from this place to the birth of Patala Ganga and soon turned into river.

3. Bhakt Kannappa:

Thinnan (later bhakt Kannappa) was a pure devotee of the Vayu linga of SriKalahasti which he found in the forest while hunting. Being a hunter, he did not know how to properly worship. It used to be said that he poured water from his mouth on the Shiva lingam which he brought from the nearby river Swarnamukhi. He also used to offer the Lord whatever animal he hunted, including swine flesh.

One day, Thinnan noticed that one of the eyes of the Shiva linga was oozing blood and tears. Sensing that the Lord's eye had been injured, Thinnan plucks one eye out with one of his arrows and placed it in the spot of the bleeding eye of the Shiva linga. This stopped the bleeding in that eye of the linga. Later, he noticed that the other eye of the linga has also started oozing blood. So Thinnan thought that if he were to pluck his other eye too, he would become blind to exactly know the spot where he has to place his own second eye over the bleeding second eye of the lingam. So he placed his great toe on the linga to mark the spot of the bleeding second eye and proceeded to pluck out his other and only eye. Moved by his extreme devotion, Lord Shiva appeared before Thinnan and restored both his eyes. Later then he was called as Kannappan or Kannappa Nayanar.

4. Sage Agastya:

When the hermits of Bilwaka grove pleaded with Sage Agastya on lack of water, he brought river Akash Ganga to the earth. As ordained by Lord Siva, Akash Ganga flowed as Swarnamukhi behind Sage slowly. The importance of this river is it flows from south to north direction, so also called as Uttara Vahini and sanctified the temple at Sri Kalahasthi.

5. Arjuna during his Vanavasam:

Before proceeding to Vanavasam, Krishna tells each of the pandavas to do something in the 12 years. Krishna suggests Arjuna to move south (Place nearby Srikalahasti) and mediate Lord Shiva for Pasupathastra. To test his mediation, Lord Shiva entered that forest as an animal hunter and due to word war between Lord Shiva and Arjuna, a battle took place between both and finally impressed by Arjuna's efforts, Lord Shiva gave him the Pasupathasthra which he uses in Mahabharat war.

However, for not recognizing Lord Shiva, he is born again as a devotee in the Kali Yuga as Kannappa Nayanar and finally got liberation.

6. Rahu - Kethu Sarpa Dosha Nirvarna Pooja:

Srikalahasteeswara Swamy Temple is reputed as the Rahu Kethu Kshetra, If the People who have Rahu Kethu Doshas and Sarpa Doshas, the un married and No children and those who are facing various problems for long period and perform the most effective Rahu – Kethu Sarpa Dosha Nivarana Puja in this Temple all the Doshas get removed and desired results occur.

How to reach:-

Air:-

The nearest airport from the place is the Tirupathi which is at the distance of 40 kilometers from Srikalahasti. Tirupati is connected to Madhurai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Taxis are available to connect to the temple directly to Kalahasti.

Road:-

There are many such state owned buses that are available from the nearby town like Vijaywada, Tirupati, Bangalore, Chennai and Nellore. The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation is operating number of buses from the city.

Railways:-

Tirupati is the railway head that is connected to almost all the major cities of the country as well as from the state. 

All way to Lord Narsimha Adobe - Ahobilam

Guide to Ahobilam

Ahobilam is located in Allagadda mandal of Kurnool District, Andhra Pradesh. It is located at distance of 150 km from Kurnool towards its south and is part of Nallamala Hill range in Andhra Pradesh, apart from being a pilgrim centre, the other chief attraction of Ahobilam is adventure trekking to the 9 Narasimha temples located in the thick forests of the surrounding hills and that was our target to cover.

According to history, Ahobilam is the place where Lord Narasimha blessed Prahalada and killed Hiranyakashipu.

Ahobilam means great strength which was shown by half-lion, half-man Lord Vishnu who is in Narasimha Avatar. 

Ahobilam can be broadly classified into two regions: Upper and Lower Ahobilam

Our group in office were discussing something seriously and out of blue suddenly I came with an idea to travel Ahobilam. I personally thank my friends(Rohit, Somu, Adi, Maggi(Adi’s Wife), Gupta and Deepak) who are part of this wonderful trip. Ahobilam is generally a famous pilgrim center, but it will be liked by trekkers and travel enthusiasts as well.

This is how it started:

Finally the day was arrived and we all friends reached MGBS, Hyderabad by 9pm and boarded our bus to Allagadda. We have reached the destination next day early morning by 4:30am and we are able to get the first bus to Ahobilam which is at a distance of 20 km. By the time, we reached Ahobilam our guide Pawan <<can share number if needed>> was ready and he guided us to guest house which i have booked already.

Trek in Upper Ahobilam:

We started our trip to Upper Ahobilam in an auto and reached one of the 9 Narshima temples in the thick forest. We started our trek to Ugra Stambam (a huge rock which is believed to be the pillar from where Lord Narasimha emerged).  We borrowed some sticks from local people so that we can trek it easily as there is no proper way to reach the destination. Photos in the blog can explain how difficult it will be without sticks

The Nava Narasimha temples or the 9 temples are:

1. Ahobila Narasimha, the main temple located at Upper Ahobilam

2. Karanja Narasimha, located on the way to Upper Ahobilam

3. Malola Narasimha, can only be reached by a 2 km trek from Upper Ahobilam Temple

4. Kroda Narasimha, also called Varaha Narasimha Temple, half a kilometer trek from Upper Ahobilam Temple, on the way to Malola Narasimha

5. Pavana Narasimha, 7 km trek (one way) from Upper Ahobilam temple

6. Jwala Narasimha, 5 km trek from Upper Ahobilam temple

7. Bhargava Narasimha, Lower Ahobilam, reachable by road

8. Chatravata Narasimha, Lower Ahobilam, accessible by road

9. Yogananda Narasimha, Lower Ahobilam, road access.

We started our trek at Ahobila Narasimha temple and our final destination was to reach Ugra Stambam which is 7 km trek before we exhaust ourselves. In the mid-way we skipped our darshan at Kroda Narsimha temple and travelled through thin and narrow paths to reach Jwala Narsimha temple which is also called as gateway to Hiranyakashipu kingdom. This is place where Lord Narsimha killed Hiranyakashipu. There is a small kund over there which is also called as Rakth Kund and it is believed that lord narsimha has washed his hands after killing the demon Hiranyakasyup. As we have forgot to carry water bottles with us, we had water from that kund which is so pure and clean.

Below Pic show the path to Ugra Stambham:

Now we have started our trek to Ugra Stambam which is 3 km from this place and most of the crowd (95% of them) returns from Jwala Narsimha temple as they feel its risk to travel or may be because they are already exhausted. We started our trip with the help of our sticks and reached Ugra Stambam after 2 hours struggle. Once you reach the Ugra Stambam you will entirely forget the pain which you had to reach this local. It was just so awesome and mesmerizing. The thin cold breeze which touches your face makes you feel happier. We had short break over there for 15 minutes and started our return way. It was bit tough to reach again to Jwala Narsimha as you don’t have proper path to walk and offcourse you need to walk all the way on huge rocks. Finally we reached Rakh kund again and had small intake of water. Couple of my groupmates also needed medical attention including me, so we had a small medical need in Jwala Narsimha Temple. Thank god I carried all the pain killers and sprays with me.

As we reached our final target we have relaxed ourselves and started our trek towards Malola Narishma temple which is at distance of 2 km from Jwala Narsimha and after our darshan over there we moved towards Prahalada Guhhalu, that’s the place where Prahalada has studied in his childhood.

Finally we reached our last but one temple Kroda Narishima, temple in Upper Ahobilam and reached the starting point Ahobila Narsimha swamy abode after 6 hours of complete trek. Here we had our darshan and you have a small lake here, where devotees are offering their hair and having a holy bath. We are so exhausted and feeling hungry, so just went directly to Arya Samaj Annadana Satram and had our lunch. On the way to lower ahobilam we have visited Karanja Narsimha temple which is on road side. With this we completed our trek and exploration of Upper Ahobilam.

Trip in Lower Ahobilam:

As you know we have already covered 5 out of 9 Narsimha temples in Upper Ahobilam, to cover the rest I have booked a jeep and they quote bit high if we need to cover Pavana Narsimha temple which is accessible through off-road. We started our Lower Ahobhilam trip by visiting Yogananda narsimha temple which is 7 km from Ahobilam and on the return we have visited Chatravata Narsimha temple. Basically this 2 temples fall on one way and for last Bhargava temple you need to take another way for which you need to come Ahobilam again and visited the place in another 40 minutes and completed our trip by visiting.

Please reach to me, if you want to explore this place.