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| Sri Kalahasthi |
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| Near the by pilgrimage town of Tirupathi there located the great piligrimage, kalahasthi. Sri Kalahasthi is an important temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Kailash of the south or Dakshin Kailash is the name for Sri kalahasthi. the name Sri-Kala-Hasthi which denotes the conjoining of the spider (Sri), the snake (Kala), and the elephant (Hasthi) thus becoming Sri Kalahatheeswarar ,is visited by thousands of pilgrims. Siva saints of first century sang about this temple. |
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| This temple was constructed by the great Pallava dynasty. Both kings belong to Tamil Chola dynasty and the Vijayanagara dynasty also gave great help for the temple development. Like other great temples, the construction period of Srikalahasthi lasted centuries.In tenth century, the Chola kings renovated the temple and constructed the main structure. The outer walls and the four gopurams were constructed in the period of Sri Veera Narasimharayar in twelfth century. The 120 feet high main gopuram and the 100 pillar mandapam were constructed by Krishnadeva Raya, the great Vijayanagara king in 1516. Nattukkotta Chettiyar of Devakkotta, developed the structure what we see today by spending on million dollar in 1912. |
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| The greatness of the temple at Sri Kalahasthi is mentioned in the Sivapuranam. There is legend associated with the manifestation of Lord Siva as Vayu linga at Sri Kalahasthi. According to it, Lord Brahama was asked by Lord Siva to create Kailash. As Brahma was struggling with the task, as piece fell on the earth in the south and came to be known as Dakshin Kailash and Lord Siva chose to manifest at Dakshin Kailash as Vayu linga representing wind, is one of the five elements of nature, to satisfy the desires and wishes of his devotees. |
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| This ancient temple dedicated to Lord Siva is one of the panchabhootha stalams (temples celebrating Lord Siva as the embodiment of the primary elements), air being the element in case here, the other five temples being Tiruvannamalai (fire), Chidambaram (space), Thiruvanikkaval (water) and Kanchipuram (earth) respectively. |
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| River Suvarnamukhi takes the northerly course at Sri Kalahasthi almost washing the west wall of the famous Sri Kalahasthi temple in the Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh. |
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| According to the writings in puranas three devottes of lord shiva a spider, an elephant and a snake were living in the vicinity of the temple. The spider wove beautiful objects with its silk like web and offered them to the Lord in prayer, the elephant brought flowers and water and washed the idol and offered the flowers, while the snake brought precious stones from underground and adorned the idol with them. |
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| The elephant seeing these precious stones adorning the Lord cleared them away and after washing the Lord decorated Him with flowers and leaves. From this ensued an affray between the elephant and the snake. The snake bit the elephant and the elephant trampled the snake. The spider got caught in the middle of this brawl and all three died. Because of the devotion with which each one of them had spent their days worshipping, the Lord made these three souls to merge in Him. |
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| Another devottee named kannappa who was a hunter use to perform prayer. He never failed to perform his daily worship, use to bring water from the river in his mouth and 'bathed' the idol of the Lord. Then he would chew bits of meat to ascertain its suitability and offer it to his deity. He would only proffer the choicest pieces of meat. One day he saw a yellowish discharge from the left eye of the image. In deep devotion wanted to cure the defect in the eye of his Lord. So he gouged out his eye from its socket and put it on top of the eye of the idol. He then noticed the same discharge from the other eye. He then decided to offer his other eye too, to the Lord. He realised that he would not be able to see once he had pulled out his other eye. So he put his shoed leg to mark the spot where the other eye would go and was about to pull out his eye when the Lord appeared and stopped him from self mutilation. The Lord pleased with his devotion granted him eternal bliss. This kannappan is later known as KannappaNayanar. |
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| The temple is also associated with Rahu and Kethu (of the nine grahams or celestial bodies in the Indian astrological scheme). Inside this very large temple situated between two steep hills – Sripuram and Mummidi-cholapuram - is the Sivalinga set to represent the element of Vayu (air or wind), whose presence is evident by a continuous flame which flickers though there is no loophole for air to enter the temple. |
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| AUSPICIOUS DAYS: The major festival takes place in February/March spread over 13 days. The other major festivals take place during December/January and during 'Navarathry' in September/October |
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| 38 Km from Tirupati |
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