The Sree Sailam Temple located in Kurnool district, is one of the 12
Jyotirlingam. Sri Sailam is a small city situated in the densely
forested Nallamalai hills. This temple is considered very holy and is
dedicated to Mallikarjuna Swamy and Bhramaramba. One unique feature of
the temple is that all the devotees who visit the temple are allowed to
touch the idol which is not prevalent in any other temple. The temple is
located at a distance of 245 km from Hyderabad. The Sree Sailam temple
has rich sculptural work, fort like walls and towers. The temple is
built in Dravidian style. According to popular legends, the religious
leader had visited the temple and had composed his famous Sivananda
Lahiri. It is also believed that Goddess Durga had taken the form of a
bee and worshiped Lord Shiva here and selected this holy place as her
abode. There are some temples in the vicinity of Sree Sailam Temple,
they are-
- Tripurantakam to the east of Sree Sailam.
- Siddavatam of Cuddapah district to the South.
- Alampur Navabhrama temples in Mahboobnagar district to the West.
- Umamaheswaram in Mahboobnagar district to the North.
- Paladhara Panchadara : The spot where Adi Sankara is said
to have meditated.
- Hatakeswaram : Another Shiva temple near Paladhara
Panchadara where the lingam was originally made of gold.
- Sakthi Ganapathi temple : It is considered important to
visit this temple before visiting Sri Sailam.
- Kailasa Dwaram : The main entrance to Sri Sailam for
those trekking to the temple.
- Sikharam : There is a hill temple dedicated to Shiva at a
height of 2850 feet above sea level in the Nallamalai hills
- Patalaganga : is where the bathing ghats associated with Sri Sailam are located. (Krishna river).
“Jaya Mallikarjuna! Jai Mallikarjuna”
Srisailam is located in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. This whole area is full of forests of Kadali, Bilva trees, mountain ranges and Patalaganga (Krishnaveni river). All of them echo from these joyous voices of devotees.
Puranic History of Srisailam
When Kumar Kartikeya returned to Kailash after completing his trip around the earth, he heard about Ganesha’s marriage from Narada. This angered him. In spite of being restrained by his parents, he touched their feet in obeisance and left for Krounch Mountain. Parvati was very distraught at having to be away from her son, implored Lord Shiva to look for their son. Together, they went to Kumara. But, Kumara went away a further three Yojanas, after learning about his parents coming after him to Krouncha Mountain. Before embarking on a further search for their son on each mountain, they decided to leave a light on every mountain they visited. From that day, that place came to be known as JyotirLinga Mallikarjuna. It is believed that Shiva and Parvati visit this palce on Amavasya (No moon day) and (full Moon day) Pournami, respectively. Visiting this JyotirLinag not only blesses one with innumerable wealth, but also name and fame and fulfils all the desires.
Once, a princess named Chandravati decided to go to the Jungles to do penance and meditation. She chose Kadali Vana for this purpose. One day, she witnessed a miracle. A Kapila cow was standing under a Bilwa tree and milk was flowing from all of its four udders, sinking into the ground. The cow kept doing this as a routine chore everyday. Chandravati dug up that area and was dumb founded at what she saw. There was a self-raising Swyambhu SivaLinga. It was bright and shining like the sun rays, and looked like it was burning, throwing flames in all directions. Chandravati prayed to Siva in this JyotirLinga. She built a huge Shiva Temple there. Lord Shankara was very pleased with her. Chandravati went to Kailash wind borne. She received salvation and Mukti. On one of the stone-inscriptions of the temple, Chandravati’s story can be seen carved out.
Location and Development of mallikarjuna swamy temple
Shaila Mallikarjuna’s holy place is located on the banks of River Krishna. Here River Krishna is in the form of Patalaganga (underground spring). Lakhs of devotees take a holy dip here and then go for the Darshan of the JyotirLinga.
During the Karnataka Movement, Chatrapati Shivaji used to come to take a Darshan of the JyotirLinga during the Maharatri. He built a tower on the right side of the Temple and also opened a free-meal center.
The kings of the VijayaNagar Dynasty too built a Temple, Tower, Portico and a pond. Ahelyadevi Holkar, a great devotee of Siva built a strong bathing wharf consisting of 852 steps on the banks of the Patalganga.
Earlier, this part of the Shaila mountains was an unreachable tough terrain and fraught with danger. Even then, devotees, with their sheer will power, used to reach there in large numbers. Hiranyakashipa, Narada, Pandavas, Sri Ram are some of the great mythological personalities who have visited this holy shrine. shankara bhagavatpAda, rENukAchArya(1), akka mahAdevi, hemareddy mallamma are some of the great devotees who worshipped Lord mallikArjuna here.
sambandhar, appar and sundharar have sung one padhikam (2) each on the Lord of Srisailam.