History, Architecture, Timings of Mallikarjuna Swamy Jyotirlinga Temple and Brahmaramba Shakti Peeth
Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple or Srisailam Temple is solely dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati located in natural environment of Nallamalai Hills on bank of river Krishna in Srisailam of Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh. Lord Shiva is worshipped as Mallikarjuna and is being represented by Lingam. Parvati is worshipped as Brahmaramba. It is rare place and one of the three temples where both Jyotirlinga and Shaktipeeth is revered at one place. It is also one of the twelve Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva and one of the eighteen Mahasakthis of Goddess Parvati. The hill on which the temple is located is also well known as Sri Parvatha, Srigiri, Srinagam, Siridhan, etc. As per Hindu tradition this place is also identified as Kailasha of south on earth and prominent religious centre from ancient time to till date. It is believed that neck of Devi sati was fallen down here and place become as Shakti Peeth.
There are lots of tales associated Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple and Bhramaramba temple, Srisailam, few key legends are mentioned here.
Karthikeya the younger son of the Lord Shiva and Parvati got angry and came to the Kronch Hills from Kailash. Maa Parvati and Lord Shiva came here and stayed as Arjun and Mallika so this temple is called Mallikarjuna. As they both were confused between Ganesh and Karthikeya that whom should get married first so they gave them a activity to do Pradakshina around the world by seven times. Karthikeya went to the Pradakshina with his vehicle while the Ganesh went round his parents seven times. Shiva got Buddhi, Siddhi and Riddhi married to Ganesha. So Karthikeya on his return from Pradakshina was in anger and went to stay alone on Mount Kraunja in the name of Kumarabrahmachari. The place where Shiva and Parvati stayed came to be known as Shrishailam.
Parvatha, son of Silada Maharshi is said to have performed penance to pleased Shiva to live on his body. Lord Shiva granted these desired of Parvatha and Parvatha assumed the shape big Hill ‘Srisailam’ and Lord Shiiva lived on its top as Sriparvatha Swamy.
As per Hindu Mythology, Godess Adishakti manifested in from of Bhramaram -bee to kill demon Arunasura and then settled at Srisailam as Bhramaramba Devi.
Devotee can find the idol of saint Bringi stood on three leg in temple campus along with Nandi, Sahastralinga and Natraja. A very interesting story behind the sage bringi was, once Goddess Parvati cursed sage Bringi to stand, as Bringi worshipped Lord Shiva only. Lord Shiva gave him a third leg to stand with comfort.
The temple has several shrines where Lord Mallikarjuna and Goddess Bhramaramba are the most prominent. The main parts of Dravidian style temple complex are Mukha Mandapa built during the Vijayanagar period, center mandapam has several pillars, with a huge idol of Nadikeshwara and Garbh Gruha dated back to 7th century where Shivlinga is placed. Sahasra linga -1000 linga are believed to be placed by Lord Ram and five other lingams believed to be placed by Pandavas.
Lot of ruler had played vital role in development of the Srisailam temple campus which includes Sathavahanas, Ikshavakus, Pallavas, Vishnukundis, Chalukyas, Kakatiyas, Reedy Kings, Vijayanagara Emperors and Chatrapathi Shivaji who worshipped God Mallikarjuna Swamy and made their contributions in temple construction dated back to 14th century.
Pilgrims comes here to worship the deity and seeks blessings from the Lord Shiva and the mother. Srisailam Temple is one of the fewest ones to practice utmost socialism where people of any caste, creed or religion can worship, touch and enter the Garbha Gudi. Maha Shiv Ratri, Shravan month, Dussehra and Karthika Poornima are important festival of this temple which attracts thousands of devotee across the India.
How to reach Srisailam Temple: Srisailam is very well connected by the roads with all major cities of Andhra Pradesh and other state. You can hire the state buses to reach the temple and the availability of the buses, taxis and cabs is frequently available. The nearest Railway Station is Markapur Railway Station at a distance of 60kms. The station is well connected to the major cities of the state. The nearest availability of flight is in Hyderabad at a distance of 220kms.
