Legend, Importance, Timings, Architecture, Travel Guide, Panduranga Swamy Temple, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh
Panduranga Swamy Temple is a very famous Temple dedicated to Lord Panduranga Vithal located in Chilakalapudi, Machilipatnam, Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. The temple was built by Narasimham on 13 September 1929 and temple campus spread across 6 acrs of land. Saint Narasimham received blessings from Sadguru Mahipathi Maharaj in Pandaripuram. It is the second most famous temple among the Panduranga temples in India after the Pandharpur Shri Vitthal Rukmini Temple of Maharashtra.
The idol of the god is around 3 feet in height and shares the childhood of Lord Krishna. The idol is decorated with Vastras and the ornaments and the precious diamond crown. Devotee’s offers the Patika Bellam (rock sugar candy) which the priest puts near the mouth of the Lord and it is back served to the devotees as a Prasad. There are 108 small shrine within in panduranga swamy temple complex.
There is a banyan tree just beside the temple. It is believed that saints has performed penance under this tree for around 350 years. Devotees and visitors take the Pradakshina of the Vruksh to seek blessings from the Lord. Thousands of devotees takes holy dip in the Manginapudi seashore – Samudra Snan during Karthika Month Purima. There are 12 holy wells near the seashore, devotees also take a bath in this 12 wells. It is believed that this 12 wells represents the 12 holy rivers of India.
Beside the entrance of the main shrine, there is another temple of Radha, Rukmini and Satyabhama. Sahastralinga Kailasa mandapam - 1000 shiva lingams is the key attraction of temple campus. There are many Idol’s like Veerabhadra Swamy, Yamadharma raja, Markhandeya, Lord Vigneswara are placed here. There are 108 other shrines near the Hanumanji temple, Sri Rukmini Devi, Satyabhama Devi and other god and goddess and also the devotees like Bhakta Tukaram. In Karthika month devotees from all over south India reaches here for darshan of Panduranga Swamy. It is also important to perform Satyanarayana Vrat Katha in temple, thus many group of devotee takes benefit of this ritual here in temple campus.
How to reach Panduranga Swamy Temple– Machilipatnam is well connected with the major cities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states via road, rail and air network. It is 63 km from Vijaywada, 75 km from Guntur, 312 km from Hyderabad 117 km from Rajahamundry. Nearest airport is at Vijaywada and Machilipatnam has railway station which is connected with major city of India via rail network. State transport buses and private vehicles are available to reach town.
