Sri Kalahasti the Abode of Lord Shiva, per excellence stand on the eastern bank of River Swarnamukhi. This Holy Kshetram is severally known as Dakshina Kailasam, Sivanandaika nilayam, Vignana ksthram satyavratha, bhaskara Kshethram and Sadyomukthi kara ksthethran and Akhanda Bilvakaranyam alone. Here Lord Shiva is Swayambhu and is embodiment of Vayu (air), one of the Five primordial Forces. He exists in four yugas: Kruthayuga, Threthayuga, Dwaparayuga, and Kaliyuga in different manifestations with gold, silver, cupric and white hues. He is benevolent to all in this Universe.
In this holly place Brahma, Vishnu, Indra, Vayu and other celestials, Sages Vashista, Agastya, Bharadwaj and others worshipped lord Shiva. An insect Spider, Elephant, Serpent, Kannapp, Nathkeera, two dames of Madhurai were attained salvation because of their more Devotion only. Lords so Gracious us, to him all in his Creation are all equal and eligible for salvation irrespective of their Birth, be the devotee is an insect or a learned.
This holy place is distinctive by its special features. The Lofty Lingam of un-comparable manifestation, worshipped by Vishnu and others; a River with origin from a holy Hill and which flows in northern direction, on whose banks are adorned with Shiva and Vishnu Kshethrams during its course till it reaches the sea and has Gairikadhi elements which is special feature of such holy places; and Holy hill In such a place Lord Almighty exists in totality and such place is known as Bhaskara Ksthethram. Shri Kalahasti is one of them.
Location: Shri Kalahasti is situated in Chittoor Dirstict of Andhra Pradesh. It is easily reachable by road and railway. This is 40 km. from the Holy Thitupati. The railway station is at a distance of 3 km on the Renigunta - Gudur track. This Holy place is easy to reach from any place in India by Rail, Road and Air.
History: Through the Holy town exists from time immemorial, the early historic reference is in Tamil literature of 1st and 2nd century. The Tamil literature eulogize this Holy place as Southern Kailas. Later the Great Shiva Saints Appar. Gnana Sambandar, Sundarar along with equally pious Manikya Vachagar visited and sung about place and Lord Supreme. In the third century the poet-laureate Madurai Pandya Kingdom has sung 100 poems ‘’Kailai Padhi Katthil Padhi’’ which says Srikalahasti and Kailas are one and the same. Adishankaracharya who visited, sung that the place is a seat of devotion par excellence. He worshipped the Shri Chakra and the Crystal lingam. The Temple has architecture of Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagara is of high order. Sri Krishna Devaraya has built Big Gali Gopuram and 100 pillar hall for Festival and discourses in 1516 A.D.
Temple Rituals - Festivals: The Temple daily rituals are performed per Agama and Veda Vidhanamu, four times in a day. Abishekams were performed, 3 times in the morning and fourth is done during evening in pradosha time for Lord Shiva and Mother Goddess Gnanambika. The Abhishekam was performed by local pujaris who are the descendants Sage Bharadwaja and belong to Bharadwaja Gothra and who were initiated in this Temple at Gnanambika Sannidhi. The Bramhostavam Festival is performed during the month Maghamas(Feb) for ten days. In the month of Aswiyuja 9 day festival is performed for Devi Gnanamba. In this Holy place Giri Pradakshanam is done one after Sankranthi and other on the 9th day during Bramhotsavam.
Dhakshina Kailasam and Dhakshina Kashi: The Creator Brahma brought Holy peak ‘’Shivanandaika’’ from Kailasam and placed here and he worshipped Lord Shiva and hence this Hill is known as Dakshina Kailasam. River Swarnamukhi flows on west of Temple, in north direction. The bathing ghat in front of Thirumanjana Gopuram is known as Manikarnika Gattam. At this Ghat Lord gives Tharaka Manthra Upadesam and so this place is also known as Southkashi.
The Temple Construction: The Temple complex has unique feature in its Construction unlike other temples. The Pathala Vinayaka, Goddess Gnanambika, Lord Srikalahasteeswara, Dakshinamurthy face different directions.
Hence in this place the devotees are graced with four fold Purusharthas: Dharma-Artha-Kama-Mokshas. The first Dharma is a boon from north Facing Pathala Vinayaka. The second Artha which is nothing but Athma Gnana is bestowed upon by Uma Swarupini Gnanamba facing east for devotees. The third Kama (deires) is given by the south facing Dhakshinamurthy to all who enter the Mahadwara. Finally the Lord Kalahasteesear facing west offers Moksha to devotees. This aspect is implied by west facing Lord where the Sun sets, indicating that everyone has set - time to reach the Lotus Feet of God.
This indicates one and all should be earnest in their attempts for salvation and in this Holy place it is very easy to attain salvation as told in Sthalapurana. Thus the Temple Symbolic representation of covered Four Purusharthas of Us.
Sthala Mahathvam: The Lord Sri Kalahasteeswara is Swayambu (self – manifested) and He is known after his devotees who were blessed with salvation – Sri the Spider, Kala the Serpent and Hasti, the Elephant.
Even the town is also known after them as ‘’SRIKALAHASTI’’. Mahakavi Dhurjati said that the Kalahasti is abode of Amruthamaya (Nector) Lingam.
Salvation of The Spider: In Kritha Yuga a Spider with its immense devotion worshipped the Lord by weaving Temple with the glue - thread from its body. Lord Shiva desired to test Spider Devotion. He burnt the web- temple with Lamp. On seeing this calamity the Spider was perturbed and with wild anger it ran to swallow the fire. Looking at this act of Spider, the Compassionate Lord Shiva gave Sayujya Mukthi (Merging with Lord) to spider at its request. Thus a Spider even though an insect had Salvation because of its mere Devotion.
The Serpent – Elephant – Their Worship: In Threthayuga a Serpent from Pathala worshipped the Lord Shiva with precious Stones daily. At the end of Threthayuga and in the beginning of Dwaparayuga Elephant took bath in river Swarnamukhi and he brought water from river Swarnamukhi in its trunk for Abhishekam. He gathered flowers and bilva leafs. He removed all the stones offered by the Serpent. He performed abhishekam to Lord and did puja with flowers and Bilva leaves. On the next day the Snake who observed that all the offerings are removed and thrown away. The Snake was much aggrieved. He removed the flowers and bilva leaves. Once again performed Puja with precious stones brought by him.
For some time they both performed puja in their own way after removing others puja materials. Time elapsed. The Serpent, on seeing the removal of puja done by him grew wild. He decided to find who is responsible for such an act. He did himself behind nearby bush with anguish. As usual Elephant arrived and started puja and thrown all stones. Watching the Elephant’s performance, the Serpent grew wild and entered the trunk of the Elephant. This sudden attack caused breathlessness for Elephant.
Unable to bear the agony, the prayerful mammal touched the Lord as his last ritual. He then violently dashed against nearby hillside. This resulted in death them. Both the Serpent and Elephant were bestowed with salvation and merged with Lord.
The benevolent Lord adorned with the symbols of three namely serpentine a top, two tusks in middle, resemblance of Spider at bottom of his Lingam. Then onwards He is known as Sri Kalahasteeshwara with the name of these great devotees all over the world.
Sri Gnanaprasannambika Devi: Lord Parameshwara initiated Goddes Parvathi with Sacred Panchakshari (five letter) mantra and asked her to perform japa with Concentration. But she failed to do so. He grew wild and cursed her to born as woman on the Earth. Goddess repented for her! Apse and prayed Lord to relieve her form.
His course. Then Lord in her human birth she should perform penance and worship Shiva Linga near Kailasa Mountain. With the help of sage Naradha, She came to Dakshina Kailasa here. She performed penance and worshipped Lord. Pleased with her penance and worship, once again Shiva initiated her with Panchakshari. On attaing Panchakshari japasiddhi and she was acepted as His Consort. Since then she is Gnanaprasannambika. She bestows the Supreme Knowledge upon her devotees.
Vayulingam: The creation has five primordial elements the Prithvi (Earth), Ap (Water), Agni (Fire), Vayu(Air) and Akasha (Sky). Lord Parameswara is omnipresent and omniscient. His Omnipresence is seen in all these five primordial elements. At Kanchi he is Prithvi Swarupa. A place nearby Thruchirapalle, Thiruvanakkoil, he is Jala Swarupa. At Thiruvannamlai he is Agni Swarupa. In Srikalahasti he is Vayu Swarupa. His akasha nature is seen at Chidambaram. At Srikalahasti during kruthayuga the Lord’s Vayu Swarupa was observed by mere Touch by great Yougis. Similarly Lord Swarna (Gold) Linga, Rajatha (Silver) Linga, Swetha Sila (White stone) Linga rupa in threthayuga. Dwapara and Kali Yugas, though he is Swethasilamurthy now his Vayu-tathvam is still seen by two Flickering lamps in the Sanctum sanctorum.
Pagodas: This Holy Temple has four pagodas in each Direction. A tall pagodas of 120 feet high is built by King Krishnadevaraya in 1516 AD. Through this pagodas, the deity procession enters city. On return, the procession go through another pagodas which is built by a Devadasi ‘’Bicchalu’’. She was staunch devotee of Jangamashiva. It is called Bhitchala Gopuram. The pagodas is built in the times of Yadava Narasimharaya.
The Balagnanamba Gopuram is the Entrance (Eastern gate) to the Temple. The north Gopuram is called Shivayya Gopuram. The western Gopuram is called Thirumanjanam Gopuram. From this Gopuram step leads to river Swarnamukhi. At the bottom of steps Surya Pushkarani and Chandra Pushkararani are there. For Abhishekam and cooking of Prasadams, water from Surya pushkarni is used. From southerm Gopuram one can go to Kannappa Hill and Bramha Temple.
River Swarnamukthi: Sage Agasthya during his journey to South came here. For performing his daily rituals and penance he did not have water. Hence did penance and prayed Brahma. Brahma blessed him with Akasha Ganga at his request. As per the wish of Sage Agasthya, Ganga Devi stared its course from Agasthya hills through Srikalahasti as Swarnamukhi before reaching the sea. On the both sides of the river many Holy Theertham are there.
Kannappa: Arjuna desired salvation as boon from Lord Shiva. In kaliyuga he was born as Thinna. Potthipinadu is part of Andhra. There is small village Udumuru inhibitated by boyas. The couple Nathanatha his wife Thandhe gave birth a male child by the Grace of Lord Shiva. They named their son as Thinna. The boy grew as a highly skilled Archer. During his hunt, he was tired and slept. Lord Shiva appeared in his dream and advised him to worship Shivalinga on the back of River Mogileru. Thinna woke up and saw a bore. He started chasing it brought him to place where Shivalinga exists. On seeing Shivalingam, Thinna prayed Lord to come to his place. All his efforts were in vain, so Thinna decided to stay there and started his worship. Everyday Thinna went to forest to hunt. He bake the bore meat to a delicious the meat. He kept the cooked meat in a leaf. He brought Bilva patra. Flowers on his head. His bow and arrows are on his shoulders. For bathing Lord, he brought water in his mouth. He offered the tasted food to the Lord. Thinna was very happy as the Lord relished his offerings. During that time Shivagochara, learned priest was also performing puja to the Lord. The priest was upset when he saw the puja done by Thinna. Then the priest questioned the Lord who was the noodle who did such un-holistic offerings. He threatened lord that he would end his life, if he did not reveal who did so. Lord Shiva told that a Chenchu Devotee was offering the puja.
The Lord asked the priest to hide himself nearby, to know how great devote was the Chenchu!
As usual Thinna offered meat to Lord Shiva. But Shiva did not accepted the dish Thinna was highly perturbed. Then he started asking Shiva the reasons for his silence. At last he observed that water is losing from one eye. Looking at Lord’s eye. Thinna felt that the Lord had eye kisease. He warned his loincloth in his mouth and pressed on the eye. But it was not helpful, then he brought several hearbals and treatedthe eye. Alss all his treatments failed. Blood started coming from the eye. Then thinna felt that he should replace Lord’s eye with his eye. When he did so. Lord’s eye was cured Thinna felt very happy. A minute later, the second eye started bleeding. To heal the second eye Thinna thought similar treatment would heal. He placed his leg on the Lord’s eye to locate it after removing his another eye. He tried to remove his another eye also. Pleased with this devotion. Lord with his beloved consort Parvathi Devi, appeared before Thinna and stopped him from removing another eye. Lord blessed both Thinna and Shivagochara with sayujya mukthi.
Since then the Chenchu Thinna was known as Kannappa an apt name to such Great devotee who offered his own eyes. He is symbol of dedication and innocent devotion. There after Kannappa is an ideal to devotees all over the world. Everyone who visits Srikalahasti goes a top the Kannappa hill and pay there their respects to him let us also pay our tributes to such Emancipated Soul.
Lord Dakshinamurthy: The temple is unique with its South entrance. As one enters, he sees Lord Dakshinamurthy. The darshan as Dakshinmurthy recalls the revelation of Shivathatva as narrated in Chadogya Upanishedh’s discourse between Sage Naradha and Santhakumara. Further Sage Vashista who was wailing upon the death of his hundred sons because of Vishwamitra’s Curse, Lord Kalahasteeshwara as Dakshinamurthy enlightened Vashishta with Supreme knowledge. Thus the place is Gnanakshetra for devotees. Such Darshan is not to be seen any other place.
Abode to Devotees: Brahma, Vishnu, Indra and other celestials, Saga Baradwaja, Vasishta, Agastya and others, Jahathguru Shankaracharya, Shivanayanars, poets Dhurjati, Nathkeera, Yadhava King, Dancing Ladies from Madurai and the great devotee Kannappa worshipped Lord Sri kalahasteeswara and were blessed. Many others were there who were unknown to us.
Theerthas: There was 36 theerthams in this Kshethram as per the Sthalapuranam narrated by Sage Vedavyasa. The sahasra Linga, Harahara, Bharadwaja, Markandeya, Mukha, Surya and Chandra theerthams are the important ones. Bathing in these theerthams are sacred and relieves one from sins. It is well known that staying here is desirable who seek moksha.
Sahasra Linga Kona: This is picturesque picnic with waterfalls. As per purana here Lord appeared in Yakshaswarupa to Indra and others. Goddes Gnanambika (Uma Devi) bestowed Indra and others upon the naturally Supreme Lord Shiva. Many others was also similarly benefited here.
Saraswati Theertham: The well inside the temple is known as Saraswathi Theertham. The water in this well cures Stammering and makes one eloquent.
Bharadwaja Theertham: Sage Bharadwaja who lived here at the end of Dwapara Yuga, had established his Ashramam and installed Shiva Temple in this valley and built the Theertham for his daily rituals and penance. It’s picturesque and serene place was abode for devotees for their penance. Arjuna of Mahabharatha, stayed with Bharadwaja Maharshi and leant Archary other martial arts. Later this Bharadwaja ashramam is known a seat of learning in India. This Theertham was a place of penance for many a devotees too. This place is also known as ‘’Lobhavi’’ locally.
Pariwara Deities: Ardha Nareeswara Linga was installed by Sage Bhrughu. Agasthya’s Neelakanteswara Linga. Manikanteswara Linga, Vyas’s Linga, Markandeya Linga, Mruthyunjaya Linga are few eminent Lingas in this Temple. During famine A Sahasra Ghata (Thousand pots) Abhishekam is performed to the Mruthyunjaya Linga for rainfall. Kalabhairava is the Kshetrapalaka. There are Lingas installed by Yama, Chitraguptha and Dharmaraja too in this Temple. Surya Shani, Veeraragha, Venkateshwara and Varadharaja are other important pariwara dieties. Inside Temple one can see a lofty Kannappa Vigraham along with Spatika Linga and Panchaloha Vigrahams of 63 Nayanars.
Mantapam: The temple has many artistic and sculptured Mantapam, Pillars and other worth seeing places to mention a few the Nageshwara, Hundred pillared Mantapam and 16 Pillared Mantapam. In this 16 pillared Mantapam Sri Achyutha Devaraya brother of Srikrishnadevaraya head his coronation in the year 1529 AD. In this Temple one can also see many old paintings on the roofs which are still afresh.
Nataraja Open Air Theatre and Bramha Gudi: This place is near the South Gopuram. This Mantapam which has many sculptures depicting the Shivaleelas. Further there are worth seeing Temple of Panchamukheshwara. The Durga Temple where nine day festival during October is on the north, A Subramanya Gudi is on the small Hill. Here Sage Naradha was taught the Shivathathva by Lord Subramanya. This Hill is known as Vidyakshethra. A grand festival is performed to Lord Subramanya in the month of Ashada.
Temple Administration: The Temple is under control of H.R. & C.E. A Deputy Commissioner is the administrative officer. The Temple also has on advisory Dharmakarthala Mandali (Governing Body). The Temple has Trinetra Guest house - A VIP. Guest house. Balagangamba Choultry, Sankaramuni Complex. Shivasadana, Bharadwaja Sadana to accommodate pilgrims.
The Temple Revenue – Pilgrim Facilities: Annual income of this Temple is around 20 Crores. Its expenditure is 8 Crores. The Temple conducts many renovations of its sub shrines, adopted shrines. It has Nithyannadana Scheme to cater Pilgrims who visit this Shrine.
Other daily Sevas:
1) Kalyanotsavam: The payment is Rs 600. This performed daily after 2nd Abhishekam at 10am.
2) Oonjal Seva: On every full-moon day (Pournami) this Seva is performed. The devotee who wish to participate in this Seva is requested to contribute Rs.5000.
3) Nandhi Seva: This Seva is performed on the Day chosen by the Devotee. He has to pay Rs.7500. On that Day Sri Swami and Amma Varlu are taken by procession on Silver Nandhi and Simham through the town.
Rahu Ketu Pooja or Kala sarpa dosha nivarana pooja: Srikalahasteeswara temple is reputed as the Rahu-Ketu Kshetra, if the people who have Rahu Kethu Doshas or Kalasrpa doshas the unmarried and No children and those who are facing various problems for a long period perform the most effective “Rahu – Kethu Sarpa Dosha Nivarana Puja”. In this temple all the Doshas get removed and desired results occur. Thousands of Devotees from the country and abroad perform this Puja and fulfill their vows again after receiving good results.
Rahu – Khetu Sarpa Dosha Nivarana Puja can be performed daily between 6:30 am and 9:00 pm on payment of Rs. 500, Special Puja Rs. 750. Inside the temple Rs. 1500 and Special Rs. 2500 (The Devasthanam will arranged all puja materials except flowers and bilvas). Please carry flowers and bilvas while doing poojas.
