Srisailam Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple

Srisailam temple 

Srisailam (Telugu: శ్రీశైలం) is a holy town and mandal, situated in Nallamala Hills of Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is on the banks of River Krishna, about 212 km south of Hyderabad.

Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy Temple dedicated to Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy (a form of Shiva) and Devi Bhramaramba (a form of Parvathi) is located here and it is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. Srisailam Dam, located about 212 km from Hyderabad and 132 km from Nandyal, is a multipurpose dam built across River Krishna and caters to the irrigation and power needs of the state.

Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple

The Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple located in Srisailam is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.

History

Srisailam
Entrance to Srisaila Devasthanam
Coordinates:	16.073927°N 78.868731°E
Name
Proper name:	Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple
Location
Country:	India
State:	Andhra Pradesh
Location:	Srisailam
Architecture and culture
Primary deity:	Lord Shiva

The origins of this temple have been lost in antiquity. The Skanda Purana has a chapter called Srisaila Kandam dedicated to it, which points to the ancient origin. This is confirmed by the fact that saints of the past millennia have sung its praises. It is said that Adi Sankara visited this temple and at that time he composed his Sivananda Lahiri.
Srisailam is referenced in the ancient Hindu Puranas, and the epic Mahabharata.
Shiva's sacred bull Nandi is said to have performed penance at the Mahakali temple till Shiva and Parvati appeared before him as Mallikarjuna and Brahmaramba. The temple is one of the 12 hallowed jyotirlingas; Lord Rama himself installed the Sahasralinga, while the Pandavas lodged the Panchapandava lingas in the temple courtyard.
Heroic legends from the Mahabharata and Ramayana are sculpted in stone on the temple walls and the Mahabharata epic refers to Srisailam as Sri Parvata — the blessed hill. You can hear the buzzing of a bee through a tiny hole in the Brahmaramba temple, where Parvati, in the form of a bee, slayed the demon Mahisasura.
It gained prominence in the twelfth century due to the Sharana movement and Vachana Sahitya headed by Basavanna. According to legends one of the Srisailam caves is said to be the place where the most famous poet and social reformer Akka Mahadevi achieved salvation.

Gateways

Tradition, literature as well as epigraphical sources state that the sacred hill of Srisailam has four gateways in the four cardinal directions namely,

• Tripuranthakam is in Prakasam District in the east where God Tripuranthakeswara Swamy and Goddess Tripurasundari Devi are presiding deities.
• Siddhavatam is located on the bank of the river Penna in Kadapa District in the south where Jyothisideswara Swamy and Goddess Kamakshi Devi are the presiding deities.
• Alampur is on the bank of the river Tungabhadra in Mahaboobnagar District in the west where Navabrahma Alayas, a group of nine temples of the Chalukya period, are. This Kshetram is also the seat of Goddess Jogulamba, one of the eighteen Mahasakthis.
• Umamaheswaram is located in Rangapur, Achampeta Mandal, Mahaboobnagar District in the North where God Umamaheswara Swamy and Goddess Umamaheswari Devi are the presiding deities.

Secondary gateways

Besides the main gateways, there are four Secondary Gateways in the four corner directions:

• Eleswaram: Located in Mahaboobnagar District now submerged in the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in the northeast with Eleswara Swamy and Katyani as presiding deities.
• Somasila: Located on the bank of the river Penna in the southeast with Skanda Someswara as the presiding deity.
• Pushpagiri: Located in Kadapa District in the southwest with Santhana Malleswara as presiding deity.
• Sangameswaram: Located at the confluence of the River Krishna and Tungabhadra in Kurnool District in the northwest and submerged at Srisailam Dam with Sangameswara as presiding deity. This temple has been re-built at Alampur.

Other places of interest

Akka Mahadevi caves

During the 12th century A.D. this cave appeared to have attained its present name after the famous ascetic, lyricist and philosopher, Akka Mahadevi who hailed from Karnataka. It is believed that Akka Mahadevi did penance in this cave and worshiped the Sivalinga that naturally existed in the deep and dark end of the cave.
The A.P. Tourism Department has arranged motor boats for visitors to see these caves.

Srisailam Dam

Srisailam Dam is built on the Krishna River and is 512 m long. It is set amidst beautiful natural scenery — ghats, cliffs, craggy ridges, plateaus and dense forests. It has twelve crest gates to hold a maximum water level of 885 ft (270 m). It has a live storage of 274 thousand million cubic feet. This reservoir was originally designed for hydropower generation only but was later converted to a multipurpose facility for water supply and irrigation.
Due to the construction of Srisailam Hydro Electric Project across river Krishna, nearly 102 villages in Kurnool and Mahboobnagar districts along the banks of the rivers Krishna, Tungabhadra, Bhavanasi and their tributaries were submerged.