SRI KALAHASTHI

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SRI KALAHASTHI

Sri Kalahasthi is an important temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is situated in

Chittoor district of Andra Pradesh. The Sivalingam is said to be a 'Vayu

lingam'representing one of the five elements, air, (vayu-air) and is one of the

Panchabootha sthala of Lord Shiva. This temple is also called 'Thakshina

Kailash' meaning the abode of Lord Shiva in the south. The river Swarnamuki

running near this temple gives this place an added sacredness.

The Temple

The temple occupies an area of about 5 acres and the tall towers are visible

from miles around. The presiding deity is called Sri Kalahatheeswarar and the

consort is worshipped as Gnanaprasunambika. There is also a small shrine to

Lord Vinayagar that is reached by descending steep steps through a narrow

opening. As the deity is installed below ground level the deity is known as

'Pathala

Vinayagar'

Legend

There are many legends associated with this temple. A spider, an elephant and a

snake were living in the vicinity of the temple. All three were devotees of

Lord Shiva. The spider wove beautiful objects with its silk like web and

offered them to the Lord in prayer, the elephant brought flowers and water and

washed the idol and offered the flowers, while the snake brought precious

stones from underground and adorned the idol with them.

The elephant seeing these precious stones adorning the Lord cleared them away

and after washing the Lord decorated Him with flowers and leaves. From this

ensued an affray between the elephant and the snake. The snake bit the elephant

and the elephant trampled the snake. The spider got caught in the middle of this

brawl and all three died. Because of the devotion with which each one of them

had spent their days worshipping, the Lord made these three souls to merge in

Him and took the name Sri-Kala-Hasthi which denotes the conjoining of the spider

(Sri), the snake (Kala), and the elephant (Hasthi) thus becoming Sri

Kalahatheeswarar.

T

he Story of Kannappa Nayanar

Kannappan was a hunter but an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. He never failed to

perform his daily worship. He brought water from the river in his mouth and

'bathed' the image of the Lord by emptying his mouth on the lingam. Then he

would chew bits of meat to ascertain its suitability and offer it to his deity.

He would only proffer the choicest pieces of meat. One day he saw a yellowish

discharge from the left eye of the image. He in his deep devotion wanted to

cure the defect in the eye of his Lord. So he gouged out his eye from its

socket and put it on top of the eye of the idol. He then noticed the same

discharge from the other eye. He then decided to offer his other eye too, to

the Lord.

He realised that he would not be able to see once he had pulled out his other

eye.So he put his shoed leg to mark the spot where the other eye would go and

was about to pull out his eye when the Lord appeared and stopped him from self

mutilation. The Lord pleased with his devotion granted him eternal bliss.

Regards

Prasanna kumar