Peaceful Srisailam, 232 km south of Hyderabad is situated
on the banks of river Krishna. The 512 mtrs long Srisailam
dam located here is abundant with natural beauty. Situated
on the border of the ancient sacred hill of Srigiri
on the south bank of the Krishna river, in the Nallamalai
range of Andhra Pradesh, is the magnificent temple of
Srisailam.
The temple complex, whose existing buildings date from
the 2nd century AD, is the Bhramaramba Mallikarjunaswamy
Temple, it is one of the 12 'Jyotirlingas' in India
as well as one of the eighteen most sacred goddess shrines,
or Shakti Pithas. This outstanding collection of major
Gods and Goddesses shrines at the same location makes
Srisailam one of India's most venerated sites. Shiva
is worshipped here in his form of Lord Mallikarjuna,
and Shakti, his consort, as Sri Bharamaramba Devi.
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The temple is the site of Mahakali in the form
of Bhramaramba. It is believed, the Vrishabha,
the sacred bull of Lord Shiva performed penance
here. Lord Shiva appeared before him, with his
consort Parvati in the forms of Mallikarjuna and
Bharamaramba. A gigantic fort, with 6 mtr high
wall encloses the temple.
he images of these deities, both extremely old,
are enshrined in the more recent temple built
by the Vijayanagar king Harihara Raya around 1404
AD. The temple, whose popular name is Sriparvata,
is bounded by a great fortress-like wall that
is 20 ft high, 6 ft wide and 2120 ft in circumference.
Built in in 1520 AD, the wall has 3200 stones,
each weighing over one ton, and is decorated with
fine relief carvings displaying images from Hindu
mythology.
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A cluster of minor shrines within the temple enclosure
include the Sahasra Linga, Panchapandava temples and
Vata Vriksha. The most appealing feature of this temple
is that anyone of any cast and creed, can touch the
deity and worship here.
At Sikharam, the highest of the Srisailam hills, is
Sikhareswara Swamy, a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
Another beautiful temple is Sri Ganapathi temple, dedicated
to Lord Ganesh.
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