The shrine of Lord
Mallikarjuna picturesquely situated on a flat top of Nallamalai Hills,
Srisailam is reputed to be one of the most ancient kshetras in India. . It has played a dominant role in the Hindu religious, cultural
and social history since ancient times. It is on the right side of the River Krishna in Kurnool District of
Andhra Pradesh. This celebrated mountain
is also named as Siridhan, Srigiri, Sirigiri, Sriparvatha and Srinagam. It has
been a popular centre of Saivite pilgrimage for centuries.The prominence of this Divya Kshetram is
highlighted by the fact that while performing our daily household rituals we
specify place of location of our existence with refere.nce to Srisailam.
Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva situated at Srisailam in South Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh. It is one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalams.
As per Siva Mahapuranam, once Brahma (the Hindu God of creation) and Vishnu (the Hindu God of saving) had an argument in terms of supremacy of creation. To test them, Shiva pierced the three worlds as a huge endless pillar of light, the jyotirlinga. Vishnu and Brahma split their ways to downwards and upwards respectively to find the end of the light in either directions. Brahma lied that he found out the end, while Vishnu conceded his defeat. Shiva appeared as a second pillar of light and cursed Brahma that he would have no place in ceremonies while Vishnu would be worshipped till the end of eternity. The jyotirlinga is the supreme partless reality, out of which Shiva partly appears. The jyotirlingashrines, thus are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. Originally there were believed to be 64jyotirlingas while 12 of them are considered to be very auspicious and holy.Each of the twelve jyotirlinga sites take the name of the presiding deity - each considered different manifestation of Shiva.. At all these sites, the primary image is lingam representing the beginningless and endless Stambha pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva. The twelve jyotirlinga are Somnath in Gujarat, Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakaleswarat Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, Omkareshwar in Madhya Pradesh, Kedarnath in Himalayas, Bhimashankar in Maharastra,Viswanath at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Triambakeshwar in Maharastra, Vaidyanath at Deoghar district in [Jharkhand ],Nageswar at Dwarka in Gujarat, Rameshwar at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Grishneshwar at Aurangabad in Maharastra
Places to Visit:
Srisailam is one of the main pilgrimage destinations of Andhra Pradesh. One finds a whole host of temples and holy sites to explore in and around the area. The jewel in the crown is the Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple, situated on the southern bank of the Krishna River, one of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples of India. Ancient epics from across the subcontinent contain references to this ancient Shiva temple of Srisailam boasting of wonderful Vijayanagara architecture.
How to Reach:
Srisailam is very well connected by air, train and road to the rest of the country. It is 12 Kms away from Hyderabad city, which is 5 hours by road. The nearest airport is the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad which is well connected to all major cities on the country like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Kozhikode etc., though national and international airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways, JetKonnect, SpiceJet, GoAir, IndiGo etc.
The nearest railway station to reach Srisailam is the Markapur Railway Station which is a one-and-a-half hour drive away. Markapur station is well connected to all major cities of Andhra Pradesh and other cities of India via the Prasanti Express (Bhubaneshwar), Puri-Yesvantapur Weekly Garib Rath Express (Puri, Bangalore), Howrah Prasanti Nilayam Express (Kolkata), Kondaveedu Express (Machilipatnam), Amravati Express (Vasco da Gama) and the many local passenger trains from Guntur Junction and Hyderabad station such as the Kacheguda passengers.
Srisailam is most easily accessible by road. Buses connect Srisailam with Hyderabad, Kurnool, Guntur and other towns of Andhra Pradesh. For service from Hyderabad to Srisailam, tickets and reservations can be made at the Central Bus station Hyderabad. The approximate travel time from Hyderabad to Srisailam is 5 to 6 hours. Srisailam is also well connected to Tirupathi via Nellore. Many private bus and taxi services are also available from Hyderabad, Kurnool, Tipupathi etc.
usefull links are given below:
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