Pacharama Shetras- Andhra Pradesh

Pancharamalu:-


Pancharamlau or Pancharama are the five temples dedicated to Mahadev Shiva that is visited during the Kartik Month (Karthika Masam) as per traditional Telugu Hindu calendar followed in Andhra Pradesh. The temples are located in Andhra Pradesh.


Legends:-

 The five Pancharama temples are dedicated to Shiva. Upamanyu, the son of Kaushika muni requested Shiva that he be granted the desired quantity of milk for the performance of his daily rituals and that Shiva caused the Ksheera Pushkarini tank to overflow with milk from the mythical Ksheera Saagaram (the milky ocean). Hence, the names Paalakollu, Dugdapovanam and Ksheeraramam. Rama is said to have worshipped at this shrine.

The Pancharama Temples are:-

Sri Bhimeswara Swamy at Draksharamam,
Sri Amaralingeswara Swamy at Amaravathi,
Sri Kumara Bhimeswaraswamy at Samarlakot,
Sri Someswara Swamy at Bhimavaram and
Sri Ksheraramalingeswara Swamy Devastanam at Palakol

Mondays in the month of Kartik are considered highly auspicious for propitiating Shiva. Those wishing for early marriage perform special pujas and observe vrat on Mondays.


1)Bhimesvara Swamy :-

The Shiva deity is thought as Bhimesvara Swamy. The Draksharamam Bhimeswara swamy Temple is located on the eastern bank of Godavari river. The consort of Lord Bhimesvara is Manikyamba. In keeping with native belief the Shiva lingam at the temple was put in and established by the god Suryabhagavan (sun). Maha Shivaratri, Devi Navaratrulu, Karthika Masam, and Dhanurmasam square measure the most festivals celebrated at this temple.



History of Draksharamam:-

Draksharamam is a Shavite shrine 185 kms from Vijayawada, 17 km from Kakinada and 40 km from Rajahmundry. It is believed that sage Vyasa who performed penance here named this as Dakshina Kasi (Southern Benaras). Legend has it that the Saptamaharshis (Seven Sages) to achieve the ends of their penance divided the akhanda (unbranched) Godavari river into seven different streams at Draksharama. Bharadhwaja, Viswamitra and Jamadagni streams known as Antarvahinies, were believed to have gone under ground. There is Sapta Godavari Kundam (Seven river pond) near the temple. Devotees bathe in this kundam. The festival of Sivarathri attracts huge crowds of pilgrims. According to another local legend, a king by name Daksha Prajapati performed a great yagya with the motive of insulting his son-in-law Lord Siva. The king invited everyone except his own son-in-law. Parvathi, Shiva's consort, though uninvited, attended the yagya and was ill treated. Unable to withstand the insult.


she subjected herself to self immolation. Thus this place is known as "Daksha Vatika". And later as Daksharamam or Draksharamam.

There is another important story regarding Manikyamaba devi. Manikyamba devi is a daughter of a prostitute. One day she saw Lord Bhimeswara in her dream, and decided that she will marry Lord Bhimeswara only. She showed great devotion towards Lord Shiva, and finally got Lord Bhimeswara swamy as her husband.graved on the walls of the temple. The temple art shows the influence of a blend of sculptural traditions of Chalukya and Chola styles.

How to reach:-
by Bus:-
Draksharamam is at 50 km distance from Rajahmundry. It is well connected by Road route. APSRTC maintaining many buses from various Depos from Kakinada(30 km), Vijayawada(200 km), Vishakapatnam(190 km) etc. 
by Train:-
Nearest Railway station is Samarlakota and Kakinada which are at about 50 km and 30 km distance respectively. 
by Air:-
Nearest Airports are at Rajahmundry, Vijayawada which are at about 50 km and 200 km distance respectively.




2)Amararamam:-

Amararama is one of the Pancharama Kshetras which is located at Amaravati town near Guntur City in Andhra Pradesh in South India. Lord Shiva is known as Amareswara Swamy or Amaralingeswara Swamy here. The temple is situated on the southern bank of Krishna River. The consort of Lord Amareswara Swamy is Bala Chamundika. The Sivalinga at this place is installed and established by Lord Indra.


The Sivalinga here is very tall that the archakas mount a pedestal platform, and perform the daily rituals as well as Abhisheka. The top of the Linga has a red stain on it. It is said that Sivalinga was growing up in size and to stop its growth, a nail has been hit onto the top of the Sivalinga. When the nail dug into the Linga, blood started to ooze from the Sivalinga itseems. The stain can be see even today.

Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, King of Chintapalli and later Dharanikota, was a great devotee of Amaralingeswara. He expanded and renovated the temple. The popular legend has it that once during the course of putting down a rebellion in his land the King had to have recourse to a massacre of the Chenchus, whereupon he lost his mental peace, which he regained only when he came to Amaravati. He shifted his place from Chintapalli to Amaravati in 1796, and devoted his entire life, time and revenues to building temples for Lord Siva. He renovated the Amareswaraswamy temple here, engaged nine learned archakas for the daily archana of the Lord, and provided them with all the needs of livelihood, including 12 acres (49,000 m2) of land to each. The temple as it stands owes much to him.

Amaravati temple has also a wealth of inscriptions on its walls like those of the Kota chiefs of Arnaravati and of Sri Krishandevaraya, the great Vijayanagara emperor. On a pillar in the Mukhamantapa the wife of Proli Nayudu, who was minister of Kota King Ketaraja, has left an inscription.

How to reach:-

by Road:-
 Lord Amareshwar temple at Amaravati is 30 km from Vijayawada and 35 km from Guntur.
by Rail:-
This holy place is connected with major railway track of India
by Air:-
 vijayawada


3)Shri Kumararama Bheemeshwara Swamy temple:-

The very famous Pancharama Shri Kumararama Bheemeshwara Swamy temple is situated in Samalkot. The temple is just beside the railway station. So no transportation is needed for people travelling by rail to reach the temple. This temple is dedicted to Lord Shiva (Adhi Devudu). This was known as Purva Chalukya Bhimavaram because the Eastern Chalukyans ruled this place. Now, a canal of Godavari river flows between Bhimavaram and Samalkot. The temple was built by Chalukya Kumara rama (son of Vikramaditya) during the end of 9th century. He got this temple constructed to register his victories in more than 300 wars. The temple premesis almost resemblance the other Pancharama temple at Draksharama which is also called Bhimeswara Alayam. There are carvings of Apsaras on pillars in the temple. Eka Shila Nandi is kept at the temple entrance opposite to Shiva lingam. Darshan of Shiva lingam is at the first floor. Steps are available at both the side. Goddess Shri Bala Thripura Sundari (Tripura Sundari) statue can be seen at temple premesis. To the East side, there is a mantap called Koneti. Pushkarni (Pushkarini) lake can be seen here. The main entrance to the temple is called Surya Dwaram. There are quite a good number of devotees visiting this temple. The total maintenance activities are taken care by the Government of Andhrapradesh. Several parts of the temple are in a very bad shape and renovation activities are going on. Along with this activity, a garden is also being made for visitors to make this place a picnic spot. During November-December (Karthika and Margashira masam) months daily Abhisheka is carried out. There will be Utsavam (Kalyana Mahotsam) during February-March (Magha Bahula Ekadashi day) time. Till Maha Shivarathri grand celebrations in the temple can be seen. Lord Bhimeswara Swamy is installed (Prathishthapana) by Kumara Swamy (son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati) and hence the temple is called KumaraRama.




How to reach:-

by Road:-
 Someswara or Kotipalli (Kumararama) is an important pilgrimage centre in coastal Andhra Pradesh, located near Rajahmundry. Located nearby is Draksharama, Andhra Pradesh.
by Rail:-
This holy place is connected with major railway track of India.
by Air:-
Rajamandry


4)Bheemaramam:-

Samalkot is located at a distance of 12 km from Kakinada, 52 Km from Rajahmundry in East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh, which now forms part of Samalkot town, is known as Bhimavara Kshetram with its famous temple of Kumararama - Bhimesvara. The village was known in the past as Chalukya Bhimavaram according to the inscriptions found in the temple.

The temple known as Kumararama at Bhimavaram in Samalkot is one among the five important and popular 'Pancharama' temples of Andhra. The other four temples dedicated to Siva are Amararama at Amaravati (Dist. Guntur), Daksharama at Daksharama (Dist. East Godavari), Kshirarama at Palakollu and Somarama at Gunupudi - Bhimavaram (both in Dist. West Godavari). There is an episode on the origin of these 'Pancharamas' which is also found in 'Bhimesvarapurana' written by Srinatha (AD 14th - 15th Century).

According to it, Lord Vishnu, in his charming and fascinating incarnation of Mohini started distributing the nectar (amrita) obtained after the hazardous churning of the ocean to both the demons (asuras) and divined (devas) Dissatisfied with the injustice meted out to them in the manner of distribution of nectar, the asuras lead by the lords of Tripuras resorted to severe penance on the advice of the celestial sage Narada and were blessed with boons by Lord Siva. Thus with the power newly acquired through the boons, they inflicted atrocities on the devas, who sought refuge with Lord Siva.

On hearing the pitiable plea of the devas, Siva killed the asuras with his infallible Pasupata (a spiritual weapon of flame), which reduced them and their kingdoms to ashes. This material aspect of Siva is better known as Tripurantaka. However, a huge stone linga, worshipped by Tripuras, remained intact after the encounter. This was cut into five lingas by Lord himself and distributed for the purpose of installing at five different places which came to be locally known as Pancharams.

According to the inscription at Pithapuram, it is very clear that the temple of Kumaram Chalukya Bhimesvara was constructed by the famous Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya Bhima-I towards the end of the 9th century AD and the presiding god Siva, in the form of tall Sivalinga, was named after the monarch as Chalukya Bhimesvara. The inscription states that Chalukya Bhima, the son of Vikramaditya having been victorious in three hundred and sixty battles ruled the earth for thirty years.

The Bhimesvara temple at Samalkot is similar in architecture to that of the Bhimesvara temple at Daksharama. The temple is surrounded by two prakara walls built of dressed sand stones. The outer prakara wall is pierced by gopura - entrance on all the four sides. The four gopura - dvaras have ardha - mandapas on either side. The inner enclosure wall is divided horizontally into two sections separated by a cornice. It has a two storeyed pillared mandapa running all the inner side.

The main shrine is a free standing monument lying at the center of the inner enclosure. The temple is a rectangular structure and has two storeys. The lime stone Linga, installed in the shrine, is so tall that it rises from the pedestal on the ground floor and enters the second floor by piercing the roof, where the Rudrabhaga is worshipped. The present Vimana of the main shrine has been renovated and is covered with thick plaster. It consists of flat pattas, row of geese kutas, salas, simhalalatas, lotuses and kalasa. It is a dvitala vimana of the dravida order with regional variations.

Like in Daksharama, a miniature temple model, found in the court yard of the temple, shows the whole temple with all the architectural details, possibly used as model before erecting the temple ranging from AD 1147 to 1494, recording gifts made to this temple. These epigraphs refer to the construction of mukhamandapa at the Eastern entrance in AD 1394. Further the erection of the additional structures like Srimukhamandapam and niluvu mandapam on top of it in AD 1422 are also mentioned in the inscriptions.


How to reach:-

by Road:-
samalkota is located near Narasapuram in the West Godavari belt of Andhra Pradesh.
by Rail:-
 This holy place is connected with major railway track of India.
by Air:-
Rajamandry.

5)Ksheerarama:-

Architecture:-

The temple has a towering Rajagopuram. The white marble Shivalingam is called Ramalingeswara Swami as well as Ksheeraraameswaraswamy.


Main tourist attraction of Palakol is the Ksheera Rama Lingeswara Swami Temple with to 36.6 Mts high Tower Pedha Gopuram. A 15th century temple built for the Hindu God Shiva. It is one of the five Pancharamas. The temple has a unique white shiva lingam and the temple tower is one of the tallest among the temple towers in Andhra Pradesh. This place was earlier called as Dugdoparanapuram Upamanyupuram "Ksheera rampuram " and based on this temple. Later called as "Pala Kolanu", which all tries to convey the meaning of milk pond. This town and the Ksheera Rama Lingeswara Swami temple are located in the area subtended by the Shiva temples at Srisailam,Draksharamam & Kaleswaram also called "Trilinga Desam" (meaning "the region bounded by three lingas") which in following centuries of existence became Telugu desam,the language spoken by the people around these locations was named as Telugu,hence it is believed by some historians that the word "Telugu" was born from this region .
Ashtabhuja Lakshmi Narayana Swami Temple (China Gopuram) which is known for its traditions and festivities like Bhramostavam, (generally held in May of every year) draw large number of devotees from nearby places. Dhanurmasam is celebrated in the month of December in the remembrance of love of Andaal for Lord Sri Krishna.chinna gopuram,which is considered as ashtabhuja lakshmi narayana temple is the one of the only two temples that exist in india for ashtabhuja lakshmi narayana temple,and only one in the south india.

Palakollu is located in West Godavari district of Andhrapradesh in India. This place is famous for Lord Shiva (Eshwara) temple which is considered as one of the Pancharama temples. The temple here is called Sri Kshira Rama Lingeshwara swamy. Excellent transportation facility available to reach Palakollu. Very good service available for trains and buses from other places of India.

How to reach:-

by Road:-
Palakollu is located near Narasapuram in the West Godavari belt of Andhra Pradesh.
by Rail:-
 This holy place is connected with major railway track of India.
by Air:-
Rajamandry