Mallikarjuna Temple, Srisailam – Sanctum

Mallikarjuna Temple, Srisailam – Sanctum

The Sanctum is situated in the centre of inner courtyard and faces to the east. The shrine where Mallikarjuna is housed is considered the oldest in the temple, dating back to 7th century. There are two Copper plated Dwajasthambams (one at the back apart from front side). This Shrine consists of Mukhamandapam, Antarala and Garbhagriha.

Mukhamandapam:

The Mukhamandapam is situated to the west of the Veerasiromandapa. It is an elaborated closed hall consisting of 16 pillars. This mandapa is also named as Mahamandapam and was built by the Vijayanagara king, Harihararaya – II in the year 1405 AD. There are three entrance gates with pillared porches on the east, south and north. All are these have decorated doorways and covered by the silver ornamented sheets at present. The Mandapa is extended 41.2 feet in length and 41.4 in width.

The base of this mandapa is a plain structure and the exterior walls above it are decorated with Devakoshtas. These Koshtas are narrow and are not having any images. There are also latticed windows on either side of the porches. The interior of the mandapa has four rows of four pillars each. The central pillars are standing on a square which is slightly elevated. The lower part of the ceiling is divided into compartments and a big lotus was carved in the central one.

At the south – west of this mandapa there is four handed seated Vinayaka made of fine red stone and named as Rathnagarbha Ganapathi. Where as in the north – west, forty handed Veerabhadra holding various weapons and four handed Bhadrakali can be found, both of these are made from black stone and are in standing posture. This Veerabhadra is called as Sudarshana Veerabhadra. At the east of this mandapa there is a Nandi of black stone faces to the self-emanated Jyotirlinga of Mallikarjuna.

Antarala:

Unlike the Mukhamandapam, the antarala is simple and plain structure. Even though the mukhamandapam and antarala are not separated by any specific entrance, it contains a two-pillared entrance like structure. The front portion of the pillars are decorated with a silver covering having Dwarapalakas on either side and several forms of Siva such as Chandrasekaramurthy, Arthanareeswaramurthy, Gangadaramurthy, Lingodhbavamurthy, Somaskandamurthy, Nandikeswaramurthy and Nataraja one above the other. The antarala is roughly hundred square feet dimension in extent.

Garbhagriha:

Presiding Deity is called as Mallikarjuna Swamy. Lord Shiva of the Srisailam hill is a Swayambulinga (self-manifested) and is revered as one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of India. The Mallikarjuna Linga is accessible to each and every devotee and anybody can go into the sanctum sanctorum of Mallikarjuna, touch him and perform Abishekam and Archana himself to recitation of Mantras by Archakas without caste or creed or religion. The Garbhagriha with sixty square feet structure is having an ornamental entrance.

On the lower horizontal jamb, a purnakumba along with a female deity holding a lotus bud is depicted whereas on the top Gajalakshmi is shown. On the two vertical jambs, foliage is very artistically depicted. At the centre of the structure is located the self-emanated Jyotirlinga on a Panavattam. This Panavattam appears to be a latter addition around the Shivalinga which is about 25 cms. in height. The interior portion of the Shikhara of the Sanctum Sanctorum is plain without any artistic decorations.

The Vimana:

This structure speaks about the relative antiquity of the temple proper. These in the form of a stepped pyramidal structure containing nine tiers gradually receding towards the top. A total of nine tiers are visible and at the central portion on all sides each pair of receding tiers are joined with Simhalalata sculptures. Just below the pinnacle, on all four sides, four Nandi sculptures are arranged. Below the purnakumba on the top, an eight-pedaled lotus is engraved.

This type of stepped pyramidal structures became popular during the western Chalukyan period and continuing in the succeeding periods of Kalyani Chalukyas and Kakatiyas in Andhra Pradesh. There is a Trisula on the top of the Gopuram instead of kalasa. The Chaya Someswara temple at Paanagal in Nalgonda District, the Swayambu temple in Warangal fort, and most of the trikuta temples of the Kakatiya period, have these types of super structure. Because of these similarities, historians are of the opinion that, the Srisailam temple might have been constructed in 10^th century A.D.

However, on the basis of the Bayyaram Tank inscription of the Kakatiya times, the present Garbhagriha was constructed by the Kakatiya queen Mailamamba in 1220-30 A.D. This queen, who was the sister of Kakatiya Ganapathi Deva, in the above-mentioned inscription gloriously proclaims that, she constructed a temple for Siva, which is like virtual Kailasa. On the basis of her donative constructions at other places like Kolanupaka, Tripurantakam etc. It can be safely presumed that, the present Garbhagriha of the Srisailam was constructed by her in 13^th century. At present this Vimana Gopuram was gilded with Gold plates.