Amaralingeswara Temple, Amaravathi – Legends

Amaralingeswara Temple, Amaravathi – Legends

Pancharama Kshetrams:

According to Amareshwara Skanda Purana, Lord Shiva who was pleased with the austerities performed by Tharaka presented him with the Amruthalingam. He further assured Tharaka invincibility against enemies, from defeat and death, so long as the Lingam was in his possession. Tharaka sported this Amrutha Lingam around his neck, and on the strength of the boon, wrought untold misery upon the Devas and other celestial beings. Lord Karthik, who led the deities to a battle against Tharaka, was unable to vanquish him even after using the most potent Shakti weapon on him.

Much to the deities distress and mortification, though the weapon cut the demon into several pieces, they reunited to give life to Tharaka. An exasperated Karthik approached Lord Vishnu for help. Vishnu revealed to Karthik that in order to destroy the demon, he had to first break the Amrutha Lingam and also prevent the broken pieces from reuniting. Acting upon Lord Vishnu’s suggestions, Karthik used his Agni Asthra to break Taraka’s Lingam.

The Lingam exploded into five pieces, tried to unify by chanting Omkara Nadha. At that very instant, Indra, Surya, Chandra and Vishnu himself, joined Karthik in fixing these broken pieces in the locations where they fell. Thus, were born the Pancharama (Pancha meaning five and Aarama meaning peace) Kshetrams, in five different areas of Andhra Pradesh — Amararama in Amaravati, Bhimeshwara in Draksharamam, Somarama in Bhimavaram, Ksheerarama in Palakkolu and Kumararama in Samalkot. It is believed that the worship of these Lingams, or mere darshan of these shrines, would bestow peace and bliss upon the devotees.

Bheemeshwara Puranam:

According to the Bheemeshwara Puranam, in the battle between devas and asuras after nectar was obtained the latter were killed. However, a Sivalingam worshipped by Tripurasura, remained intact. Siva himself divided this Lingam into five pieces and installed them in the five places that subsequently came to be known as the Pancharama Kshetrams (Andhra Pradesh).

Scaly markings on Lingam:

A unique feature of the five Lingams which are of varied sizes is that they have scaly markings on them. These are believed to have been caused by the intensity of the Agni Asthra as it struck the Amrutha Lingam. It is widely believed that the dent on the apex of the Lingam and the few lines on its sides were made by Arjuna on Lord Siva during his incarnation as Kirata.

Red mark on top of the Lingam:

The most popular historical legend that revolves around Amravati temple is that the 15 feet Shiva Lingam here was nailed to stop its growth. There is a red mark at the top of the Lingam which is the blood stain that oozed out when the nail was hammered into it.

Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu:

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.

Shukra worshipped Lord Shiva here:

Legend has it that Shukra, the preceptor of the Asuras, worshipped Amareshwara who was installed by Indra with the help of Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas.

Place for Salvation:

At the end of Dwaparayuga, Maharishi Naradha was asked by the Sounakadi rishis as to the best means to obtain liberation.  Naradha told them that as Lord Krishna had created the river Krishna, so had he advised the rishis to live near the river and bathe in its holy water to attain salvation. If a devotee remains in this area for more than three days and worships Lord Amareswara with devotion, after a dip in the holy river, he will attain salvation. If a devotee dies here, he will be absorbed into Lord Shiva.

Amaravati:

Once there was a town called Dhanyakatakam or Varanasi. The legend says that, the demons defeated the gods after being awarded a boon by Lord Shiva.  Shiva vowed to kill the demons and hence the gods came to reside here and since then the place came to be called Amaravati.