Bhimeshwara Swamy Temple, Draksharamam – The Temple

Bhimeshwara Swamy Temple, Draksharamam – The Temple

The temple covers an area of about 12 acres and is surrounded with huge walls. The temple is situated on the eastern bank of Godavari River. The Temple has two prakarams. The temple has four entrances in the outer prakara each marked with a gopuram, facing the four cardinal directions. The western entrance is the biggest. It is of five tiers. Dundi Ganapati and Natya (Dancing) Ganapati can be found at the main entrance. The trunk of Ganapati faces to his right which resembles Ganapati in Kasi.

On the south is the entrance to the inner prakara, which is lined by a pillared two-storeyed verandah. The main temple is twin storeyed. Two flights of stairs lead us into the upper level of the sanctum. This has a pillared pradakshina on three sides and a Garbhagriha. Presiding Deity is called as Bhimeshwara. He is enshrined in the sanctum in the form Shivalingam. He is about ten feet high. Presiding deity is a Spatikakara. The bottom part of the lingam appears in black color and the upper portion appears in white color. This is said to be a symbol of Ardhanariswara Tatwa.

The early morning sun light falls directly on the Shiva lingam. Visitors can take a flight of steps towards the upper level of the Sanctum to see the upper structure of Lord Bheemeshwara Swamy. For performing puja (Abhisheka), water from Sapta (seven) Godavari Kundam (pond) is used as it is considered sacred. This inner sanctum consists of a pedestal which has been built for priests to perform their rituals. Aurangzeb, when he invaded the temple, plundered the diamonds that had been studded into the walls. Ever since then this sanctum remains dark as the diamonds acted as a light source.

A pillared verandah, in two storeys, runs around the main shrine in the second enclosure. In a corner is the shrine of the Goddess, Manikyamba. In another corner, there is a miniature of the main shrine. One legend says that as ages go by, the height of humans would reduce to such an extent that the current temple would become a huge gigantic structure, and hence another temple was built for the tiny people of the future.  Another legend says that the tiny temple is for the tiny creatures that inhabitate the land. And some say that it is the prototype of the main temple.

Mother is called as Manikyamba. Her shrine is located in the inner prakaram. It is situated in the north east corner of the Temple. There is a Srichakra below Manikyamba Idol. The Goddess is looking towards the left which signifies her as Vamachara Devatha. Shrine for goddess Manikyamba, said to be one part of the 18 pieces of Sati Devi that fell here, is a Shakti Peetha. 

Lord Vishnu, present at the Draksharamam temple with his consort Lakshmi Devi, is the Kshetrapalaka of Draksharamam. His shrine is at the entrance of main Temple. The Kashi Visweswara Swamy Shrine faces south and is on the right side of Bheemeshwara Swamy temple. Kashi Visweswara Swamy can be seen along with his consort Annapurna. There are shrines of Virupaksha Swamy, Bala Bheemeshwara, Saptha Mathas, Suryanarayana Swamy, Subrahmanyeswara Swamy, Lakshmi Ganapati and Lord Brahma installed by Krishna Devaraya can be found in the Temple premises. There are halls for Navagraha and Ashta Dikpalakas.

The water from the Sapta Godavari Kundam (seven Godavari pond) is very sacred and is used for performing pooja. According to mythology, “Saptamaharishis” or the Seven Sages divided the Godavari River into seven streams in an attempt to end their penance. Of these seven streams, Draksharamam, Bharadhwaja, Viswamitra and Jamadagni streams known as the “Antarvahinis” and are believed to have gone underground. Later, these streams merged into a pond which is now known as Sapta Godavari Kundam.

The temple walls and pillars are decoratively carved with mythological figures. The inscriptions and scripts are written in Dravidian, Tamil, Devanagari, Telugu scripts in Sanskrit and Telugu languages. The inscriptions speak of the Chola, Satavahanas, Vijayanagara and Reddy dynasties that once ruled over this region. There are nearly 800 ancient inscriptions on the walls of the temple.