Sri Kalahasti

Overview of Srikalahasti
Srikalahasti (also known as Kalahasti) is a holy town located near Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi, a tributary of the river Pennar. It is one of the important ancient Shiva Kshetras (Shiva Temples) of South India.

The temple occupies the area between the river bank and the foot of the hills and is popularly known as Dakshina Kailasam.

It is one of the Panchabhoota sthalam representing five basic elements. This is the Vayu Sthalam among the Pancha Bootha Sthalams representing Air. The others are:

Tiruvannamalai (Thejo sthalam - Fire)
Kanchipuram (Prithvi sthalam - Earth)
Tiruvanaikaval (Appu sthalam - Water) and
Chidambaram (Akasa sthalam - Space).


Sri Gnanaprasoonambika Devi, consort of Sri Kalahasteeswara bestows divya gyan to the devotees It is also the origin of the popular textile painting art called kalamkari.

Name behind Srikalahasti
It is said to be three animals attained divinity through worshipping Lord Siva. The three animals are..

The Spider was Vishwakarma's (architect of the deva ganas) son Oornanabha. He was replicating Brahma-the creator's job and an annoyed Brahma cursed him to become a spider.
The Snake was once cursed by Siva himself.
The Elephant was a Deva (Pramadha) cursed by Siva's wife, Parvathi, when he intruded their privacy.

The spider wove a web above the linga to protect it from the sun and rain.

The elephant would get water with its trunk and bath the linga (perform abhisheka) and the snake would also worship the Lord.

The next day the snake, finding her precious offerings pushed away, gets enraged. It would push away the leaves and flowers and worship the Linga with the precious gems it brought from underground. Next day the elephant would push away the gems and worship it with leaves and flowers. This continued for a while.

One day the snake got upset and kept a watch hiding under the leaves all night, waiting to catch the mischief maker. The elephant also lost its temper finding her offerings pushed away day after day.

One day it came early and was pleased to find the flowers left undistrubted. It went and took bath in the river and brought fresh flowers and leaves for pooja (worship). While the elephant was clearing the previous day's leaves and flowers, the snake got into the elephant's head through its trunk, causing unbearable pain to the elephant. The elephant ran helter-skelter with pain and banged its head to linga . His head split and the elephant died. The snake was crushed to death too. Lord Siva took them into his fold.

Once there was a spider which was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, which expressed its devotion by spinning webs in the shape of temple and Mantapams to Lord Siva, Ganesh, Kumaraswamy (Kartikayan) and Nandi.

The morning dew drops would make the cobwebs look like pearl houses and sunrays on the dew drops would make them shine like rubies. But all this would break and crumble with the blowing of the wind. The spider would connect the broken threads and weave the web all over again.

One day lord Siva, to test the spider's devotion, burned all the spider webs with the lamp that was shining near his shrine. The enraged spider swallowed the flame and sacrificed its life. Siva, pleased with its unswerving devotion, offered it a boon. And what did the spider ask the God ? "To free it from further births!". Siva merged it into himself. One can still see the spider on the Linga!

That is how all the three creatures, accursed to be born on earth, can be seen on the linga at Srikalahasti.

The main linga is in the shape of an elephant trunk, with tusks on each side and a figure of a spider at the bottom. If you look at the linga from the top it looks like a snake with five hoods.

The spider is call "Sri," the snake "Kala," and the elephant "Hasti." The three names combine together in the name "Srikalahasti".

Name behind Swarnamukhi river
The river Swarnamukhi got its name from a belief that gold was found in its stream. Swarna means gold and Swarnamukhi means gold faced in Sanskrit.

Etymolgy
The Skanda Purana, Shiva Purana and Linga Purnas have a mention about Srikalahasti. The Skanda Purana says that Arjuna visited this place, worshipped Kalahastiswara and met the sage Bharadwaja on the top of the hill. It is believed that Bhakta Kannappa, a tribal devotee has worshipped lord Siva at Srikalahasti.

Lord Brahma, the Hindu God of creation, is said to have worshipped Lord Shiva and bathed in the swarnamukhi river to get rid of "Sisuhathya Patakam" (the sin of killing children).

Overview of Kalasarpa dosha pooja
Lord Subramanya who is widely worshipped as the serpent deity and as forgiver of all doshas connected with serpents normally called "Naga Dosha", "Sarpa Dosha" and "Kalasarpa Dosha".

According to Hindu astrology, when Rahu-Ketu conjuncts other planets or, in other words, the other planets are under the nodal influence of Rahu and Ketu, it is treated as "Sagraha Sarpa Dosha" Kalasarpa Dosha is said to be caused when all the planets are hemmed on one side between Rahu and Ketu. Depending upon the position of Rahu-Ketu and the planets, twelve different types of Kalasarpa Dosha are said to exist. This Dosha is believed to emanate by harming or killing a serpent (intentionally or otherwise) and thereby hurting Lord Subramanya.

Kukke Subramanya temple in Karnataka, Sri Kalahasti temple in Andhra Pradesh, Tirunageshwaran Kovil in Tamil Nadu and others are known places for performing these poojas.

The temple is renowned for the Rahu-Ketu Dosh Nivaran pooja; there are hundreds of pooja performed daily. Srikalahasti Temple is mostly recommended for Rahu Ketu Pooja than for normal darshans. As the temple hosts number of different poojas, there are particular counters selling tickets for specific pooja.

Kalasarpa Dosha Nivarana Puja can be performed at the temple daily.

Architecture

Srikalahasti Temple
Gali Gopuram
 The marvelous temple architecture is representing Chola, Pallava, Pandya and Krishnadevaraya style of architecture. The hill adjacent to temple has still carvings in Pallava style.

The Cholas renovated the old Pallava temple in 11th century. Kulottunga Chola I constructed the Galigopuram, the main entrance facing south and Kulottunga Chola III constructed few other temples. In 12th Century A.D., King Veeranarasimha Yadavaraya built the present Prakaras, and the four Gopurams connecting the four entrances.

According an inscription of Sri Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara empire dating back to 1516 A.D., he constructed the Hundred Pillared Mantapam and the other tall Galigopuram that faces west to east. In 1529 A.D., King Achutaraya of the Vijayanagara empire got his coronation performed here, before he celebrated in his capital City.

The Natukottai Chettiars of Devakottai gave the final shape to the temple in 1912 by donating around nine lakhs of rupees.

Near by Place

Sri Durga Devi temple is located at Hillock to the north from temple.
Sri Subrahmanya swamy temple His suituacted at Hillock to the from temple.
Bhakta Kannappa temple (a tribal devotee has worshipped lord Siva is Kannappa) located at the Hillock to the South from temple.
Sri Pancha Mukeswara temple is adjacent to main temple.
Sri Dakshina kali Temple is aprox. 06 km from temple
Sri Veyi Lingala Kona (Hills) aprox. 08 km from temple
Sri Neelakanteswara swami temple, Urandur is 1.5 km form Railway station
Gudi Mallam aprox. 20 km from temple
The famous Puttalamma temple which is located in Thondamanadu (Near Srikalahasti) and the Perumal temple has been recently acquired by TTD. This temple was built by Thondaman Chakravarthi (King of Thondamanadu), one can find some antique items there.
Srikalahasti is fairly close to the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateshwara, Tirupati about 38 km.



How to reach
By Road

It is reachable by road from Tirupati, Chennai or Gudur.
The local transport is by taxis or autorickshaws and city buses.
Andhra Pradesh State Bus services (APSRTC) are available from Tirupati central bus station.
Buses between Tirupathi and Srikalahasti run at a frequency of 10 minutes and other tour operators provide religious tour package visits to the temple in Srikalahasti from Tirupati.
Taxi cabs are also available from Tirupati.

By Rail

It is on the Renigunta-Gudur section of Guntakal Railway Division of the South Central Railway (SCR).
All trains from Tirupati to Vijayawada and Hyderabad halt at Kalahasti station.

By Air

The nearest airport is about 20 km from here at Renigunta, the Tirupati Airport.


Temple view from the east


My experience

I visited Srikalahasti several times to perform Kala sarpa dosha puja.
Every time I reach this temple by train from my home town Kavali.
This temple is remarkable for their architecture with lofty Gopurams.
It features an enormous, ancient gopuram over the main gate.
The tower is 36.5m (120 feet) high. The entire temple is carved out of the side of a huge stone hill. It was built in1516 by King Sri Krishnadevaraya. Inside the temple you will find the tremendously ornate and splendid architecture that South India is famous for. Elaborately designed pillars, altars, and paraphernalia abound.
Pilgrims visitng the Tirumala temple also visit the Kalahasti temple, which is fairly close to Tirupati.


Unfortunatley, the 500-year-old Gali Gopuram (temple tower) at the Sri Kalahasti temple collapsed on 26th May 2010.
Though there are conflicting estimates, the seven-storey structure is believed to be built by Sri Krishnadevaraya in 1516 after winning a battle against the Gajapati kings.