01Kurma in the sanctum
The Bhagavata Purana tells how, when the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean of milk with Mount Mandara and the serpent Vasuki, the mountain began to sink, and Vishnu took the form of a vast tortoise to hold it on his back. At Srikurmam the murti is a stone tortoise, the head turned to the west, worshipped with the full Vaishnava rites. The temple has two flagstaffs, east and west, which is rare, and its pillared corridors hold murals of the 18th century and earlier, now being conserved.
02Kings and acharyas
Inscriptions of the Eastern Ganga kings of Kalinga, who also built the Jagannath temple at Puri, record gifts here from the 11th century onward. Sri Vaishnava tradition holds that Ramanujacharya came to Srikurmam, and an inscription of the Madhva saint Narahari Tirtha, who governed Kalinga in the 13th century, is found on the walls. Behind the temple, devotees now keep a park for star tortoises in honour of the deity.
The life of this place
- 11th centuryEastern Ganga inscriptions begin on the temple walls.
- 13th centuryInscription of Narahari Tirtha at the temple.
About 15 km east of Srikakulam near the sea; it is often visited with Arasavalli and Srimukhalingam.
