01Why Shiva came to the mountain
The Shiva Purana tells it plainly. Kartikeya came home from the world-circuit to find that his brother Ganesha, by walking round his parents, had already won the race and been married. Hurt, Kartikeya left Kailash and went south to the Krauncha mountain. Shiva and Parvati followed to be near their son, and Shiva stayed here as a jyotirlinga. The name joins the two: Mallika, the jasmine with which Parvati worshipped, and Arjuna, a name of Shiva. Bhramaramba, the Devi in the form of a bee, has her own shrine behind, and devotees say you can still hear a humming at the back wall.
02Kings who climbed the hill
The Mahabharata names Shriparvata among the tirthas, and Satavahana-age records already know the hill. The present temple, with its high stone prakara carved all over with scenes of Shiva’s leelas, hunters and dancers, belongs mostly to the 14th to 16th centuries. Prolaya Vema Reddi of Kondavidu built the long flight of steps down to the Krishna at Patalaganga. Krishnadevaraya visited and endowed the temple in the 1510s. In 1677, on his great southern campaign, Chhatrapati Shivaji came to Srisailam and stayed several days in worship; the northern gopuram is still called the Shivaji Gopuram.
The life of this place
- 14th centuryProlaya Vema Reddi builds the stairway from the temple down to Patalaganga.
- c. 1516Krishnadevaraya visits and endows the temple.
- 1677Shivaji worships at Srisailam during his southern campaign; the north gopuram bears his name.
The road climbs through the Nallamala tiger reserve, closed to traffic at night. In most seasons devotees may touch the linga during sparsha darshan.
