Majestic Temples of India

Kanaka Durga Temple Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh   T he temple is located on the Indrakeeladri hill, on the banks of Krishna River. Kanakadurgamma is Swayambhu here. Paramashiva is Mallikesa here. This is only temple, where the Devi is decorated in forms of Sri Saraswati  Maha Lakshmi, Bala Tripura Sundari, Rajarajeswari, Mahishasura mardini, Durga devi, Annapurneswari. Sthala Puranam says that a Yaksha named Keela performed tapasya here. Devi became pleased and told to ask for a wish. Keela requested Devi to reside in his heart for ever Devi granted wish and told Keela to remain here and do tapasya, and wait for her as a mountain and she will reside here in his heart. Keela became a mountain and waited for Devi. Durga Devi after defeating Mahishasura came and resided in Keela mountain Indra and all the devas praised her chanting “KANAKA DURGA” because she was glowing with golden colour. It is believed that Indra Deva prays to Durga Amma here daily. Thus mountain was called Indr...

Thiruvalathur Randu Moorthy Kshetram Palakkad, Kerala Thiruvalathur Randu Moorthy Kshetram is one among 108 Durga temples in Kerala, Prathista done by Parasurama. Devi is worshipped in 2 forms Mahishasuramardini as Ugra roopam & Annapoorneshwari as Shanti Swaroopini. To reduce Ugra Bhavam of Devi, big Balikkalu stapana is done. Two separate Shri Kovil & separate Kodi Maram is speciality of this temple. Situated on the banks of Sokanasini River, Temple is famous for stone sculptures and wood work. Huge walls of temple is still a mystery It is said that the wall was built by Bhoothaganas and they built it overnight, but before finishing it, they heard sound of rooster and thought it was morning and left the place. It is said that Narada Muni came as rooster and made the sound. Eastern Wall is still not completed. It is also believed that temple was built by Devas. Devas started to build temple build during night time, it took 14 days but they couldn't complete the temple. So...

Sree Adikesava Perumal Temple Thiruvattar, Tamil Nadu Adikesava Perumal Temple, situated in Kanyakumari is one among 108 Divya Deshams. Structure of the temple resembles that of Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple, Thiruvananthapuram. Perumal is in Shayana kolam and Worshipped from 3 doors like that of Padmanabha Swamy. Vigraham is made of Kadu Sharkara prayogam and made with Salagrama Silas. Sthala Puranam says that Brahma Deva performed a Yaga without Saraswathi Devi. This made Saraswathi Devi angry and 2 asuras, Kesan and Kesi emerged Vigraham is made of Kadu Sharkara prayogam and made with Salagrama Silas. Sthala Puranam says that Brahma Deva performed a Yaga without Saraswathi Devi. This made Saraswathi Devi angry and 2 asuras, Kesan and Kesi emerged The asuras troubled all & Devas requested Mahavishnu for a solution. Mahavishnu defeated Kesan. Kesi, who had seen her brother Kesan defeated, wanted to destroy the place and with her friend, Kothai took the form of rivers and su...

Kothandarama Temple Thillaivilagam, Tamil Nadu Sri Veera Kodandaramar temple is one among the Pancha Rama Kshetrams located in Thiruvarur District. Moolavar is Veera Kothandaramar with Mata Sita, Lakshmana and Anjaneyar. Shri Ramar is seen here as Nindra thirukkolam, standing position, with bow and arrow. Sthala Puranam is related to Ramayanam. After defeating Ravana and on the way back to Ayodhya, Shri Rama stayed here in the ashram of Bharadhwaja Muni. Shri Ramar is seen here as Nindra thirukkolam, standing position, with bow and arrow. Shri Rama remembers the promise made to Bharatha about reaching Ayodhya in time and asks Anjaneyar to convey Bharatha that they are on the way to Ayodhya. Hanuman accepts it humbly and hence seen as Dasa posture with his right hand close to his mouth hearing orders of Shri Rama. Vigraham is of Panchaloham. Rama holds a special Arrow here called Rama Saram. Shri RamaNavami, Hanumad Jayanthi, and Vaikunta ekadasi is very famous here. दशरथाय विद्महे...

Amaralingeswara Swamy Temple Guntur, Andhra Pradesh Amaralingeswara Swamy Temple is one among Pancharama Kshetrams. Mahadeva is worshipped as Amareswara Swamy and Parvathi Devi is Bala Chamundika. It is believed Prathishta of Sivalingam is done by Indra Deva. Temple is situated on the banks of River Krishna. Shivalinga is about 15 ft height. It is said that Shivalinga was growing in size and a nail was hit in top of Shivalingam to stop growing. When nail was hit blood came from the Lingam and red marks of the same are still visible. T arakasura stole Shivalingam and wore around his neck. This Shivalingam was broken and it fell down in 5 places. These 5 places are called Pancharama Kshetrams. Sri Amareswara Swamy Temple was renovated by Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, King of Chintapalli and Dharanikota, and also a great devotee of Paramashiva. Om Nama Shivaya

Konetirayala Temple Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh Konetirayala Temple also called Venkateswara temple. Venkateshwara swamy is worshipped here as Konetirayala and is said that Perumal kept his foot here first before reaching Tirumala Tirupathi. Sthala Puranam says that, Brighu Maharshi did Prathista of Vigraham here. Brighu Maharshi came to Earth to relieve himself of the dosham of kicking Mahavishnu on his chest. It is believed that as per advice of Kashyapa Muni, prathista was done by Brighu Muni in all 7 places. These places were hidden by Maharshi for many years using his powers. It was when Mahavishnu came here, all the temples were visible to the devotees. Konetirayadu Swamy looks same of Tirumala Sri Venkateshwara Swamy. To avoid invasions, in olden days, Vigraham was kept in Temple tank called Koneru, thus the name Konetiraya Swamy. Om Namo Venkateshwaraya

Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam, Telengana Sita Ramachandra Swamy Devasthanam, Bhadrachalam is a famous Shri Rama temple  situated on the banks of the Godavari river. Temple is also called Dakshina Ayodhya. Sthala Puranam relates to Ramayanam where this place is a part of Dandakaranya where Shri Rama, Mata Sita & Laxmana spent their vanavasa. It is here, long after Ramavatara, Mahavishnu came as Shri Rama again to fulfil a promise he made to his bhakta Bhadra, who continued tapasya through Yugas, for darshan of Rama. Pleased by his tapasya, Shri Rama who was in search of Mata Sita, gave promise to his Bhakta of meeting him after finding Sita Devi while returning back to Ayodhya. But Rama couldn't keep his promise during Ramavatar. Seeing Bhadra doing Tapas Mahavishnu came as Vaikunta Rama. Thus, the murthy of Rama have four hands with  Shanku, Chakra, Dhanurbhana in two hands. Thus the place where Badri did Tapasya came to be known as Bhadrachalam. Vaikunta Eka...

Stories of  Guruvayurappan  Sri Krishna Leela A devotee of Shri Krishna from Kerala wished to worship Badrinath Dham. He was old and therefore couldn't travel. But one day he got an chance to visit Badrinath. The journey lasted for days without much food or sleep. But none of these troubles affected him.  It was night when he finally reached Badari. At the temple, he saw priest locking the door. Badarinath is open for worship only for 6 months. The devotee cried aloud and fell at the feet of the priest to be allowed to see Narayana for a minute. But priest was helpless. He felt sad for the devotee and left. Devotee cried out Krishna and fell in front of Badrinath. A shepherd heard his cry and came to him. He took Devotee with him to a nearby cave. There all stories that had happened was explained, how he couldn't worship Badrinath Boy told the priest was very kind and he will open temple tomorrow itself. That night they both sat and shared Krishna stories without sleepi...

Maruthorvattom Dhanwanthari Kshetram Alappuzha, Kerala Maruthorvattom Dhanwanthari Kshetram is located in Alappuzha District. Maruthorvattom means Marunnu Oru Vattam, which means a single dose of medicine, cured all diseases. Dhanwanthari Moorthy is worshipped here who is Deva of Ayurveda. Sthala Puranam says that, there lived a Namboodiri called Velloodu Moos, who was Ayurveda Acharya in this area. Vigraham of Dhanwanthari Moorthy is given Sthala Puranam says that, there lived a Namboodiri called Velloodu Moos, who was Ayurveda Acharya in this area. Vigraham of Dhanwanthari Moorthy is given to him by a Shiva Bhaktha who was called Tambhan, who was suffering from stomach ache. He went to Vaikkom Kshetram and did Bhajana there. One day Mahadeva came in dreams and asked to find a Vigraham which lies in a pond and donate the Vigraham to Velloodu Namboodiri inorder to get rid of his stomach pain. Tambhan did as he was told, and he was relieved of his disease. Temple is known for its Ousha...

Why do Panduranga Vittala wear Earrings of Fish In Vitthal Rukmini Pandharpur story, Vitthal prabhu wears fish as earings. Vithoba, also known as Vitthal, is a form of Shri Krishna. Vithoba is standing on a brick thrown by the devotee Pundalik. He wears a necklace of of tulsi-beads, with kaustubha gem,& makara-kundala(earrings of fish) It is said that a poor fisherman came to worship Vittal prabhu with 2 fishes. He was not allowed to enter in Temple with fish in hand. To this the poor fisherman replied “I have come here to meet Vittal and It is said that a poor fisherman came to worship Vittal prabhu with 2 fishes. He was not allowed to enter in Temple with fish in hand. To this the poor fisherman replied “I have come here to meet Vittal and fishing is my occupation". He didn't have money to buy and offer Prabhu, all he had was 2 fishes that he caught and wished a darshan. Hearing this Vitthal himself came out, accepted the fish and wore it as a earings and told ...

Loganatha Perumal Temple Napapattinam, Tamil Nadu Loganatha Perumal Temple, Thirukannangudi is one among the 108 Divya Deshams, where Mahavishnu is worshipped as Loganatha Perumal and Lakshmi Devi as Loganayagi. Temple is one among Pancha Narayana Kshetrams. Sthala Puranam says that, Vasishta Muni made a Vigraham of Shri Krishna with butter. Butter did not melt because of his devotion. Krishna wanted to test Vasishta Muni and came there as a boy and started to have Vigraham made of butter. Many rishi's praying there tied the boy in a tree. Thus Krishna gave darshan to all and as requested by Vasishta Muni Perumal stood here as Damodhara Narayanan and the area was called Kannangudi. Gautama Maharshi is also said to have worshipped Mahavishnu here. Vaikunta Ekadashi and Janmashtami is very famous here. Koil Theertham is called Ravana Pushkarini. Om Namo Narayanaya

Sapta Moksha Puri  Sapta means 7 and Puri means city. There are 7 places in India, which are Mokshadayini.      अयोध्या-मथुरामायाकाशीकांचीत्वन्तिका, पुरी द्वारावतीचैव सप्तैते मोक्षदायिकाः   Moksha means which liberates from the cycle of life and death. Ayodhya is the place where Shri Rama was born. The river Saryu flows near this holy city where Shri Ram left his form and proceeded towards Vaikunt lok Mathura is the birth place of Bhagwan Krishna. Yamuna river flows in. Mathura Haridwar means Hari and Dwar. Lies in in the banks of River Ganga. Kashi, also called Banaras or Varanasi. Along with the Ganges river, the other two rivers Varuna and Asi river are also present here. Kashi is also called the city of Shiva. 5. Kanchi, Kanchipuram is considered to be the Kashi of the south. 6. Ujjain (Avantika), The oldest name of Ujjain is Avantika which was named after a king named Avanti. 7. Dwarka, The city of Dwarka was built by Bhagwan Shri krishna Thus worsh...

Thrikkakara Vamanamoorthy Kshetram Ernakulam, Kerala Thrikkakara Vamanamoorthy Kshetram is one among the 108 Divya Desham. Vamanamoorthy is worshipped as Thrikkakarayappan here. Thrikkakara is Thiru Kaal Kara means the land where Vamanamoorthy kept his foot (paadam). Sthala Puranam is associated with Story of Mahabali and Vamana /Trivikrama avatar. Mahabali was an Asura king. Devas feared his reign which extended till Patalam. Mahavishnu, in Vamana avatar, came to Mahabali and asked for 3 feet land. Bali, without knowing it was Mahavishnu granted the wish. Vamana grew to an immense size and covered the heaven with first step and the Earth with another. There was no space left for 3rd step so Mahabali offered his own head to place his feet before Vamana. These events happened at this place. When Mahabali was pushed into Paatalam, he made a request of visiting his people once in a year. This day is celebrated as Onam. Thus this is the place of origin of Onam festivities. Om Namo Narayana...