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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Two more Temples in Andhra pradesh


Ryali Jaganmohini Kesawaswamy Temple:

Here the idol when seen from the front it is the male form of Keshawa swamy and from the back, it is Jaganmohini. All those that know the story of Samudra Mathanam, the distribution of amrutam (divine nectar) and the Mohini avataram will know the significance of this. Normally, the priest explains the story after the Aarati.
Ryali is a small village in East Godavari district of Andhra. Also spelled as Ralli by some.

Also, there is a Shiva Temple in front of the Jaganmohini Temple. Shiva is known as Sri Uma Kamandalesara Swamy here. The photos below was copied from Wiki.








Mandapalli Mandeswaraswami Temple:

Mandapalli is Situated 38 Km from Rajahmundry, 60 Km from Kakinada and 30 Km from Amalapuram.

I don't recall much about this Temple. I know that Rao sponsored some pooja for those in our family and extended family who he thought are in or near Sada sathe (seven year Shani effect).
There is a Parvati Devi Temple also here. The Saptha Maharshis have installed this and worshipped Her. The legend goes that Lord Brahma had installed the Shiva Lingam here and is known as Mandeswara Swami. 
One more interesting Temple is that of Nageswara Swami which had been installed by one of the eight mythological poisonous snakes (???) called Karkotaka (I don't get it). 

The story goes that hermit Dhadhichi has done a sacrifice of donating his spinal cord for the mighty weapon popularly known as Vajrayudha of Lord Indra. The weapons wielded by the eight suras in the eight directions called astadikpalakas, killed innumerable ghostly demons. To avenge the death of these demons certain other demons called Aswadha and Pippale invaded the area and brought about lot of havoc. This was when sage 'Agasta'  assured the people and he king of the death of these giants in the hands of 'Lord Sani' the son of the Sun God. Further they appealed Sani Deva to protect them by putting an end to these terrible monsters 'Aswadha and Pippala'. Sani made up his mind to kill the monsters for which he had to wage a war for one long year and killed them. As a mark of this glorious victory he installed an idol of 'Lord Siva' here. After that Sani declared that whoever worship this Linga by offering the dear gingelli oil etc. would be blessed. He further said that he would bless such devotees by removing all evils that befall them . For this reason, Lord Eswara is popularly known as Saneswara or Mandeswara. So people offer gingelli products which are dear to Sani who is the diety here. This Linga is said to be one of the Sapta Maharshis. There is also another version that the wives of the Saptha Maharshis installed this lingam here.