Sri Kalahasti temple, situated 36 km away is famous for its Vayudeva temple, which is the only shrine of the god of wind in India. Constructed in the 12th century by the Chola king, Rajarajendra, Vayu is incarnated as Lord Shiva and worshipped as Kalahasteeswara.
This is an important temple dedicated to Lord Siva. This temple has one of the elemental lingas, the vayu (air) linga. There is a lamp inside the inner sanctum that is constantly flickering despite the lack of air movement inside. The air-linga can be observed to move even when the pujaris close off the entrance to the main Deity room, which does not have any windows. You can see the flames on several ghee lamps flicker as if blown by moving air. The linga is white and is considered Swayambhu, or self-manifested.
Kalahasti is surrounded by two sacred hills. The Durgamba temple is on the northern hill. On the south hill there is the shrine of Kannabeswara, in memory of the Sage Kannappa, who offered an eye to the Lord. When he tried to offer his other eye as well, the Lord mercifully stopped him. There is also a temple dedicated to Subramanya on one of the surrounding hills.
The main linga is untouched by human hands, even by the priest. Abhisheka (bathing) is done by pouring a mixture of water, milk, camphor, and panchamrita. Sandal paste, flowers and the sacred thread are offered to the utsava-murti, not the main linga.
This temple is one of the most impressive Siva temples in India. It features an enormous, ancient gopuram (tower) 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 Krishnadeva Raya.
The temple is run by neatly dressed Saivite Brahmins, who conduct the worship of the various deities inside. 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.
Temple story
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.It is said that 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. One day the snake found some bilva leaves and water near the Lord. He thought that someone was trying to harm the Lord, so he surrounded the Lord to protect him. When the elephant came the next day to worship the Lord the snake through he was trying to harm the Lord so he got into his trunk. Unable to handle the pain, the elephant dashed his trunk against the linga killing both the snake and the spider. The elephant also died at this time. Lord Siva being satisfied by their devotion, gave liberation to his three devotees.
THE BEUTY OF THE TEMPLE
The main temple is dedicated to Lord Siva, the destroyer among the Trimurthies (Triumverates).
The linga here is identified as one of the Panchabhutalingas (the five lingas made up of the five elements of the universe) - wind, water, fire, earth and ether. The linga at Srikalahasti is Vayulinga or one made up of wind.
Jalalinga, the Linga made up of water, at Jambukeswara, Jyothirlinga, the linga made up of fire, at Arunachalam, Akshalinga, the Linga made up of ether, at Chidambaram, and Prithvilinga, the Linga made up of earth, at Sivakanchi - are the other four Lingas made up of the other four elements of the universe.
The skillful Yadava architecture of the temple is such that a flame flickers continuously in the sanctum sanctorum, indicating the presence of a shaft of wind near the deity !
Since the shaft of air that is present in the sanctum sanctorum is considered as the Linga or the main deity (Vayulinga), there is another idol, Srikalahastiswara Linga - on to which are embedded images of a spider, snake and elephant - to which the priest performs pooja and rituals.
The Tondaman emperor and later the Pallava rulers contributed to the growth of the temple environs. After Pallavas, the Cholas remodelled the temple premises and built huge walls around it.
The vast temple campus is a maze of intricate structures, and one is likely to loose one's way without a guide. The temple of Srikalahasti has four major entrances each with a huge tower.
There is an "Alms Tower" or Bichchala Gopuram, as it is commonly called. It is a smaller tower constructed by the Yadava kings by collecting alms and hence it got the name.
The breathtakingly huge compound has a large flower garden, rooms for making garlands, eating places and a place for Vasanthotsavam (festival of colors) during Holi in the names of Chookkeswara and Meenakshi - coupling devotion with pleasure.
In the temple compound, there is an underground temple for Ganesh and an entrance leading to the Kannappa Hill.
Since the entrance is dark and it takes a while to go to Kannappa Hill and get back, it is better to plan the trek for the Kannappa hill for the morning.
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 (Kartik) 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 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!
Legend of the serpent (kala) and the elephant (hasti)
Once there was a serpent which used to worship the Siva Linga with precious gems. An elephant, also a devotee of Lord Siva, used to bathe in the nearby Swarnamukhi river, push away all the precious gems and worship the linga with leaves and flowers from the forest.
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 a mountain. His head split and the elephant died. The snake was crushed to death too. Lord Siva took them into his fold.
That is how all the three creatures, accursed to be born on earth, can be seen on the linga at Srikalahasti.
