YAGANTI
THE SACRED SHRINE OF EVER GROWING
NANDI
Our sages, Rishis, called our sacred land
as Aryavartha. Here everything is divine and any place, idol, animal etc. are
attached to divinity. When it comes to temples an ordinary man like me cannot
explain, or to say even express about their power, sacredness or the super
natural power of that sacred place. There are some temples that have wonderful
legends attached to them. Some are rich in architectural splendor, others in
the divinity and vibration that they generate. Very few have all these things
intact even after several hundreds of years. One such temple is the Yaganti Sri
Uma Maheswara Swamy temple situated in ‘Erramala’ hills of Rayalaseema area. The Yerramala hills have numerous natural
caves around the temple which have been the abode of many saints over the
years.
Yaganti Temple is dedicated to Lord Siva,
located in Yagnti near Babanganipalle of Kurnool district in the state of
Andhra Pradesh. Yeganti is the actual name of this place, which means, yenu+
kanti which interprets ‘I Saw’ in English. In Telugu Enu = Nenu and Kanti =
choochithini, representing ‘I Saw’. As time passed by it assumed the name Yaganti.
This magnificent temple commands high respect,
reverence and devotion not only due to it being a temple of Lord Siva but also due
to several other unusual features. It is very rare to find Lord Siva in the
form of an idol that too along with his consort Devi Uma on the same stone
where we find lord Siva. We don’t find Siva Linga there as we see in all other
such sacred places.
This temple of Lord
Shiva was patronized in the 5th and 6th centuries by various Pallava and Chola rulers but completed in the 15th century by Emperor Harihara and his brother Bukka Raya of Sanga
Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. This temple had glorious time during that
period.
The temple lends an extraordinary setting
and extreme scenic beauty owing to which it is often considered as one of the
most popular attractions in Andhra Pradesh.
The three famous caves situated around the
temple are the Agastya Cave, the Venkateswara Cave and the Veera Brahmam Cave.
It is believed that Sage Agastya did
penance here for Lord Siva. One should climb up 120 steps to reach the cave entrance. Shrine
for Goddess Parvathi is located here.
According to the legends, while returning
from The North, Sage Agastya came across Yaganti and impressed with the natural
beauty around and thought of installing Lord Venkateswara Idol here. However my inquiries with scholars reveal that Agastya Maharshi did not take his rout this
way as per the Puranas like Skanda Purana, Vishnu Purana and Linga Purana etc. Moreover the word Venkata is not from
Sanskrit but from Tamil and came into existence in 12th century. As such I doubt this idol would
have been situated after 12th century. However the beauty of the cave and
idol therein will not allow our site to tilt.
As such the following that floats around,
I consider, to be a myth. However I give the story here under for sake of the
readers who are interested to know.
At the time of installation of the Vishnu’s
idol, Sage Agastya noticed that the Idol’s toe nail was broken and stopped the
installation. Agastya Rishi was upset and did a penance to know the reason.
Lord Siva appeared before him and told him that this place resembles Mount
Kailas so it suits for a Saiva Kshetra and that is why he was not able to
install the Idol. Some say Lord Siva appeared in the dream of the Raja of that province
as above. However happy on hearing that, Agasthya sought a boon from the Lord
that he should ever remain there, along with his consort Parvathi, granting
blessings to all those who prayed to him. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva
appeared along with Parvathi Devi in a single stone as a Swayambu with Siva and
Parvathi side by side on the same stone. It is indeed an amazing scene to see
the distinct roopas of both Lord Shiva and Parvathi Devi as Swayambumoorthies
in the Sanctum Sanctorum. The two distinct images are also smeared with
Vibhooti (Sacred Ash) and Turmeric to distinguish Lord Shiva and Parvathi. It
is absolutely an electrifying experience to stand before this magnificent Murthis
and pray. But the name of the place during that period is not known.
Another version of the story is, there
lived a Siva’s ardent devotee by name Chitteppa. For whom Lord appeared in the
form of a Tiger, knowing this, he started shouting as ‘Eganti Sivuni’ meaning ‘Neganti Shivuni’ which means ‘I saw Siva’ in English as I have
already explained earlier .
This Venkateswara Cave as they call it, is relatively easier to climb as compared to
the Agastya Cave.
The Veera Brahmam Cave is much lower in
height and requires one to bend over to enter into the cave. Saint Sree Potuluri
Veera Brahmendra Swamy had exhorted prophecies (Kala Gnyanam) while staying in
this cave.
All these caves are open for worship
throughout the day. Artificial lights are provided as there is hardly any
natural light available inside.
A very significant and remarkable feature
of this temple is that the temple tank consists of sacred holy water flowing
from the tank.
The water flows into the pond from the
mouth of Nandi (Bull) and the source, even today, is not found.
There is another small fresh water pond
next to the main temple in which there will be fresh water throughout the year.
A very bizarre fact about the place is
that crows are forbidden to fly in Yaganti. It is said when sage Agastya was
meditating here, Kakasura, the king of crows continuously distracting his penance
and in rage sage Agastya cursed and they were\are forbidden to be seen even in
the vicinity of the shrine. As such people believe, since crow is the vahana
(vehicle) of Shani Graha, Shani will not bother anyone who worship Uma
Maheswara Swamy. Hence people come and worship here to get rid of Shani dosha.
Now we come to the most interesting part
of Yaganti. It is a monolithic Nandi statue which is growing by an inch every 20 years. Moreover it is not situated
before the deity as is seen in any other Siva Temple by and large. It is said
people used to perform circumambulations (Pradakshinas), around
the idol of Nandi years ago. Due to the increasing size of the idol enough
space is not available to go round. This fact of growing Nandi has been
confirmed by Archeological Survey of India also.
Sri Potuluri Veera Brahmendra Swamy mentioned
in his prophecy that the idol of Nandi would come alive at the end of the
Kaliyuga and the bellow of that bull (roar) with such a rage that a weak
hearted person will die instantly. It is also said that, Millions of horses
will come from the caves of Yaganti, to serve the Army of Lord Kalki.
In Yaganti, on top of a hill, which looks
so steep and narrow, an Akasa Deepam is lit every evening and the normal size
of the wick is 2 meters and the oil used to burn from morning 6am to evening
6pm is 4 liters. At such a height and in
open air on top of the hill, it is indeed amazing to note as to how the lamp
burns against the strong winds.
The festival of Maha Siva Ratri which
falls around February each year is celebrated with great pomp and show at the
temple. Tourists and especially devotees of Lord Shiva flock to the temple in
huge numbers during this time. Shravana Masa (Around July) the influx will be
more to see Umamaheshwara. Free food is provided for the pilgrims.
Swasthi.
