Pancharama Kshetras
(IPLTOURS)
Here we go with another YATRA, where we have to visit all these five shrines one at a time overnight…it sounds so excited and beautiful as we have to complete the Darshan of all the five temples one at a time. we named it as Darshan of pancharama kshetra. It’s such an exciting journey, which gives pleasure to our soul knowledge to us. As we decided to go on then here we go with perfect planning and detailed information, where you can do your journey without strain and stress. To know about further details of our website and tour packages you can visit our site.
First of all, we are here to present before you the detailed information about these shrines. As we start our journey with the famous and historical pilgrimage which is popularly known as “Amararam” now the capital of our Navyandhra Pradesh known as Amaravati.
The temple of “Amaralingeswara swami” is situated near Amaravati of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh .This Amaravati in puranas and epics known as “Amararam”. There is a legend at the back of this great pilgrimage that which we want to share with you. As we all know that Karthikeyan is the son of lord shiva, who has taken the breath of the great demon “Tarakasura”. This Tarakasura is gifted with a Shivalinga which he holds on his neck as protection from all dangers. when Karthikeyan launched the Agneyastra weapon it hit the Shivalinga on his neck and dissected into five fragments. The first and foremost of one of the fragments has fallen in the place Amaravati, the present capital of Andhra Pradesh.
According to the legend, the “pancharama kshetras” namely – “Amararam” current name Amaravati,
“Somaramam/Bheemaram” as Bheemavaram,
“Ksheerarama” as palakol,
“Draksharamam” as Draksharamam,
“Kumararama” as samalkot.
These kshetras were prestiged by the God Indra, the sun god, by the moon god even by Lord Vishnu and the lord Kartikeya respectively. All these kshetras not only prestiged by them but also anointing and performed “Archana”. If we go deep into the legend,these fragments of” the Gender of the soul”(Athmalinga”) are fallen on this mother earth. Then the Athmalinga raised up to reach kailash. Once they raised up to the heavenly abode of Kailash,then there is no hope of Darshan of lord shiva possible to the earthly devotees in this kaliyug.Hece let it stop growing up, of “The Gender of the soul”(Athmalinga) the God Indra, sun,chandra along with the Lord Vishnu and Karthikeyan performed many anointings and archanas.
The AmareswaraLinga in Amaravati, the lord shiva spontaneously taken birth, means it is Swayambhu linga. After the spontaneous birth of lord shiva , the heavenly Architect’s lord Vishnu, Karthikeyan,chandra,Surya, and Indra sculptured them. That’s why all the five temples are Swayambhu temples.
One more interesting fact about these temples is that all these were built overnight. Just once imagine, is that all possible for an ordinary human being like us. That is only possible by the Divine. All these temples are measured with the form of energy and the power of exterminator where as, in Amaravati the lord Amaralingeswara is showering his blessings with goddess Balchamundi.
In Bhimavaram Someswara swamy with SriRajarajeswari, in palakollu Ksheera Ramalingeswara with Goddess Parvathi. Draksharamam Bhimeswara with Manikyamba (the one and only octagonal energy pedestal situated in Andhra Pradesh) and in samalkot kumara Bhimeswara with Bala Tripura Sundarimata, why they measured their incarnation here means to bestow upon the devotees.
In ancient times “Amravati” used to be called as “Dhanyakataka”, which is situated near the river bank of krishna. The holy place Amaravati is so beautiful and glorious, as it is prestiged by the kings of God Indra. According to the puranas and Ithihasas, as Indra is immortal the lord Shiva here be called as amareswar on behalf of.
The significance of these shrines popularised by the ancient puranas namely Scandha, Brahma and Padma purana. The temple is having a special place in, where from all four sides the flagpoles(Dvajastambas) are constructed and have a magnificent attraction to the devotees.On the south side of the temple we found a beautiful”temple hall” (alayamandap). As well we can see the beautiful river flow of the krishna veni in the East.
This pilgrimage is also called as “panchayatana kshetra”. The kshetra palaka of Amararama temple is kalabhairava. The Amaralingeswara linga is prestiged with the height of twelve feet and one cannot do the Darshan of this whole Linga one at a glance. The devotees can do the Darshan of Amareswara Linga in two parts. In the downstairs we can see the panapatta first three feet as one part of the Linga and the remaining nine feet gives vision from the first floor.
Indra is the first devotee to Lord Amaralingeswara,who established and worshipped the Lord Shiva. After prestiged the amareswara linga, it’s growing up towards the sky. To stop the growing up,Indra hit the screw on the linga. Then the Shivalinga bleeds and those blood shed appeared as blood streaks. The marks we found on the Linga are those blood streaks, Generally it is the belief of the devotees.
According to history, the place Dhanyakataka is known as “Dharanikota”. It is ruled by “satavahanas” and developed these temples. Apart from the amareswara linga temple, there is another kshetra which is popularly known as Dattatreya kshetram, where the Dattatreya is worshiped.
All the archanas and anointings are performed from the first floor on the lingagra. The form of energy worshipped here by the devotees is Balchamundi.
Now it’s time to know how to reach the abode of lord shiva. So APSRTC is providing a circular tour package from kakinada depot to go all these pancharama kshetras (Amaravati, Bheemavaram, palakol, Draksharamam, samalkot).This Yatra has to be completed in 24 hours of duration. Every year on the auspicious day of “Shivaratri” and in karthika masam. APSRTC made all the necessary arrangements to the tour. The circular tour starts at 8 PM and completes on the next day at 7 PM.The distance we cover in our journey is 700km.
TIMINGS – Morning 6AM to 2 PM, Evening 4PM to 8PM.
