|
|
About 38-km from
Rajamunday there is a small
village called Mandapalli, where there is a famous shrine of 'Sri
Mandeswara Swami Temple' is also called "Someswara temple". The
presiding diety is Lord Shiva and the linga is consecrated by Someswara.
The presiding deities here are Saneeswara, 'Bhrameswara' and 'Nageswara'
in the form of black stone Shiva Lingas. This is a small temple attracting
a large number of pilgrims.
The Legend
Another legend is sage 'Dhadchi' made a supreme sacrifice in donating his
valuable spinal cord for the most powerful weapon known as the "Vajurayudha"
of Lord Indra, which was employed by him to kill countless ghostly demons.
The sons of demon in retaliation to the death of their father 'Kartabha'
called 'Aswartha' and 'Pippala' invaded the places of Mandapalli and
brought untold miseries to the people living in there. Looking at the
miseries of people, all the sages lead by sage Agastya approached Saturn,
the son of God Surya who was doing penance to rescue them from ruination
in the hands of these two demon brothers.
Saturn refused to take up the job of killing the demons until the
completion of his prayers to gain enough strength for the destruction, but
yielded when the sages who approached him gave their 'Tapasshakti' to
accomplish the task 'Shani'. He made up his mind and killed Aswartha and
Pippala relieving the sages and other people from the tyranny of the
demons engulfed from a long time.
People jubilant over the annihilation of these demons praised Saturn in
many words and sage Agastya and others showered on him many boons. As a
mark of his glorious victory over the demons Saturn installed a "Shiva
Linga" which is known as "Sameswara" or "Mandeshwara".
Rail: It is about 38-km from
Rajamunday Railway Station.
Road: Bus facilities are available from Rajamunday. Taxis are also
available from here.
Hotel accommodation is available at Rajahmundry.
