Mangalagiri Mahakshetram


Out of the eight self manifested vaishnava kshetrams, Mangalaadri is the sixth. In Krutha yuga, after killing demon "Namuchi" with his Sudharsan Chakra, almighty Sri Maha Vishnu, took the form of Ugra Narasimha. Brahma and other Devathaas appeased him by offering Amrutham. In Tretha yuga, loed took Ghee. In Dwapara yuga he took Milk. Now, in Kali yuga Lord Narasimha takes only 'Half' of Paanakam and gives back the other 'Half' to his devotees with blessings. Thus the Lord was named as 'Panakala Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy' at Mangalagiri.

Mangalagiri is famous for cotton Sarees. Mangalagiri is about 13 away from Vijayawada.

Mangalagiri has two temples, one at the foothills dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha and the other on the Mangalagiri hill dedicated to Pankala Narasimha.

Pankala (Paanakam in tamil) - a solution of jaggery (unrefined sugar) in water, is the offering made to the presiding deity Narasimha. This offering is actually poured into the mouth of the rock cut image of the deity. It is believed that exactly half the amount of the liquid poured, is regurgitated by the image. Also interestingly, despite the liberal use of sugar (unrefined), there are no ants in the temple premises. It should be noted that the only shrine in this temple is that of Narasimha.

The Mangalagiri hill is in the shape of an elephant. Legend has it that a certain prince by name Hrusva Sringi was born with a number of bodily deformities dedicated himself to a life of prayer, assuming a form of a huge elephant, at the mouth of which Narasimha took abode.

The temple tank is known as the Lakshmi Pushkarini. Legend has it that this pushkarini was created by the Gods, combining the waters from several holy rivers of the land, and that Mahalakshmi (who came out of the milky ocean when it was churned by the gods and the asuras), bathed in this pushkarini and married Vishnu thereafter. Legend has it that Rama offered worship to Narasimha here.

The temple at the foothills of Mangalagiri - dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha, has an imposing 11 storeyed raja gopuram built by a local chieftain. Inscriptions indicate that the Vijayanagar monarch Krishna Deva Raya visited this temple. This temple celebrates it's annual festival in March.

Legend has it that this temple was founded by the Pandava prince Yuddhishtra. It is to be noted that the Indrakila hill in Vijayawada is associated through the Kiratarjuniya legend with Arjuna. It is to be noted that that legend has it that that the Mallikarjuna temple at Vijayawada was installed by Yuddhishtra and that the Vijayeswara temple there was installed by Arjuna.


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