Daksharamam

About

Few places gather so many strands of sanctity as Draksharamam. It is counted among the five Pancharama Kshetras, the cluster of shrines especially beloved of Lord Shiva, honored among the Trilinga Kshetras, and venerated as the twelfth of the eighteen Ashtadasha Shakti Peethams, where the Goddess Maanikyamba is worshipped. The temple rises in the town of Draksharamam, within the Konaseema district of Andhra Pradesh.

The town's older names, Daṣkatapovana and Daṣkavāṭika, remember its most ancient association: here Daksha, foremost among the prajapatis, is said to have performed the sacrifice known as the Nirīśvara yāga or Nirīśvara yajña. The present name joins Daṣka with Ārāma, giving the sense of the Abode of Daksha. Jagadguru Adi Shankara invoked the place as Daṣkavāṭika in his verse on the great Shakti Peethas, the phrase Māṇikye Dakṣa vāṭika pointing to Maanikyamba devi of Draksharama. Pilgrims still seek out the spot where Daksha's yajña was performed.

In its stone and sculpture the temple weaves together the Chalukyan and Chola manners of building. The town also holds a place in the history of letters: the poet Mallikarjuna Panditaradhyudu, author of the first independent work in the Telugu language and a carrier of Lingayatism through the Andhra region in the medieval age, was born here. Maha Shivaratri and Dasara are the principal festivals kept at Draksharamam.

History

Inscriptions within the temple record that it was raised between the ninth and tenth centuries CE by Bhima, a king of the Eastern Chalukyas who then ruled this country. The great mandapam was the gift of Ganga Mahadevi, daughter-in-law of Narasingha Deva I, the Eastern Ganga dynasty king of Odisha. The shrine is held to be older than the Bhimeswaraswamy temple at Samarlakota, itself built between 892 CE and 922 CE, and its architecture and sculpture blend the Chalukyan and Chola styles.

Significance

Draksharamam is at once a seat of Shiva and a seat of the Goddess: one of the five Pancharama Kshetras, a Trilinga Kshetra, and the twelfth of the Ashtadasha Shakti Peethams, where Maanikyamba devi abides. Tradition places Daksha's Nirīśvara yajña on this ground, an event woven deep into the story of the Shakti Peethas, and Adi Shankara himself named the site in his hymn on the great seats of the Mother. The festivals of Maha Shivaratri and Dasara draw devotees here in the greatest numbers.