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Draksharama is a temple in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh in South India. Draksharama temple is one of the Five Powerful temples of Lord shiva, known as Pancharama Kshetram

The Siva deity is known as Bhimesvara Swamy. The temple is situated on the eastern bank ofGodavari River. The consort of Lord Bhimesvara is Manikyamba. According to local belief theSiva linga at the temple was installed and established by the god Surya. Maha Shivaratri, Devi Navaratrulu, Karthika Masam, and Dhanurmasam are the main festivals celebrated at this temple.

According to local legend, the temple was built by angels in one night. The construction of the perimeter wall could not be completed before sunrise and still stands incomplete. Several attempts have been made to construct the uncompleted part of the wall but all those efforts have failed with the constructed wall collapsing within a few months.

As per the Government of India, the temple construction was started in mid 800 AD and completed somewhere around the 11th century. The construction of the temple is a marvel, consisting of a two-staired mandapa and two walls, one inside of the other. The inner temple (Garbhaalaya) made it a very profound and cultural work of architecture in those times. Its architecture is still a library for students of architecture. The ventilation of the inner temple is impressive. The temple is always full of light and air with very good ventilation. The temple's two-stair mandapa is impressive, and the pillars in the temple are skillfully and delicately carved. Many Shasanas (Official & Historical Registry Chronicles) have been written on the stone walls of the temple from time to time, from legions of Chola & Sathavahanas to Vijayanagra & Reddy Kingdoms that ruled over centuries. The scripts are Dravidian, Tamil, Devanagri, and Telugu scripts in both Sanskrit and Telugu languages.

108 Shivite temples were built after 800 around this temple in a radius of 40 kilometers. Somepurohits have this list.

The village is called Dakshina Kasi. The Siva Linga in this temple is said to be one large crystal which is 2.6 meters high. Shiva is accompanied by Dakshayani, who is the first wife of Shiva (also the daughter of Daksha, and therefore named Dakshayani). Manikyamba goddess, said to be one part of the 18 pieces of Sati Devi that fell here, is a Shakti Peetha. It has one of the world's longest siva linga.

The inner sanctorium has a pedestal built for the archakas to perform rituals. The inner sanctorium is very dark, so much that one cannot see without a some sort of light. Legends say that the inner walls of the temple were once filled with diamonds that provided the required light. When Aurangazeb invaded the temple to plunder the riches, all the diamonds turned to stones. Archakas show the walls adorned with diamond-shaped rocks as proof of this.

There is another small temple within the main temple. One legend says that as ages go by, the height of humans would reduce to such an extent that the current temple would become a huge gigantic structure, and hence another temple was built for the tiny people of the future. Another legend says that the tiny temple is for the tiny creatures that inhabit the land. And some say that it's the prototype of the temple.

DRAKSHARAMA BHIMESVARA SATAKAM :-

Acharya Vemu Laxminarayana Subrahmanya Bhimashankaram wrote collection of poems called Shivananda Mandahasam in 2004 andDaksharama Bhimesvara Satakam in 2006.

PHOTOS :-

Main entrance to the Bhimeswara Swamy temple (view from inside the temple):-

Draksharama Temple Complex :-

A view of west Gopuram at Draksharamam :-

Draksharama temple compound :-

Temple gopuram:-

Pond near the temple at Draksharamam :-

A view of Temple Walls at Draksharamam :-

Pond near the temple at Draksharamam:-

Draksharama temple entrance arch :-

Credit :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draksharama

Char Dham is a popular pilgrimage destination of Sikkim, which also has some interesting history connected to it. The principle deity here is Lord Shiva. It is believed that during the Kurukshetra war between the Kauravas and Pandavas, this place was where Arjuna worshipped Lord Shiva. It is also believed that Lord Shiva, pleased with Arjuna, appeared before him as a hunter and blessed him which helped Pandavas in winning the war.

In Hindu mythology, it is believed that Lord Shiva, after losing Sati in Agnikund, had gone into seclusion and became a hunter in the forests of Sikkim. There is also a famous Kirateshwar Mahadev Temple at Legship, in West Sikkim along the banks of River Rangeet.

Chardham is a unique pilgrim centre with a 108 feet tall statue of Lord Shiva , this pilgrim centre also has replicas of the twelve Jyotirlingas to offer one platform for Shiva devotees. The four most revered Dhams of the Hindus – Jagannath, Dwarika, Rameshawaram, Badrinath have been replicated in this fantastic complex to benefit the devotees visiting this place.

chardham temples

The temple complex is divided into 4 parts – the statue of Lord Shiva along with 12 jyothirlingas, four dhams, a Sai Baba Mandir and the Kirateshwar Statue besides the Nandi bull.

Lord Kirateshwar

The world's largest statue (~118 feet) of the Buddhist Padmasambhava, also known as Guru Rinpoche, the patron saint of Sikkim, is situated on the Samdruptse hill, opposite Namchi. It is also said that the Samdruptse hill is actually a Dormant Volcano. Myths say that the buddhist monks have been going on top of the hill and offering prayers to the volcano to keep it calm.

Guru Rinpoche

places to visit nearby:

ravangla,a great spot in sikima,nd tea gardens.

The temple enshrines Goddess Bhadrakali as the presiding deity. The idol stands for Goddes Bhadrakali the daughter of Lord Shiva. Goddess Kali is situated towards north direction (vadakke nada). The idol is known in the localMalayalam language as Thirumudi. The idol of the Goddess in the Vellayani temple is one of the largest among the idols of Kerala Kali temples.^[2] The idol is four and a half feet in height as well as width. Pure gold and precious stones decorate the frontal view of the idol.

Other deities worshiped at the Vellayani Devi temple called Upadevatha's temples include Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesh and Nagaraja. The temple also has a small sub-temple where another deity Madan Thampuran is enshrined.

In the temple Antler is also worshipped. The circulating notion about this is that the antler serves as a medium to invoke the spirit of the divinity at a new-built temple.One of the antlers kept in the Sanctum sanctorum oriented towards the east is from the Thekkathu.

FESTIVAL :-

Vellayani Devi Temple is renowned for celebrating the longest non Pilgrimage festival of South India and the duration of the festival is around 56 to 60 days. This festival is held once in 3 years usually between February and April. The festival is known as the Kaliyoottu Mahotsavam – which literally means 'the festival to sumptuously feed Devi'.Kaliyoottu is the dramatic presentation of the genesis of Bhadrakali and Darika the representatives of good and evil respectively, their confrontation and later the extermination of Darika in devotional terms and with rhythmic footsteps.Many of the customs are exclusively performed by certain classes of people which includes:-

1] Karadikottu :-

Karadikottu is the maiden custom related with the festival performed with a special drum. The performer is locally known as Panan.

2] Kalamkaval :-

Kalamkaval is a famous customs practiced at the temple premises and nearby places during festival. It is believed that the Goddess Bhadrakali searches her enemy demon, Daaruka in all directions before putting him to death. Devotees commemorate this legend by seeing this unique Kalamkaval. Kalamkaval is the ritual in which chief priest, carries the idol on his head and performs some trance like dances until he is unconscious. During kalamkaval, chief priest wears anklet and thiruvabharam (traditional gold ornaments of goddess that includes kappu, vanki, odyanam, paalakka mala, pichi mottu mala, muthu mala etc.). All people believe that the priest gets strength to carry on the trance with the idol on his head, due to the blessings of the Devi enshrined in the temple.

3] Uchabali :-

Uchabali is another custom performed during the festival. About sixty four gestures like in Kadhakali are used for the performance. Mathsyam, sampannam, chathurasramam, sarppamudra, and jyothimudra are some of the main gestures used. Virgin girls are usually prohibited from watching Uchabali.A beautiful crown built of coconut palm is fixed at the spot of Uchabali. Uchabali is performed during midight.

4] Paranettu :-

It is believed that a fight erupted between Devi and the demon Darikan in sky. The fight is enacted on a specially erected stage, about 100 feet high and is conducted at night known as Paranettu.

5] Nilathilporu :-

Nilathilporu that marks the conclusion of the Kaaliyoottu festival at Vellayani Devi Temple. During the climactic moment of this ceremony, the demon Daarika (the man with the symbolic crown in the foreground) weeps and begs for mercy from the Goddess. Subsequently the Goddess beheads the demon.

6] Aaruttu :-

The festival, Kaliyoottu, ended with a grand procession knows as Aaraattu. During Aaraattu the Idol is cleaned using water collected from 101 pots. Aaraattu is conducted at vellayani lake. A girl from the priest family below ten years of age, along with chief priest performs the function.

7] Pongal OR Pongala :-

Pongala Festival at Vellayani Devi Temple is celebrated during the Malayalam month of Meenam on the Aswathy Nakshatram (Aswini Nakshatra).Pongala is the rice cooked with jaggery, ghee, coconut as well as other ingredients in the open in small pots by women to please the Goddess.

LEGEND :-

Legend says that a Kollan (blacksmith) named Kelan Kulasekhara saw a frog with divine spirit of Goddess near Vellayani Lake. He caught the divine frog with the help of his assistant who belong to a low caste. They informed the matter to the Nair chieftains of the locality and with their help Kelan Kulasekhara consecrated the Thiru Mudi (idol) in which divine spirit is evoked. The right to perform Uchabali (a ritual connected with festival of the temple) is still held by the Nair families. Priest of the temple is not belonging to Brahmin community but a selected person belonging to the Kollan (blacksmith) community.

KALI - DARIKA MYTH :-

Darika was a demon who received a boon from Brahma which granted that he would never be defeated by any man living in any of thefourteen worlds of Hindu mythology. This made Darika immensely powerful and arrogant. Armed with this boon, Darika went on to conquer the world defeating even Indra, the king of the gods. As his atrocities became intolerable, the sage Narada requested Shiva to contain Darika. Shiva agreed, circumventing Brahma's boon by declaring that Darika would be killed by the goddess Kali, she being a woman and one not born among the humans.

POOJA TIMINGS:-

All days temple open at evening 5.30 PM and close at 8.00 pm. In Sunday, Tuesday and Friday temple also open at afternoon 12.30 pm and close at 2.00 pm. 'Madhu Pooja' at this time is very special for Goddess. First day of all Malayalam months, temple will open at morning 5.30 AM and close at 8.00 AM.

PHOTOS :-

Idol of Devi Vellayani:-

Vellayani Devi's Idol during Kalamkaval :-

Credit :- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellayani_Devi_Temple