Agastheeswara Temple

Agastheeswarara Temple

Lord Shiva is the Supreme Being who structures, protects and transforms the universe. He is one of the five equivalent deities in 4 major sampradayas of Hinduism. Agastheeshwara Temple is one of the most ancient temples, located in the town of Chennur, Adilabad district, Telangana, India. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva.  It has several engraving dating back to the medieval ancient period. Devotees from far and near to visit this place like this place. This temple is given more importance because the temple is located at the shore of the river Godavari. It has a marvellous look inside and outside of the temple.

History of Agastheeswara Temple

An honoured Vedic Sage of Hinduism in Indian heritage “Agastya Maharishi” had percolated Gnana sankalpam in this particular place. Agastya Maharishi was impressed with this place and installed a huge Shiva Lingam and named it as Agasteshwaram. Hence it was named as Agastheeswara Temple. Public from different communities come from far places to immerse the remnant of the dead bodies in the form of ashes, in holy river Godavari which is called as Asthi Visarjan and have darshan of Lord Shiva.

It is also said in the history that “Anjana Devi” mother of Lord Hanuman also performed prayers and took holy baths here.  A large number of people today come to this place to have holy baths. During Pushkaralu Lakhs of devotees from different states participate in pushkaralu.

The other interesting thing about this temple is about the Akhanda Jyothi. From almost 410 years the Akhanda Jyothi is continuously glowing. It was first lightened by a Brahmin priest named as Jakkepalli Sadashivaya.  He used to offer prayers regularly in that temple. Later his sons and grandsons took the responsibilities of Akhanda Jyothi and at present, his fourth generation’s grandson named HimaKar Sharma took the responsibilities of Akhanda Jyothi.

Construction of Agastheeswara Temple

In 1289  during Kakatiya reign  King Pratap Rudra had reconstructed this temple and then after 20 years in the time of Alauddin Khilji Senanai Malik Kapoor had destroyed the pyramidal tower of the temple.  Later the king Sri Krishna Deva rayulu visited this place and he also reconstructed the temple. All these had been written in front of the temple in Telugu and Kannada languages.

Usually, the rivers normally flow from west to east, but in this Agasteshwara temple, its totally different and this is its specialty also. From the east of the Agasteshwara temple river Godavari flows15 km to north direction. Whereas in Kaashi river Ganga flows over 6 km. This river flows to north direction from Kotapalli mandal till Pokkur village where Poddupalli hills are located.  From the place where the Godavari is born and till the place where it mixes into the ocean there is no other such place like this. That is why this temple is also locally called as Uttara Vahini Tiram.

Events at Agastheeswara Temple

Pushkaralu in this place occurs in every 12 years.

Every year on the of Shivaratri devotees take holy baths and whole solely worship Lord Shiva and Akhanda Jyothi and offer poojas for his blessings.

The wedding ceremony of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi is grandly celebrated on Shiva Ratri day.  

Other than this there are also many events celebrated like in the Kartika Masam lots of lamps are lighted and also Rudrabhishekam s performed in order to keep them safe from all the natural disasters.

How to reach Agastheeswara Temple

Agastheeswara Temple is about 30 km away from Manchiryala. There are many buses available from manchiryala to Agastheeswara Temple. Trains are available from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Warangal, and Khammam to Manchiryala railway station.