Temples with miracles of Lord Shiva and Vishnu

Nalgonda district is known for many shrines of Shiva that reflect his sports (leelalu). Sri Meenakshi Agastheswara Swamy Temple is one of the famous temples located in Wadapally, Andhra Pradesh - Telangana Border Mandal Damaracherla of Nalgonda district.

The uniqueness of this shrine is that the same quantity of water level is maintained automatically in topless Shiva Lingam located in the main sanctum of the temple even though the priest collects water from the notch (Bilvam) of Shiva Lingam and sprinkles it on the devotees.

The temple is located at the confluence of the Krishna and Muchukunda (Musi) rivers and has a historical background of 6000 years. People believe that the darshan of Lord Shiva in Meenakshi Agasteshwara temple after taking a holy dip in the Krishna river provides blessings of Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvathi to their families.

Also, devotees believe that immersing the urn of their ancestors in waters and carry out Pinda Pradanam at this holy place i.e., the bank of Krishna river in Wadapally is equal to visiting the holy shrine ShivaKashi.

It may be noted that a part of urn of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was immersed in Krishna river in Wadapally .

Devotees in Lakhs from both Telugu speaking states and across the country came to this place and took a holy dip in this holy river during the Krishna Pushkaralu held in 2016

Devotees in large numbers visit Meenakshi Agasteshwara Temple during Shiva Ratri Tirunallu and also during the auspicious Karthika Masam and pay their vows.

The historical importance of the Shrine is that in Krutha Yuga, Maharishi Agastya had been carrying the idols of Lord Shiva and Narasimha Swamy in Kavadi (Cauldron) and decided to enshrine them in a sacred place.

When he reached Wadapally, he was forced to put Kavadi (cauldron) of deities on this land under unforeseen circumstances and failed to lift the Kavadi. Then he installed Lord Shiva and Narasimha Swamy at Wadapally as per the voice (Vakku) of Akashvani

Meanwhile, a bird hides behind the Shiva Lingam of the temple to protect himself from the hunter of Boya community who was chasing it. The bird sought the help of Lord Shiva to rescue him from the hunter.

Lord Shiva appears to the hunter and asks him to leave the bird which is his refugee and asks him to take an equal amount of flesh from his head to satisfy his hunger as the hunter denied the proposal of leaving the bird

Following the directions of Lord Shiva, the hunter clinches flesh from the head of Lingam and fulfills his starvation. Thus the action of the hunter made Shiva Lingam topless. Shocked over Hunter's unlawful decision, the second consort of Lord Shiva, Goddess Ganga took her position atop of Shiva Lingam.

Since then, whatever the quantity of water is drawn from out of the head of Shiva Lingam, the same quantity of water (Ganga) will be filled in the Lingam in a fraction of a second but will not overflow from the top of the lingam. It may be noted that Shiva Lingam in the temple was located at a height of 120 meters from the Krishna River.

On close observation, one can find the marks of the fingers of the hunter and the marks of nails and wings of the refugee bird on Shiva Lingam.

As per the inscription written in Pali language which was erected near the temple, famous Seer Shankara Charya had visited Meenakshi Agasteshwara temple but failed to find the depth of Shiva Lingam from the topless head and admitted his mistake of testing Lord Shiva and performed special pujas to get relief from his sin.

As per the historical records Reddy kings ruled over this region for several years, Wadapally as their base point. Reddy rulers Ana Vema Reddy and Bhuma Reddy built temples of Meenakshi Agasteshwara temple and Lord Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Wadapally 600 years ago. Wadapally was used to call Agastya Puram and Veera Badra Puram in the Reddy king's regime.

When Reddy kings were defeated in a war by Nizam Nephew Vazir Sultan, then Wadapally was renamed as Vazirabad. The name of Wadapally again came into force after the end of Nizam rule by the Indian Government.

Maharishi Agastya installed the idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Laxmi Narasimha Swamy in Wadapally to prove that both Gods are the same.

In Meenakshi Agasteshwara Temple, devotees can see the idols of Maharishi Agastya and his consort Lopa Mudra and Shiva Parivaram including Meenakshi Amma, Lord Ganesh, Lord Surbramanya Swamy, Naga Devatha, and Goddess Ganga

In Lord Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple, one can see the inhaling and exhaling activities of Swamy in the form of moving light of Diya that placed near the nose of Swamy.

Whereas, the light of another Diya that is placed near the hip of Swamy will remain standstill. It may be noted that wind cannot enter into the main sanctum of Lord Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple.

Devotees can enjoy the pleasant spiritual atmosphere at the banks of rivers Krishna and Muchukunda (Musi) at Wadapally shrine which was located to 25 kms equidistant from Miryalguda of Nalgonda district and Dachepally of neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh and was 170 kms from state capital Hyderabad.

As per the information of Sri Meenakshi Agasteshwara temple priest Nagendra Prasad Sharma, Meenakshi Agasteshwara, and Lord Laxmi Narasimha temples remain open from 5 AM to 12.30 PM and 4 PM to 7 PM to perform pujas to Gods and open it for darshan of devotees.