Gateway to spiritual getaway

Believed to be the western gateway to Srisailam, which is one of the important pilgrimage centres for Shaivites in the country, Alampur has more to it than the famous Ashtadasa Shakti Peetham, Jogulamba Temple.

Tucked away, just around the corner from the main town, is a cluster of 24 temples, the Papanasi Group of Temples, the majority of which are shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva housing Lingas in numerous forms.

The locals say that there are Shiva Lingas everywhere in and around the area waiting to be found. Little wonder then Alampur has earned the moniker “Dakshina Kasi” implying it is South India’s own Kasi, the abode of Lord Shiva and the Hindus’ City of Moksha.

Alampur also goes by the name of Navabramha Theertham. Every temple here seems to somehow signify the importance of the holy confluence of the rivers Krishna and Tungabadhra. To begin with the most prominent one, the Navabramha Temple Complex together with “theertham” meaning holy water give the town this name.

Also here is this temple that comes next in terms of popularity but is just as beautiful if not more striking - standing stoically in its solitude - the Sangameswara Temple. Yet another name hinting at the holy confluence or Sangam that only leaves us to wonder just how important were these rivers once spiritually!

The Sanagames -wara Temple was moved stone by stone from the banks of the river to where it is now, during the construction of the Srisailam Dam in the 1970s. The Navabramha Temple complex is home to Jogulamba and the Navabramhas, the nine forms of Lord Shiva manifest here.

Legend has it that the 6th-century saint, Rasa Siddha had created a tantric Siddha Rasarnavam here at the Navabramha temples built by the then Chalukya King Pulakesi II, using which he could create gold from mercury using the herbs after which the nine deities here are named.

While the Jogulamba Temple is one of the 18 main Shakti Peetamsas listed by Adi Shankaracharya, here the goddess takes the “Rudra Roopam” or the form of fury, which is why there is a moat around the temple. They say that it cools the atmosphere and makes it easy for us mere mortals to pray to this ‘Mother of Yogis’.

Both the principal deities of this temple come power packed with legends and beliefs! Also, this temple complex has clearly witnessed a lot of mankind’s history for within the original walls amidst all the temples sits a dargah speaking volumes of the time that this temple was invaded by the Bahamani sultans in the 14th century.