| శ్రీకాళహస్తి Srikalahasti |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Andhra Pradesh |
| District(s) | Chittoor |
| Population | 110,587 (2008[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Srikalahasti (Telugu: శ్రీకాళహస్తి), is a holy town and a municipality near Tirupati in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi. It is also informally and wrongly referred to as Kalahasti. Recently,it has been included in the TUDA (Tirupati Urban Development Authority) region.
It is one of the important ancient Shiva Kshetras (Shiva Temples) of Southern India. The Srikalahasti Temple occupies the area between the river bank and the foot of the hills and is popularly known as Dakshina Kailasam. The three lofty Gopurams of the temple are remarkable for their architecture. This temple was originally built during Pallava period and current structures are built by Chola Tamil King Kulothunga Cholan I,II and III during 11th century. A huge hundred pillared mantapam is built by Krishnadevarayar during 16th century which is another important feature of this shrine.
It is one of the ancient temples included in the Saiva pilgrimages and the site of a famous Shiva temple with magnificent gopurams and is fairly close to the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirupati, one of the richest and famous temple cities in the world. It is also the origin of the popular textile painting art called kalamkari.
The 'Rajagopuram' or main gate of the 500-year-old Srikalahasti Temple in Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor District collapsed on 26 May 2010. Srikalahasti is popularly known as "Dakshina Kaashi".
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The name of the place comes from three animals, Sri (spider), Kala (snake) and Hasti (elephant) who worshipped Shiva and gained salvation here. A statue that shows all three animals is situated in the main shrine.
The Skanda Purana, Shiva Purana and Linga Purnas have a mention about Srikalahasti. The Skanda Purana says that Arjuna visited this place, worshipped Kalahastiswara and met the sage Bharadwaja on the top of the hill. It is believed that Kannappa (also known as Bhakta Kannappa), a tribal devotee has worshipped Siva at Srikalahasti. Tamil saints Nayanars like Appar , Sundarar and Sambanthar praised the deity in their hyms tevaram.
Brahma, the Hindu God of creation, is said to have worshipped Lord Shiva and bathed in the swarnamukhi river to get rid of "sisuhathya patakam" (the sin of killing children).
The river Swarnamukhi got its name from a belief that gold was found in its stream. Swarna means gold and Swarnamukhi means gold faced in Sanskrit.
The sukabrahmashram was established by Sri Vidya Prakasananda Giri Swamy the revered Hindu guru predominantly prominent among Telugu speaking community across the world for his Teachings and works about vedanta in Telugu language. He is known for his knowledge on Hindu philosophy. He delivered many talks on Hindu Dharma. Sri VidyaPrakasananda is the author of several literary works on Vedanta,the paramount being Gita Makaranda.Swamiji is Known for his spiritual discourses across India,where in his speeches were extremely lucid, extol and reconcile all religions and Yogas.He conducted close 108 Gita Yagnas in his Lifetime which has given an unmatched and widest publicity to Srimad Bhagavad-Gita
The famous Puttalamma temple which is located in Thondamanadu (Near Srikalahasti) and the Perumal temple has been recently acquired by TTD. This temple was built by Thondaman Chakravarthi (King of Thondamanadu), one can find some antique items there.
Srikalahasti which is situated on the banks of Swarnamukhi River and picturesque surrounding of hillocks is a famous Saivite Temple in South India. Thousands of pilgrims visits the temple to have darshan of the almighty Sri Kalahasteeswara and Sri Gnanaprasunambika Devi. Sri Kalahasteeswara showers grace to wipe out the sins and obstacles of devotees. Seers and sages worshipped lord Srikalahasteeswara and praised with hymns.
Sri Adi Sankara visited this Kshetra and praised the bhakti of Kannappa in his Sivanandalahari.
The historical reference to this temple occur in the works of Nakkeerar, a Tamil poet in 3rd Century BC during the Tamil Sangam Dynasty. He called it as Southern Kailash.Nakkeera composed hundred stanzas to praise Srikalahasteeswara. Dhoorjati a Telugu poet native of this place and one among the ashtadiggajas of Sri Krishnadevaraya’s court composed hundred stanzas on Sri Kalahasteeswara.
It is one of the panchabhoota sthalam - representing five basic elements. This is the Vayu Sthalam among the Pancha Bootha Sthalams representing Air. The others are - Tiruvannamalai (Thejo sthalam - Fire) Kanchipuram (Prithvi sthalam - Earth) Tiruvanaikaval (Appu sthalam - Water) Chidambaram (Akasa sthalam - Space).
Legend has it that Lord Shiva disguised as Vayu (Air) observed that The Spider (SRI), Cobra (KALA) and Elephant (HASTI) worshipped Him very devotedly. So Lord Shiva made them to relieve from the curse and attain salvation, hence this place is called Srikalahasti.
Many more Tamil Saivite saints like Sambandar, Appar, Manikkavasagar, Sundaramurti, Pattinathar and Sri Ramalinga Swami of Vadalur have also visited this place.[1]
The hill adjacent to temple has still carvings in Pallava style. The Cholas renovated the old Pallava temple in 11th century. Kulottunga Chola I constructed the Galigopuram, the main entrance facing south and Kulottunga Chola III constructed few other temples. In 12th Century A.D., King Veeranarasimha Yadavaraya built the present Prakaras, and the four Gopurams connecting the four entrances. According an inscription of Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara empire dating back to 1516 A.D., he constructed the Hundred Pillared Mantapam and the other tall Galigopuram that faces west to east. In 1529 A.D., King Achutaraya of the Vijayanagara empire got his coronation performed here, before he celebrated in his capital City. The Natukottai Chettiars of Devakottai gave the final shape to the temple in 1912 by donating then around nine lakhs of rupees.
On 26 May 2010, the 136-foot ‘Rajagopuram' of the Srikalahasti temple, which has been in a precarious condition due to a deep fissure along its face, collapsed.[2]
Immediately (27 May 2010), The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Konijeti Rosaiah promised to reconstruct this ancient gift with exactly the same brick to brick dimensions as the one constructed by Sri Krishna Deva Rayalu.[3]
On 16th April 2011, One of the oldest Rajagopuram at veyi lingal kona is collapsed. It is situated 8 k.m east of the main temple srikalahasti.
Srikalahasti is located at on the bank of river Swarnamukhi. It is located 38 km north of Tirupati central. It is one of the assembly constituencies in Chittor District.
Education Srikalahasthi has many educational institutions ranging from Elementary schools to Engineering & Degree Colleges. Srikalahasteeswara Institute of Technology is an engineering college organized by Srikalahasteeswara Trust board. It is affiliated to J.N.T.U, Anantapur. Sri Vidya Prakasananda Degree college offers various bachelor courses like Bachelor of Science (B.Sc), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com), Bachelor of Arts (B.A) etc. This college is affiliated to Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. In recent years, the Srikalahasteeswara temple trust board started a nursing college also in Kasa Gardens.
For Intermediate education, there are separate Government junior colleges for Boys and Girls. Government boys junior college is near to Panagal, and the girls junior college is located at Ayyala Nayudu Lake, near to the Government Hospital and the APSRTC Bus station.
Government High Schools:
Private High Schools:
The town depends mainly on agriculture and tourism. The main crops are paddy, sugar cane and ground nuts. Hundreds of Kalamkari artists also bring some revenue. Pilgrims visitng the Tirumala temple also visit the SriKalaHasti temple , rendering it many footsteps each day and thereby making it the second famous temple in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
It is located under the administration of Chittoor district. The Srikalahasti mandal headquarters are located here.
As of 2001[update] India census,[4] Srikalahasti had a population of 1,20,000. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Srikalahasti has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 59%. In Srikalahasti, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The nearest airport is about 20 km from here at Renigunta, the Tirupati Airport. It is reachable by road from Tirupati, Chennai or Gudur. It is on the Renigunta-Gudur section of Guntakal (GTL) Division of the South Central Railway (SCR). All trains from Vijayawada to Tirupati halt at Kalahasti.
Sri Kalahasthi is connected to the state capital Hyderabad (HYD) by the following trains:
The local transport is by taxis or autorickshaws and city buses. Shuttle buses between Tirupathi and Srikalahasti run every 10 mins.
Andhra Pradesh State owned Bus services (APSRTC) are available from Tirupati central bus station, at a frequency of 10 minutes and other tour operators provide religious tour package visits to the temple in Srikalahasti from the City centre at Tirupati. Taxicabs are also available from Tirupati.
Cricket is the most watched and played sport. Local clubs sponsor annual Lawn Tennis tournaments. Traditional games like kabaddi, kho-kho are also played by school and college-going students.
Major Telugu news papers like Eenadu, Vaartha and Sakshi and local magazines like Kalahasti Zone are read, which are published from Tirupati. The district special versions cover Kalahasti news. The popular TV Channels are state wide Telugu cable channels ETV, Maa TV, Gemini and Teja and in cable (the local cable channel scv). Local Paper Chaithanya Political Weekly.