Pattiseema
| Pattiseema Pathapattiseema | |
|---|---|
| Village | |
| Country |
 India |
| State | Andhra Pradesh |
| District | West Godavari |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Telugu |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 534315 |
| Nearest city | Rajamundhary |
Pattiseema is a village in Polavaram mandal of West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located on the bank of the River Godavari. It is very famous for Sri Veerabhadra Swamy Temple.
Pattiseema Legend
Sati Devi, daughter of Daksha Prajapati, decided to marry Lord Shiva against her father’s wishes. Daksha became enraged and performed a Yagna in the name of Bruhaspati. Sati Devi, though not invited to the Yagna expressed her desire to attend the Yagna. Lord Shiva cautioned his wife that Daksha was performing this Yagna to take revenge on him and therefore advised that they should not attend. However she insisted on attending the Yagna alone, to which Lord Shiva agreed to her entreaties. Sati Devi went to her father’s place, though Daksha Prajapati saw her, he did not receive her. He also started insulting Lord Shiva. Sati Devi felt insulted and unable to bear the insults decided not to return to her husband’s place. Instead she cut her last digit of her left foot and rubbed it on the earth and created a fire and jumped into it. She was consumed by the fire.
Lord Shiva became enraged, plucked a shred of his long unbraided hair, struck it on the ground and created Lord Veerabhadra to avenge himself. Lord Shiva gave his son a metallic weapon called Pattayudha (a sword like weapon) and ordered him to destroy the Yagna and slay Daksha. Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya tried to prevent Lord Veerabhadra from slaying Daksha but he devoured the Vishnu Chakra of Mahavishnu and broke the teeth of the Sun God, and completed his mission.
All the other Gods who were witnessing the entire scene begged Lord Shiva to restore the Pasupukumkum (Bindi) of Vairini, Daksh's wife. Lord Veerabhadra took pity and cut the neck of a goat and planted it on the shoulders of the slain body of Daksha and infused life in him. He then ordered Daksha to complete the Yagna, so that Daksha could attain Moksha. The weapon with which Daksha was slain fell on the earth. The place where it fell was called Pattachalkshetra now popularly called Pattiseema. Lord Veerabhadra was still not satisfied and continued with his Pralaya Tandavam, causing the entire universe to trembling under his feet. Out of these tremors Goddess Mahakali was born. All the deities who were witnessing the whole scene appealed to Agastya Mahamuni to pacify Lord Veerabhadra and calm him.
Agastya Mahamuni approached Lord Veerbhadra and embraced him with both his hands. He asked Lord Veerbhadra to settle down on the hillock of Devakutta Parvattam. Lord Veerabhadra agreed and settled down on the hillock in the form of a Sivalinga (self manifest or Swyambu). Agastya Mahamuni also collected the unbraided long hair and tied it into a knot on the forehead of Lord Veerabhadra now in the form of a Linga. Thus this hillock received its importance among all other Temples.
Sri Veereswara Swamy Temple
Thirty five miles downstream from Pattiseema, there existed a great Shiva Mutt. Presumably within this mutt a temple was built and maintained by the Kings of the Chola-Chalukya dynasty. The area where this mutt is located was later renamed after one of the Chola-Chalukya kings, Raja Raja Narendra (also called as Raja Mahendra Varman), thus gaining its name Rajamahendravaram (present day Rajahmundry).
In the bed of the River Godavari, near Rajamundry, are two hillocks lying in the opposite direction of one another separated by a distance of approximately three miles. The northern hillock is known as Mahanandi Swaram, and the southern hillock was named Pattiseema, getting its name from the prior mythylogical story.
This hillock is surrounded by Papi hills and abounds in natural beauty and situated in the middle of the river Godavari it is also called as Devakutadri. Sri Veera-bhadra Swamy Temple, which is picturesquely located on a hill known as Devakuta Parvatha in the middle of the Godavari river. The temple has a beautiful Nandi Vigraha. Carved images of dancing people adorn the walls while an awe-inspiring life size sculpture of Devi Bhadra-kali with lot of ornaments and a sword, catches the eye. A temple dedicated to Sri Bhavanarayalla Swamy can also be visited.
On the hillock at Pattiseema there are two groups of temples, one headed by Sri Veeraswara Swamy and the other by Sri Bhavanarayan Swamy, a leading shrine for Vaishnavites. The Sri Veeraswara Swamy temple has sub temples of Parivara Devathas, Bhadra Kali, Sri Kanakadurga, Lakshmi Ganapathi, Kumara Swamy, Subramanian Swamy, Mahishasura Mardhini, Tandava Verabhadra Swamy and Saraswati. In the second group there are three temples on the northern extreme of the hillock. They are Sri Bhavanarayan Swamy, which is as old as the Siva temple. Subsequently the Zamindar of Gutala, in the year 1912 constructed the Sri Sita-rama Swamy temple. The third is an Anjeneya Swamy temple constructed subsequently.
Rajamundry was later ruled by the Reddy Dynasty which in turn was conquered by the Gajapathi dynasty. The Gajapathi dynasty was later conquered by King Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagar Kingdom, which was eventually conquered by the Delhi Sultanat then by the British Raj. The former kingdom was turned into estates that were eventually purchased by the Kotcherlakota family in 1814. The purchase included the Polavaram Estate comprising 6,400 villages extending from Gutala to Konda-modalu on either side of the river Godavari, twenty miles upstream. In 1825-26 Sri Rajah Kotcherlakota Jaggaihgaru donated extensive lands for the maintenance of the Temple (Approximately 1900 Acres). The descendants of Sri Raja Jaggaiah of Polavaram continue to be the hereditary trustees of this temple. Ram Chandra Venkata Krishna Rao Kotcherlakota worked with Air India, and after his retirement, has devoted his time and effort for the upkeep and welfare of this temple.His sons also help him the Eldest son Mr. Kotcherlakota Venkata Jagannatharao lives in Bombay with his wife, an older son and younger daughter and visits the temple often with them. The youngest son Kotcherlakota Veerabhadraarao lives in London and also visits the temple with his family.Either of them attend the MahaShivrathri function religiously. His daughter Mrs. Rajeshwari resides in Vishakhapatanam with her husband. Kotcherlakota Kamayamma, Sister of Ram Chandra Venkata Krishna Rao Kotcherlakota lives in Hyderabad and visits the temple often. This temple presently is controlled by the Endowments department and is under the Jurisdiction of the Endowments Ministry excepting the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which is regulated by a separate enactment
The main festival of Lord Shiva is Mahasivaratri. On this day approximately a Lakh (100,000) pilgrims visit this temple. The other important festivals are the Kalyanam of the Lord on Bheeshma Akadashi and Karteeka Masam.
This temple is considered the Dakshina Kashi, and the Temple is one of the Pancha Kshetras. The other four being Kedarnath, Kashi, Kalahasti and Srisailam. Those who visit this temple need not visit the other four temples. In Skandapuranam, Pattiseema is considered as Kailsam or Vaikuntham.
To reach this place take a taxi from Rajahmundry. This is roughly 35 km from Rajahmundry.and patiseema is very best temple