Srikalakhasti Temple/Srikalahasti

Are you a devotee of Lord Siva? Then once in a lifetime you must visit Srikalahasti in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

LOCATION:

This holy town is situated on the bank of river Swarnamukhi in Chittoor district. This place is under Tirupati Urban development authority,.It was about 38kms from Tirupati main temple, 20kms from Tirupati airport. This place can be reached by road ways from Chennai or Gudur. All train stop here at Kalahasti . APSRTC runs special buses in the route of Tirupati.

HISTORY & CONSTRUCTION: 

This temple is one of the ancient temples in India and also it is one of the 5 panchabhoota lingas in india, and it is Vayu. The other four of them are Agni, Akasha, Jala and Prudhvi. This is also called as southern Kasi.  According to legends, A hunter named Kannappa used to worship lord Shiva in this place. To test his devotion Lord Shiva make his eyes bleed from the statue. Then Kannappa take out his own eye and replaced with the bleeding eye from the statue, just after that another eye on the statue starts bleeding. Again Kannappa without hesitating replaced that with his 2^nd eye. This pleased lord Shiva and rewarded him moksha. 

This temple was constructed by Chula kings during 11^th century.  Initially this temple was built during Pallavas period. From the inscriptions written on the walls it was known that in 16^th century Sri Krishnadevaraya built a 100 piller mandapam here.

Srikalahasti derives its name from his devotees

1.       Spider called Sri

2.       Serpent  called  Kala

3.       Elephant  called Hasti

RITUALS & SEVAS:

 The main ritual of the temple is Abhishekam .   Abhishekam is performed four times a day. The lingam in this temple is untouched. Different types Abhisekham are performed to the main deity Lord Shiva. Goddess Prasunambika is another main deity in srikalahasti. Abhishekam also performed to Goddess Prasunambika devi. 

List of abhisekham is given below

Rudrabhishekam	7:30 AM to 5:30 PM	Rs. 100
Palabhishekam	7:30 AM to 5:30 PM	Rs. 100
Panchamrutha Abhishekam	7:30 AM to 5:30 PM	Rs. 300
Panchakarpura Abhishekam	7:30 AM to 5:30 PM	Rs. 100
Shaniswara Abhishekam	7:30 AM to 5:30 PM	Rs. 150

NOTE: On Fridays Abhishkem starts from 4:30 AM onwards.

SPECIAL POOJA FOR RAHU KETHU:

Special poojas conducted every day for Rahu Kethu in Srikalahasteeswara temple. Many devotees around the state come here and perform special rituals to Rahu Kethu for Dosha nivarana. People who are having problems like unmarried, no children and health problems come here for Doshanivarana , by performing abhishekam to Rahu Kethu. The pooja for Rahu Kethu is performed from 6:00AM to 7:00PM throughout the year except on the day of Mahasivaratri. 

One should take special care of rituals while performing poojas and abhishekam to Rahu Kethu.

Ø  After performing Abhishekam one should visit Gnana  Prasunambica Devi temple and first take a look to the feet of  Devi  and then raise towards the waist where a snake idol is present then towards  her divine face. This will complete the ritual.

Ø  Take a complete bath in your stay at Sri kalahasti after the pooja and care should be taken that clothes which were removed during bath should not be used & looked at it again.

Ø  We should return to the same place after the Pooja, from where you started the trip to Srisailam.

Details of special poojas and their cost are given below.

Ordinary pooja	Rs.300
Special pooja at Nagari kumar mandapam	Rs.750
Special V.I.P  pooja  (Inside the temple)	Rs.1500

Note: All the materials for pooja will be arranged by Devastanam itself, and also prasadam ,vastra bhahuman after completation of pooja.

Many hotels and lodge are there in Srikalahasti for accommodation. Some preferable hotels who offer a cozy stay are Sri Sai Teja Residency, Ramas Residency, Trinethra Guest House, Madhu Hotel, Haritha etc.

One could have a devotional and spiritual experience in Srikalahasti.

Excutive Officer

Srikalahasti Temple,

Srikalahasti,

Chittor District

Phone No :-  085782 22240