With a fragrant name like that, and being comparatively closer than Rameshwaram to my start point Bangalore, it was easy for me to pick on SriShailam as the first Jyotirling I was going to visit in my plan to go on pilgrimage to all Jyotirlings. Besides I had already visited Rameshwaram; although a long time back I still remembered vividly the long pillared corridor of that grand temple.
I booked my ticket as late as the afternoon on Thursday 25th March on Red Bus as late as 5 pm while bringing my busy work day to an end and left home around 7 pm after doing some quick packing and having a shower. I was supposed to board the bus from Yelahanka and was wondering where exactly was the pick-up point when the bus conductor called me on my cell phone number which I had shared with Red Bus and informed me that it would be in front of the Mahindra showroom and he was running 10-15 minutes late. I reached Mahindra showroom by 7:40 pm and sat in the chairs on the varandah of the next door Cafe Coffee day wondering if I must order something because I was using their infrastructure. The waiter came out but did not bother me at all; he just cleared the table next to me which was recently vacated by some people and politely walked away. It became 8:15 pm and I thought of checking where the bus was and called the bus conductor. He mentioned that he was at Hebbal fly over and should be at the pick up point in 15 minutes. I used that time to order a coffee and a small snack from Cafe Coffee day, and was just about taking the last sip of my coffee when the bus arrived. The friendly conductor called me on my cell phone just as the bus pulled in, he saw me respond on my cell phone from the varndah and waved his hands from the slowing bus to indicate me to come to where the bus was stopping near the sidewalk. I walked over and boarded the bus; thus I commenced my pilgrimage to all Jyotirlingas of the great Bharat Varsha on the Chaitra Shukla-paksha Ekadasi Vikram Samvat 2077.
My seat was up in the front where I sat but taking advantage of the lots of vacant seats in the rear I asked the conductor if I could take the last row and lie down for the night. This was a bus with reclining seats, so there was no possibility to get a good sleep with back fully stretched. But I thought I could actually get some sleep if I lied down completely on the last row which was perhaps the only place to do so other than the central aisle of the bus. It was in fact a good idea and I could get intermittent sleep as the bus made its way to SriShailam with two authorized halts in the dead of the night at Ananthapur, and Kurnool.
At the first halt which came around mid-night, it was time for the driver change; the friendly conductor took over the wheels while the driver that was driving thus far went off instantly to sleep in the seat behind the driver's chair - oh yes, that was another place to stretch fully although it was not available to passengers. The second halt Kurnool was because it was a big bus depot en-route; here I bought a bottle of mineral water to replenish my empty bottle.
We had also had a dinner halt a shortly after we had cleared the Bangalore suburbs where I ate a dosa for dinner; I had been fasting the whole day for Ekadasi and the coffee and snack earlier at Cafe Coffee day was the only food I had eaten besides some fruits in the day.
The bus stopped for the final time at a small mini-town about 2 hours short of our destination where the drive informed that we could had our breakfast; I had a plate of idli vada and chai. We arrived at SriShailam around 9:30 am, and my first task was to find a place to stay as I had made no reservations.
Perched overlooking the Krishna river valley about 180 km eastward from its confluence with the Tungabhadra river (which is near Kurnool), SriShailam is a small town which is entirely built around this ancient pilgrimage site of Lord Shiva. It is considered the second most holy Jyotirling after Somnath in Gujarat. The river makes a significant double meander around the Nallamalla hills and a medium sized dam has been built on the river in the preceding decades thus reducing the flow of the once majestic river significantly. Restricted by the hilly terrain which is interspersed with numerous tributaries of the Krishna river, the pilgrimage town is reachable only by road. The drive from Bangalore to Kurnool through Anantapur is on a flat plane but from here onwards the terrain changes to hilly. The approaching gentle hills give way into a valley at Atmakur after which the gradient becomes steeper as we traverse through the Nallamalla ranges; here the land route passes through the Ngarjunasagar tiger reserve which is said to have close to 50 tigers. Being on a plateau like feature, SriShailam gets quite warm and the temperature was touching 40 degrees Celsius while I visited 25-27 March 2021. So, although I was carrying my 2-man pup-tent it was not a great idea to camp anywhere in the open and spend the night.
I walked over to the nearby Choultry - a no frills resting place for pilgrims usually built by contributions from a specific community, and enquired about accommodation. I found that it was not possible for a single traveler to get any accommodation at a public stay place; it was available only for two or more people. I found that strange and asked what options I had to which the front desk person responded that I could either get an exception letter from the police or go to stay at a dormitory meant for single persons. I did not fancy going to the police unless absolutely necessary, so walked the 800 meters with my back pack to the only place for single travelers Nilakanteshwara dormitory.
The structure was a large semi circular dome with hundreds of beds with bare mattresss lined up. There were additional bare mattresses piled high onto one side and to the other side was a line of 2 by 2 feet lockers for safekeeping of personal belongings. One could reserve a bed with mattress and locker for Rs. 100, and only mattress and locker for Rs. 50. That was very reasonable but it looked like a tough proposition for night as the day was already hot by 10 am. I was also suspicious of the mosquito situation at night. So I reassessed my options and thought of making that trip to the police station seeking an exception letter to get a single room for myself instead of renting a bed in this dormitory. With the help of the front desk person I called for an auto-rickshaw and negotiated for him to take me around to all the tourist sights around town and started on my auto-rickshaw tour of SriShailam, Our first stop was the police station.
The smart and fit Sub-Inspector was friendly and cordial; I disclosed my ex-Military identity and showed him my ID just to get additional positivity in our conversation. He shared that he had also tried to join the NDA and could not make it, and tried for joining the police as a second choice. I was curious to know the reason for not allowing single occupancy and was shocked to find that it was because of a number of suicides by single people in the past. It seems voluntarily giving up life in a powerful place of worship especially a Jyotirling like SriShailam was believed to bring special merits and people kept trying to find ways to commit suicide in such places. Disallowing single occupancy to visitors was therefor a necessary precaution. The Sub-Inspector was willing to give me an exception after speaking to my family members and making sure that they were aware of my visit. I called my father on my phone and the Sub-Inspector spoke with him to confirm that they were aware of my visit and fine with my staying alone. Per his instructions, I wrote an application making this request for which I borrowed paper and pen from him; and I was given a permission slip duly stamped by the police station.
Armed with this I headed out to do some sight seeing with my friendly auto-rickshaw driver. We stopped by each and every notable place including 5 temples, one place of meditation where Adi Shankaracharya had stopped during his grand national tour in the 8th century, the SriShailam dam near and reservoir, and finally the monumental memorial for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In 1677, three years after his coronation as the Chhatrapati of Bharat, Shivaji had passed through SriSailam on his campaign for Eastern Karnatak and Tamil Nadu where he had met extraordinary success in routing the Islamic rulers there. Legend has it that Shivaji had entered deep tapasya at SriShailam and had been so spiritually engaged at SriShailam that he wanted to give up his life there; however, the mother Goddess appeared before him, blessed him and presenting him a sword asked him to continue his great campaigns to protect the Sanatan Dharma.
After all the sight seeing I stopped for lunch at Hotel Apporva and invited the friendly auto-riskshaw driver to join me which he accepted. After a fairly decent South Indian meal platter, I started to look for a place to rest and reached the Koundinya Gowda Choultry near the bus stand where I had first made inquiries on arrival. They were now happy to take me in and gave me a single non-AC room for Rs. 500. I was too tired to shop around although the next door Kakatiya Choultry could have been a better option going by its looks from outside. I just lied down to take a nap not bothering about the slow speed of the fan which did not have a regulator switch to increase its speed. After resting for about an hour I took a shower, got my room changed to another with a working fan and walked over to get my first darshan of Mallikarjun Swamy the name by which Lord Shiva is called here. The weather had turned pleasant after the sunset but it was still bright with the ambient light and the gold plated inner-most tower of the temple looked magnificent in natural evening light accentuated with the halogen lights which had been switched on.
I meanwhile had to change into a dhoti and anga-vastra which I was carrying with myself and left my back pack having change clothes in the cloak room for Rs.10 and my cell phone in the adjacent storage for another Rs.10. The throng of devotees was not much at this time of the day and I so enjoyed my first darshan of the deity and the golden inner sanctum that I went for a second darshan after a walk around the temple complex. I also had two darshans of Bhramaramba Devi the name by which Goddess Parvati is referred here. I offerred bela patram on the deities and partook the prasad of boiled chana that was offerred at the exit. I also bought a temple laddu for Rs.20 which I enjoyed eating at the grassy lawn near Bhramaramba Devi's temple; to reach there I had requested the police people manning the abhiskekam gates in the rear of the temple which one passes on the route back from the exit of the temple to the entrance area, and they had been kind enough to allow me in.
On the way to to my room I purchased some fruits as I was not interested in eating a full dinner. After having some fruits, I pitched my pup-tent inside the room to avoid any mosquitoes and retired for the night. It was a bit warm but not at all uncomfortable with the fan running in high speed.
Next morning, I got ready and headed out to Patal Ganga which is what River Krishna is called here. One has to climb down 550 steps to reach the river flowing down in the valley while the town was perched on the plateau above. I preferred to take the ropeway paying Rs.65 and found it to be a better option as the day was already warming up by 8 am when I headed back up. I went very close to the water but did not get in to join the hundreds of devotees dipping in the water as it did not look particularly inviting with the flotsam. Back on top, I headed to the same hotel Apoorva to have breakfast.
The familiar waiter whom I had tipped Rs.10 yesterday welcomed me with a smile and soon I discovered that he was an Odia as I overheard his conversation with his colleague. I engaged them in a conversation and learnt from them that majority of people in the hospitality industry all over Andhra and in fact many other places in Southern India were from Odisha. I ate an onion masala dosa which was hot with podi paste and could have been made better. But it was filling and eatable food which I finished with a cup of coffee that was served in old copper cup and tumbler. I returned to my room for a shower after which I proceeded to the Mallikarjun Swamy temple for my second trip and third darshan.
This time I walked from my room to the temple in my dhoti and anga-vastra and had a much different view in bright day light. I took time to observe the architecture and went to the closed gopuram on the rear of the temple which was open for access but most people did not venture there as it was away from the main courtyard. The exquisite architecture in the granite stone has escaped all devastation and damage that one sees in many other Hindu temples; this is perhaps because of the inaccessibility of the terrain and the lack of any centers of commerce around the temple town that did not attract any Islamic attackers to this temple. I had two rounds of darshans of Mallikarjun Swamy at a slow pace and one darshan of Bhramaramba Devi after which I returned to my room.
It was about 2 pm now and I decided to skip lunch and enjoy eating the remaining fruits which was really nice in the heat. I then rested a bit, started packing my stuff. I was out at the bus stand well on time to board my bus at 4:30 pm. The ride back was eventless and I reached Bangalore at 5 am next morning.
Mallikarjun Swamy’s linga is about 6 to 8 inches tall, and less than a foot in diameter. Set in a gold embroidered background and framed in a gold plated facade, he looks marvellous and majestic in his grand golden inner sanctum. It is believed that a Siddha Purusha can see a shaft of golden rays emanating from Jyotirlings and rise to space. Although I could not see such a shaft of light, I was filled with a sense of awe to the grandiose of the universe, deep appreciation of the spirit of human endeavour, and surrender to the ever unfolding mystery one perceived in ones consciousness called life.
