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Mangalagiri
Compiled by Mahavishnu Dasa
About Mangalagiri
Mangalagiri, an ancient pilgrim centre has a temple on the hill dedicated to Lord Panakala Narasimha Swamy. Here, jaggery water is offered to the Lord by devotees. It is said in the scriptures that, the Lord is being worshiped here since Satya Yuga (The first of the four yugas). In the lower hill there is another temple dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. It is said that, Yudhisthira (the eldest of the Pandavas) installed the main deity in this temple. The temple has a very tall tower with beautiful sculpture which has 11 stairs. It was constructed by Raja Vasireddi Venkatadri Naidu, between the years 1807-09.
Mangalagiri is situated between Vijayawada and Guntur on Chennai-Kolkata national highway and is 19 kilometers from Guntur, and 12 kilometers from Vijayawada.
Mangalagiri - The Auspicious Hill
Mangalagiri means Auspicious Hill. This place is one of the 8 important Mahakshetrams (sacred places) in India. The eight places where Lord Vishnu manifested Himself are (1) Srirangam (2) Srimushnam (3) Naimisham (4) Pushkaram (5) Salagamadri (6) Thothadri (7) Narayanashramam (8) Venkatadri. Thotadri is the present Mangalagiri. Lakshmi Devi performed tapas on this hill. Hence the name Mangalagiri. There are three Narasimha Swamy temples in Mangalagiri. One is Panakala Narasimha Swamy on the hill. The other is Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy at the foot of the temple. The third is Gandala Narasimha Swamy at the top of the hill.
This shape of the hill resembles that of an elephant from all directions. There is an interesting legend as to how the mountain came into existence. Pariyatra, a king in ancient times had a son named Hrasva Srungi who visited all sacred places to regain normal bodily stature and finally visited Mangalagiri and stayed for three years performing penance. All the Devatas advised him to stay at Mangalagiri and continue his penance in praise of Lord Vishnu. Pariyatra came with his retinue to take him back to his kingdom. But Hrasva Srungi took the shape of an elephant to become the abode of Lord Vishnu who is locally known as Panakala Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy.
The Demon Namuchi
The Lord who established Himself on the hill is in the form of Narasimha. He is also called Sudarshana Narasimhaswamy. The legend says that Namuchi, a rakshasa after great penance obtained a boon from Brahma that he would not be killed by anything that is either wet or dry. He began to harass Indra and the other devatas. Encouraged and supported by Lord Vishnu, Indra began destroying the army of Rakshasa Namuchi, who hid in a cave in sukshmakaram (small size) giving up his sthulakaram (physical manifestation). Indra dipped Sudarshanam, the disc of Lord Vishnu in the foam of the ocean and sent it into the cave. Lord Vishnu manifesting Himself at the centre of the disc destroyed the Pranavayu (life breath) of the Rakshasa with the fire of his exhalation. He thus got the name of Sudarshana Narasimha. The blood that flowed from the body of the Rakshasa seemed to have formed into a pool at the foot of the hill. The Devatas themselves were unable to withstand the fire of the anger of the Lord and they prayed for appeasement. The Lord took amrutam (nectar) and cooled down. It was in Krithayugam. The Lord said that He would be satisfied with ghee in Threthayugam, with milk in Dwaparayugam and with panakam (Jaggery water) in Kaliyugam. Hence the Lord is called in Kaliyugam as Panakala Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy.
Story in Threthayugam
Mangalagiri is in existence from the beginning of the Universe with the names Anjanadri in Krithayugam, Thotadri in Threthayugam, Mangaladri and Mukthyadri in Dwaparayugam and Mangalagiri in Kaliyugam affording salvation to sinners also. In Krithayugam, Vaikhanasa Maharshi worshipped the Lord and his idol is worshipped even today in the temple. It is also believed that Lord Rama while departing for Vaikuntam, after completing His mission in that incarnation advised Anjaneya to stay at Mangalagiri and after obtaining His blessings to remain in this world forever. Anjaneya took his adobe at Mangalagiri as Kshetra palaka.
Panakala Narasimha Swamy - Lord who drinks Panakam
It is said that here, the Lord is self-existent. In the temple, there is no deity, but only the mouth, wide open (15 cms). The mouth is covered with a metal face of the god. The temple is open till afternoon with the belief that devatas will perform pujas in the night. The Lord takes jaggery water as an offering from a conch. The jaggery water is actually poured into the mouth of the Lord, a gurgling sound is clearly audible as if the Lord is actually drinking it and the sound becomes shriller and shriller as and when the Lord is drinking. The sound will come to a stop after sometime and the balance of the jaggery water is thrown out. This phenomenon happens not once in a day but is a recurring feature during the course of the day as and when devotees offer panakam (jaggery water). It will be interesting to note that even a single ant is not traceable near the Lord or around the temple in spite of the offering of so much jaggery water. As the offering of the panakam to the Lord is peculiar, the Lord here is called Panakala Narasimhaswamy. There is a legend about the offering of the panakam (jaggery water) to the Lord. It is said that the hill was once a volcano. Sugar or jaggery water, it is said, neutralizes sulphur compounds found in a volcano and prevents a volcanic eruption.
Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple
At the foot of the hill, there is another temple whose origin is traced to the time of Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas. Yudhisthira is said to be the founder of the chief image of this temple and the deity here is called Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. In Vijayawada itself, which is 8 miles from Mangalagiri there is a hill called Indrakeeladri in which Arjuna is said to have done tapascharya (penance) in order to obtain the weapon, Pashupata from Lord Shiva.
The image of the Lord in the form of Narasimha (man-lion) and that of Lakshmi Devi to his left are of stone. The garland of the Lord with 108 saligramams is of special significance here. Dakshanavrutha Sankham, a special conch believed to be one that was used by Lord Krishna and resented by the Maharaja Sarfoji of Tanjore, is one more possession of significance of the Lord. There is also an ancient ratha (temple car) belonging to the temple with ornamental wood carvings depicting the scenes from the great epics of Bharata, Bhagavata and Ramayana.
Festivals
Sri Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Brahmotsavam is a very important annual festival. It is believed that the celebration was inaugurated by Dharmaraja at the behest of Lord Krishna. Pradyumna, the son of Lord Krishna, requested his father to celebrate his birthday annually for a saptaha (seven days) from Phalguna Shuddha Sapthami. Lord Krishna entrusted this work to Dharmaraja, the eldest of the Pandavas who was the successor to the throne at Hastinapura.
Ksheera Vruksham (milk tree)
Ksheera vruksham on the Mangalagiri hill is of great attraction particularly to the women. The legend goes to say that king Sasibandi was advised by Narada to go on pilgrimage. The king left the kingdom and his queen, and started on a pilgrimage. The queen came to know about this, and grew furious and cursed Narada to become a Ksheera vruksham on the hill within the easy reach of devotees, blessing women at its very sight, with property, children and washing off the sins they committed out of ignorance or oversight, for having ill-advised her husband to desert her and take to penance. Narada took this not as a curse but as a boon as it meant service to humanity, blessed the queen with happy life with her husband and a thousand children. Even today the milk tree is on the Mangalagiri hill and throughout the year, thousands of women visit and worship the tree for begetting children.
Miracles - unbelievable
There is a legend connected with the making of the procession deities of the temple. A reputed goldsmith was appointed to make the procession deities of the Lord. In spite of all his skill and care, the panchalohas (five metals) melted together in a huge crucible and smeared over the images to form a brilliant coating, the metals used to separate themselves and this bitter disappointment continued day after day. He began the process of burning one day after praying for the Lord's grace and heard a voice that success in his work required human sacrifice. Just then his son rushed to him and requested the father for water to quench his great thirst. He lifted his affectionate son and threw him into the molten mixture of the five metals and the body disappeared in no time. The amalgam was cast and beautiful icons of the Lord were then completed. After completing the work, the goldsmith thought about his son and called out in agony, 'come my son and I will give you water to quench your thirst'. It is believed that the body jumped out of the deity and stood before his father.
Visits by famous people
Since ancient times, Mangalagiri has been famous for weaving, and Vaishnavism. Many great devotees visited this place. Famous preacher of Advaita philosophy, Sri Adi Shankaracharya, famous preacher of Vishishtadvaita philosophy, Sri Ramanujacharya, famous preacher of Dvaita philosophy, Sri Madhvacharya had visited this place. Vallabhacharya stayed here, and started his preaching from this place. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited this place, and his foot prints are there near the hill. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Thakur had built a temple to commemorate the visit of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to this location.
Images courtesy: AP temples.com
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