The Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh is an important Hindu pilgrimage site and one of India’s twelve Jyotirlingas. The ancient Srisailam temple dates back to the 2nd century per hitherto known records with many claiming an earlier consecration of the sacred Shiva and Shakthi site going back to the times of the Ramayana and the Mahabharat!
The temple is Andhra’s second wealthiest Hindu shrine after the well-known Lord Balaji-Sri Venkateshwara temple at Tirupati. The Srisailam Mallikarjuna ‘Jyothirlinga’ temple is dedicated to the deities Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati. This temple is revered by Hindu sects of both Shaivism and Shaktism as it is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shiva and one of the eighteen Shakti Peethas or centres of spiritual energy for the Mother Goddess.
Presiding Deities
Shiva is revered as Mallikarjuna and is symbolized by the lingam, while his partner Parvati is portrayed as Bhramaramba. The presiding deity in the form of Linga (an iconic form of Shiva) was and continues to be worshipped with the fragrant jasmine flowers (Mallika in Telugu), hence the name of the presiding deity is “Mallikarjuna”. The Sahasra linga (a 1000 linga sculpture) is believed to have been commissioned by Lord Rama himself and five other Lingams are believed to have been commissioned by the Pandavas!
At its location here, near the Srisailam temple at the foothills of the Nallamala hills of the Eastern Ghats, the Krishna River is called the ‘Patala Ganga’. One has to climb down 852 stairs to reach the river. The Shiva Linga is bathed in the water of this river. The main festivals celebrated at the Srisailam temple are Mahashivrathri and Dussehra, owing to the holy site’s principal deities of worship, Shiva and Parvathi.
While the temple is usually in the news for spiritually related reasons, it has been in the news recently for a legal battle of half a century over lands that traditionally belonged to the sacred Jyothirlinga site and temple.
Temple Land Usurped?
A few days ago, it was reported that the AP forest department has agreed to transfer about 4,500 acres of land worth over 2,000 crores in the vicinity of the Nallamala reserve forest to the Srisailam temple. While a section of A.P and Telangana’s Hindu citizenry was happy with the end of an unjust 50-year-old legal tussle for the temple’s rights over its endowment lands, many others suspected the A.P government of possible ulterior motives in transferring the lands back to the temple. Readers and netizens questioned if some of the land belonging to the temple was being given back to it because the Forest Department is arguably audited better and is under higher scrutiny than most Hindu temples in the state government’s control. The largest of Andhra’s temples, the most popular and significant in terms of revenue are overseen and administered by the state government, much like the scenario in neighboring Tamil Nadu and a few other Indian states.
Hindus in the two Telugu states are asking the same questions that Hindu groups in Tamil Nadu have been protesting about for a while now – why are Hindu temples in the control of state governments while churches and mosques are not and how can this be considered “secular” and fair in a country like India?
Suspicions On Jagan
Citizens are suspicious about current A.P chief minister Jagan Reddy’s real intentions, based on his unsavoury track record of several high-profile complaints and cases against him and members of his family for land grabbing, selling government land including protected areas, money laundering, exploitation of forests and protected land for minerals and metals etc. Jagan Reddy and his father before him were involved in the infamous Andhra-Karnataka border Iron-Ore Mining Scam of the Gaali Janardhan Reddy family.
Uranium Reserves
The Srisailam Temple is on the Nalamalla hills, a part of the ancient Eastern Ghats mountain range. The famous Tirupati shrine is a part of the Nalamalla hills on its southern border. The forests are known to be a tiger corridor and home to the indigenous hunter-gatherer Chenchu tribe. The hills are reported to be one of the largest known reserves of uranium in India. In May 2019, the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research sought permission to conduct a survey and explore the feasibility of uranium-ore mining in the Nallamala forests. In late 2021, this proposal was withdrawn following strong protests from local citizens and environmentalists. The forest range extends into Telangana state as well and while that state’s government initially objected to uranium exploration and possible mining, for various reasons, the Jagan Reddy government did not.
What’s The Future For Lord Shiva And Goddess Parvathi’s Lands?
Are they being discreetly set up for exploitation one way or another? Are the citizens right to worry, given Jagan’s record of corruption and exploitation? Additionally, people point out with concern that Jagan and his family, like his father (Y.S Rajasekara Reddy, a former CM of the united A.P state) and grandfather before him, are converted Christians. Ironically, his father, YSR Reddy died in a mysterious helicopter crash in these very hills of the Nallamala forest range back in 2009, a few months after having allegedly questioned Lord Balaji’s rights over the seven hills that belong to the temple and had allegedly remarked that a hill or two could perhaps, be given to the Christians!
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