Bhimeswara Temple

Legend has it that according
to the well-known story of Sivapurana, Daksha Prajapati had given his daughter
Dakshayani in marriage to Lord Siva. On one occasion, Daksha built a big Yagasala
on the bank of one of the sacred branches of the Godavari, near its confluence
with the sea and performed a sacrifice. He invited all his daughters along with
their husbands except Dakshayani and Siva, on the occasion. Dakshayani, though
uninvited, still on account of filial love, attended the yajna but found that
she was not received and respected properly. Dakshayani took this insult
seriously and jumped into the sacrificial fire. When Siva heard of this, he
began to sweat in fury and out of that sweat was born Virabhadra, who killed
Daksha and thus avenged the insult to Lord Siva. Siva rushed to the sacrificial
fire, rescued Sati and received her into the left half of his body. In memory
of it, even today, the orthodox Brahmins do not perform any yajna or such
ceremonies within Draksharama.

Later Dakshayani was born to
Himavantha, known as Uma, married Siva and both of them came to reside here and
thus this place is named after Dakshayani as Daksharama, later called as
Draksharama.

The temple is believed was
built by Chalukya Bhima I, the Eastern Chalukyan King who ruled from 897-922
CE. The temple is mentioned as the greatest and important in multiple
inscriptions engraved on the temple walls. 
(The epigraphy sources state that Kuppanarya, an officer of Amma II
(Eastern Chalukyan ruler, 945-970 CE) built a temple to Siva at Draskharama. As
there is no other ancient temple found in the town, some scholars opine that it
is same as the Bhimeswara temple.)

There are many inscriptions
engraved on the temple walls, out of which the earliest belongs to 1081 CE.
This attest the existence of the temple by that time. The temple received
expansions and renovations in subsequent periods. The Reddis of Kondaveedu and
Rajahmundry added many structures to the temple and several endowments and
gifts were made for its maintenance. 

Architecture:

The architecture of the
Bhimeswara temple is very interesting as that of remaining Pancharama temples
consisting of a double storied central shrine. Major construction of the temple
is done during the period of Chalukya Bhima I, the mighty Eastern Chalukyan
ruler. The temple underwent expansion under the rule of Reddi’s of Kondaveedu.

The temple is enclosed by two
prakaras (compound walls) separated by spacious courtyard in which minor shrine
and mandapas are seen. The outer prakara is built of huge granite blocks raised
to a great height as that of fort walls. There are four entrances on four
directions surmounted by a Gopura (temple tower). The west Gopura is larger
than the remaining and has a mandapa infront of it.  The tower consists of well-defined decorative
architectural members. The outer enclosure consists of a Shrine dedicated to
Kalabhairava in the north-eastern corner consists of a garbhagriha and
antharala.

The inner prakara is also
built with huge blocks of stone raised to a height of twenty feet with entances
on south and east sides. The south entrance is now being used as the main
entance. The inner portion of the prakara is attached with a two storied
cloister (covered pillared corridor). There are few shrines in the cloister
housing various gods.

The main shrine is located at
the center of the inner enclosure consisting of a double storied structure. The
plan on ground is rectangular with ground floor consisting of a mandapa and
hall enclosing the sanctum. The first floor is reached through a flight of
steps from either side of mandapa of ground floor. The first floor consists of
a garbhagriha, an antharala, a mukhamandapa and a mahamandapa. The garbhagriha
has four doorways in four directions as that of Sarvathobadra model. The temple
belongs to sandhara type, in which the circumambulatory path is within the
enclosed wall around the garbhagriha. (Now the path is closed). The Vimana on
top is of Dvitala (two-storied) and belongs to Nagara order. 

There are subsidiary shrines
and mandapas built around the main shrine in the inner enclosure.

Art & Sculpture:

The temple consists of several
sculptures carved on the pillars, lintels and temple towers. There are icons of
various forms of Siva such as Sarabhesamurti, Virabhadra, Nataraja, Lingodhbhavamurti,
Vatuka Bhairava and other forms carved on the temple architectural members. In
addition to these there are images of Ganesha, Durga, Kartikeya, Mahishasuramardhini,
Narayana, Surya and other Devas carved on the pillars of the temple.

There are panels of Siva
mythological stories such as Kiratarjuna and Mrigavadha carved beautifully on
the pillars of the Mandapa in the main shrine. There are images of Anavemareddy
and Kumaragirireddy carved on the east entrance mandapa pillars.

The nandi in the main shrine
is carved out of a monolithic stone and fashioned with various ornate elements
on its body.

The most celebrated festival in the temple is the day of Sivaratri, on which the temple draws huge crowd throughout the day. Few rituals and special pujas are performed on that day. All other holy days as per the Saiva agamas are performed in the temple.

6 AM to 8 PM