Sri Umamaheswara temple, Yaganti

Legend has it that Sage Agastya planned to install a Kesava image and built a temple over it to promote Vishnu’s prominence. In the course of making idol of Lord, the toe of the right foot broke and thus the idol shouldn’t be used as per the Shilpasatras. Agastya placed it in a cave in the hill and started to perform penance to understand the root cause of the situation. Lord Siva appeared before him and informed that it is indeed a Ganga kshetra, where the waters of Ganga emerge at several points on the hill. Thus sage Agastya decided to install a Linga in the cave for Siva instead of Vishnu.

On seeing the event, Siva self-manifest himself along with his consort Parvati. Thus this shrine came to be known as Uma-Maheswara temple.

Another legend has it that certain devotee by name Gnanananda took a bath in the tank and after a sight of lord exclaimed ecstatically ‘Eganti Neganti nenatmaganti’ in Telugu, by that salutation, the name came as Yaganti.

The residence of Sage Agasthya is attested by Agasthyakona and a temple Agatheswara nearby.

Yaganti is also believed to be visited by Pandavas and Jagadguru Sri Sankaracharya.

The caves nearby are called as Brahmagadi, Kumaragadi and Ventateswaragadi as per the local legends that the devine beings lived in the natural caves.

The temple at Yaganti built in the regime of Bukkaraya in the 14^th century and later expanded under the patronage of Srikrishnadevaraya, the mighty Emperor of the Vijayanagara and successive Vijayanagara rulers. Few Scholars opinion is that the origin of the worship of Linga is considered much centuries earlier that the erection of temple at the spot.

The temple received prominence in the area in 15-16^th centuries and received patronage from the emperors as well as the local chiefs such as Kings of Gutti, who built the Gopuras.

Sri Virat Pothuluri Virabrahmendra swamy, the famous saint for his future predictions and social reforms had temporary stay at the place.

Architecture

The temple is located on a small hillock reached through a flight of steps. The temple is enclosed by a prakara with an entrance gateway in the east surmounted by an Gopura. The inside wall of prakara is attached with a cloister running on all sides. The main shrine is located at the center of the courtyard and consist of a Garbhagriha, an Arthamandapa, a Mukhamandapa and a Mahamandapa. the first three are closed on sides by stone wall whereas Mahamandapa is an open pillared hall with two entrance porches attached on south and north sides. A unique and big monolithic Nandi is observed tightly fitted between pillars on the north-east portion of Mahamandapa. There are small subsidiary shrines built at the corners of the courtyard. A superstructure of diminishing tires built in Dravidian style is seen on the top of the Garbhagriha.

A huge monolithic pillar erected on an elevated square platform is seen just outside the entrance Gopura.

A beautifully designed temple tank known as Pushkarini is built of stone few meters away from the Gopura of the temple. The Pushkarini is built with steps reaching the bottom on all four sides. A pillared corridor is running along the sides of the tank and consist of four entrance ways on four directions, each surmounted by a small superstructure.  At the center of the tank, there is a four pillared mandapa structure surmounted by a two storied Vimana of Vesara order.

Art & Sculpture

The main Linga in the temple is of a rare form as it consist of carving of Siva and Parvati on it. Siva is depicted with four arms holding weapons and Parvati is seen standing next to him. The images are slightly faded due to the diminishing nature of rock.

The main attraction of the temple is the monolithic Nandi which is scientifically proven to grow its size by an inch per year.

The pillars of the temple and the Pushkarini are decorated with designs and sculptures. Narrative panels are fitted to the steps of Pushkarini. The carvings include the images of Vishnu forms such as Krishna, Narasimha and Rama, Siva in various forms, Ganapati, and Hanuman besides several depictions of Dancers, Musicians, Women, Saints and animal figures.

The most celebrated festivals in the temple are Sivaratri and Kartika pournami. All other holy days as per the Saiva agama are performed in the temple.

6AM-1PM, 3PM- 7.30PM