West Godavari district is rich in rice production and is the delta formed by the flow of two main rivers Godavari and Krishna.
This article is dedicated to a 1000 year old temple which is still surviving in the west Godavari district. Main deity of this temple is Sri Chennakesava Swamy a form of Lord Vishnu and a separate shrine for Ramalingeswara Swamy, a form of lord Shiva present in the same temple complex.
Located at Sanivarapu peta, Eluru. This temple is few kilometers away from the Vengi, the capital city of Eastern Chalukyas. They also carry the name “Vengi” Chalukyas. Later they shifted their capital city to RajaMahendraVaram, present day Rajamoundry.
Coming to the history of the temple, as per the inscriptions found in the temple the main temple was built by Vengi Chalukyas 1000 years ago in tenth century. Later reconstruction was carried out by Nuzivid Zamindar Sri Meka Apparao in 18th century.
The Temple of Chennakesava Facing North and the Ramalingeswara swamy temple is facing east, propagating the truth of Advaita Vedanta and Abhedha (No Different) form of Shiva and Keshava (Vishnu).
One thing which is very rare that you can observe in this temple is having two forms of lord vishnu together in one sanctum sanctorum. Here you can see Lord vishnu as Venkateswara Swamy holding Shankh (Conch) and Sudarshana Chakra below the main deity Chenna Kesava Swamy along with Sri Devi and Bhumi Devi.
As per the local sources, one day lord chenna kesava swamy appeard in the dream of Nuzivid Zamindar Meka apparao and ordered him to dugout the main deity and reconstruct the temple.
This temple is known for it’s elegant and beautifully sculptured RajaGopuram/ Temple tower. It’s also being called as Gali Gopurm. With it’s elegance the temple is also being termed as Pedda Devuni Gudi (Big Lord’s Temple) by the locals.
The 5 stored temple tower with 77 feet height having hundreds of beautiful sculptures on the pastimes of lord vishnu including SamudraMathana, Narasimha along with some Mithuna sculptures.
ChennakesavaSwamy temple is having seperate shrines for Sri RajyaLakshi Devi and Sri Goda Devi (Andal). Having Beautiful dieties of alwars in the temple sanctum sanctorum.
Sri Ramalingeswara swamy temple is facing the east where lord Shiva is seen along with his consort Parvathi
All side views of Chennakesava Swamy Temple Vimana
All side views of Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple Vimana
There are separate subshrines for lord Ganesha and Hanuman in the same temple complex. The temple complex housing many trees and tulasi plants and a beautiful garden.
ChennaKesava swamy temple was adopted by Venkateswara Swamy temple of Dwaraka tirumala. Since then there was a lot of development work done over this temple. Including renovation of temple tower and conducting temple festivals in grand.
The main festivals celebrated in Chennakesava Swamy Temple are,
- Brahmotsavam,
- Kalyanotsavam,
- Mukoti Ekadasi
- Dhanurmasam
Kartika Masam and Shiva Ratri are the main festivals celebrated in Ramalingeswara swamy temple.