Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple

Getting there

• By road

  The temple is 14 km west of Banaganapalle on the Banaganapalle-Peapully road.

Why devotees come here

Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple is a temple of Shiva in Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh, about 100 km from Kurnool city. Devotees know it for the Uma Maheswara form, where Shiva and Parvathi appear together in a single stone.

Legend says the sage Agastya wanted to build a temple for Venkateswara on this site. He then asked Shiva to give devotees Parvathi as Uma Maheswara in one stone, and Shiva agreed. Another legend tells of a shepherd named Chitteppa, who saw Shiva in tiger form and danced with joy. Local belief holds that crows cannot enter this place, so Shani, whose vahana (vehicle) is the crow, cannot enter either.

The temple was built in the 15th century by King Harihara Bukka Raya of the Sangama dynasty, Vijayanagara Empire. The saint Veerabrahmendra stayed here for some time and wrote the Kalagnanam. A small pond, the pushkarini, lies on the temple premises, and water flows into it from the bottom of the hill through the mouth of a Nandi (bull). Devotees bathe in the pushkarini before they pay tribute to Shiva.

Festivals

• Every yearMaha Shivaratri

  Devotees come from all over Andhra Pradesh. Festivities have run 6 to 10 March, with a Kalyanotsavam (ceremonial wedding), a Nandikola and a chariot procession (Rathotsavam).

Tips for your visit

• The Veera Brahmam cave is low, so you need to bend half over to enter.
• The Agastya Cave is reached by climbing 120 steep steps.
• A cave called Chitteppa is nearby.
• From Belum caves, a historic site, the temple is about 45 km away, roughly 1.5 hours by road.

Questions people ask