Srisailam is the holy place, for Hindus because there are a lot of stories from the Puranas and Vedas which tell us the sacredness of the place where forms of Lord Shiva and Sati Devi are situated. Srisailam is the one place where one of the Jyotirlingas and one of the Shakthi Peethas (organs of goddess Sati are spread over India in various forms) are located. Mallikarjuna Swamy as Lord Shiva represented in the form of Linga and Bramarambha Devi as his consort revered here in Srisailam by the people in India. This temple has many specialties and many stories hidden in each pillar. There are many stories about the Lord Shiva and Parvati and their sons, Ganesha and Kumara Swamy. According to the Vedas, the upper lip of Sati Devi fell to earth at this place and treated as one of the eighteen Shakthi Peethas in India.
So, visiting this place is truly a holy and sacred affair for people. One must visit with utmost focus on deity without any distractions. Hence there are some rules that are to be followed by the devotees during the visit to the temple.
No western clothes are allowed inside the temple premises. Girls must cover their whole body by draping a Saree or by sporting any ethnic wear with a Duppatta for sure. Women are strictly prohibited inside the temple if they don't sport a duppatta or a saree. And when it comes to Men, the same rule applies. No western clothes and no shorts allowed inside the temple. They must be traditionally dressed up in Kurta Pyjamas or Veshti or Shirt and Trouser to enter inside the temple for Darshan. These rules are to maintain the cultural decorum of the temple.
Smart phones, or any kind of gadgets are strictly prohibited to take inside the main temple. They can be stored safely near the temple premises. Safety lockers are available for gadgets and luggage.
There are various types of Darshans available to visit the temple. Devotees can visit the temple for free, but trust me, it will be overcrowded and time taking process and people can hardly see the Linga form of Mallikarjuna Swamy. But there are other types of Darshans according to the various price rates. Seeghradarshan for 100 rupees, Ati seeghradarshan for 300 rupees, Linga Darshan/Break Darshan for 500 rupees. More the money, greater the visibility and faster the visiting time. Money rules here too!
Concept of Break Darshan is a noted one in this temple. The Darshan which is available to those devotees who buy the tickets costing 500 INR per person is all about visiting the Mallikarjuna Swamy in his real Linga form and the devotees can be able to touch the Linga and worship in the nearest possible way. For this, the temple department stops the Darshans for other people and allow the devotees who are eligible for Break Darshan. It's like giving a time slot for these devotees specifics. There are three times in a day, people can do Linga Darshan. Early morning 4am to 5 am, Afternoon 1 pm to 2 pm and evening 7pm to 8 pm, are the timings for the Break Darshan. In these time slots, the Pandits of the temple, removes the whole Alankara (decoration) of Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga and allows the devotees to visit the real form of this Jyotirlinga and also allows them to touch and worship it. But don't expect the time period. You hardly stay near the Linga for more than 10 seconds. You see, you touch and they will drag you out without any second thought.
But people believe in touching this Jyotirlinga is one form of atonement or penance for the mistakes of their life. People who believe in Sins and good deeds, visit this temple to worship the Lord Shiva to forgive them for their intentional and unintentional mistakes. Humans are crazy though! As we belong to a South Indian family, we also went for Break Darshan and fortunately our bones didn't break during the Darshan, because the people who visit at these time slots are just overcrowded, over excited and too anxious to have the Darshan. So, while visiting this temple for break Darshan, be careful and try not to stamp on others legs. Keep calm and Say Har Har Mahadev!
Another important I have observed during the Linga Darshan was, every man was asked to remove the shirts. It is believed that every man should do the Darshan of the Jyotirlinga in the bare chested way. Hence we had to remove the shirts and visited the Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga with no shirts on! But wholly, the process of the break Darshan was interesting after listening to the stories and chants from people around inside the temple. The main temple where the Jyotirlinga is situated is coated with gold. This is what should be seen from the highest peak of Srisailam Hills, Sikhareswaram in between the horns of the Nandi statue. This is like a spiritual fantasy. People die to visit the temple and feel overwhelmed after the Darshan. Because the place is sacred and powerful. It is also believed that all our wishes will come true if we worship this Jyotirlinga wholeheartedly.
Well, when it comes to the people of Srisailam, some are welcoming and some are quite manipulative, especially in the aspect of booking rooms when the temple visits are over crowded. Due to the long weekend, we literally faced a lot of chaos before the day of our Darshan. We reached on a Saturday night in an assumption of booking a room directly after reaching the place. But we literally checked into our suite rooms in the midnight 12, because of the crowd scenario. That was a long weekend, and also were auspicious days, hence the amount of devotees visited the temple was more exponential. Hence, it was a hectic task for us to get a room. Just because we have used some influential recommendations, our whole family got allotted a spacious suite room in Pataleshwar Sadan, near Paatala Ganga, Srisailam.
But in between getting the rooms allotted by the Devastanam board (Srisailam temple department), we had to search for private rooms in and around Srisailam. The local people were too manipulative and the prices of the rooms were over priced like mad. They were about to make money quadrupled the real price of the rooms. The local auto drivers seemed to have connections with the dealers and hotel staff, where they were kind of looting people off by cashing their room requirements near the temple. One must be aware of such people and unnecessary discrepancies. It is suggested to not to believe the local auto drivers and dealers who deal private hotels.
It is safe and secure to check on the government allotted rooms in Srisailam, It's also suggested to book the rooms from the online website of Srisailam Devastanam, before hand to get rid of the last minute tension of boarding rooms. Fortunately, we all got the best suite room because of my brother-in-law, who dealt issue in an influential way. But always the influences won't work right, so, please book everything before the visit, especially when it is a long weekend or some auspicious days according to the Hindu Calendar.
Altogether, no matter how many hurdles we faced from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, we all had a good time at Break Darshan. We were happy witnessing the Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga in the nearest possible way. We all had a great temple visit time. We roamed all over the temple premises. Followed the Darshan of Lord Shiva in the Linga form, we have visited Bramarambika Devi Shakti Peetha. One must climb a few steps to have the Darshan of Bramarambha Devi. The idol is glittery with ornaments, though the size of the idol is small, it is beautiful enough witnessing in person, between the chants of Shakthi. After that, one can witness various Lingas worshiped by the Pandavas of Mahabharata and many smaller temples such as Subramanya Swamy and Nandi temples.
The temple premises are huge and spacious enough with four gates (Dwaram). In between the four gates, there exists in the main temple of Srisala Mallikarjuna Swamy with gold plated Gopura. With all amenities, facilities, safety and security, the department of Srisalam temple management, has managed well except the allotment of rooms. Because according to our observations, there is a lot of politics happening in the aspect of allotting rooms to people. Since, the temple is in developing process, hope everything is going to be in a proper manner soon.
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People need not worry about the basic facilities like food. Because there are many South Indian hotels popped up in Srisailam which offers you the best food till late midnight. One can get food almost at any point of time. So, if you are planning to visit the Jyotirlingas and Shakti Peethas, you must visit Srisailam, because this is one among the three temples in whole India where a Jyotirlinga and Shakti Peetha are revered together at one place. That's the reason, Srisailam got its own flavor of Spirituality. So, don't miss visiting this heavenly atmosphere