The Legend of Mallikarjun

Mallikarjun Temple is one of the sacred jyotirlingam of Lord Shiva situated at Srisailam in the dense forest of Nallamali . According to puraans, once Lord Kartikaya , the son of lord Shiva was annoyed with parents because he had to suffer defeat from the hands of his younger brother Lord Ganesha. Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati were sad about this event. Despite their best efforts Lord Kartikya went away from home. When the news about their son came , they went to met him at the Kraunch Mountain, where Lord Kartikaya was residing at that moment. On hearing the news of the arrival of his parents , Lord kartikaya decided to ran away from there. At last Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati assumed the form of jyotirlingam and decided to stay near to his son at the mountain of Srisailam. Still it is believe that on amavasya day Lord Shiva and goddess Parvati visits their son’s abode to met their son. The form of divine energies present here are known as “MallikaArjun”. The word “Mallika” is another name of goddess Parvati where as “Arjun” is another name of lord shiva. This sacred place is situated at the banks of river Krishna( Patal Ganga). This place is so sacred abode of lord Shiva that it is also known as “Dakshin-Kailash”. It is believe that this place provide salvation and liberation from the cycle of life and death. There is one more legend prevailing in the region. As per this, there was a princess named “Chandravati” who was very religious and doing tapasya in the forest. One day she observed that one cow among the cattle is not giving the milk. She followed that cow and noticed that the cow poured all her milk in a distant place over a shivlinga . On that night Lord Shiva appeared in her dream and told her that the lingam where cow poured her milk is the manifestation of Lord Shiva himself. After that darshan of Lord Shiva princess Chandravati built a temple as “Mallikarjun Swamy”