Sri Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy Devastanam in Palakollu




Ksheera Rama Lingeswara Swami Temple (A 15th century temple built for the Hindu God Shiva. It is one of the five Pancharamas). This place is famous for Lord Shiva (Eshwara) temple which is considered as one of the Pancharama temples. The temple here is called Sri Kshira Rama Lingeshwara swamy. The temple has a unique white shiva lingam and the temple tower is one of the tallest among the temple towers in Andhra Pradesh.


This place was earlier called as "Ksheera Puri" based on this temple. Later called as "Pala Kolanu", which all tries to convey the meaning of milk pond. This town and the Ksheera Rama Lingeswara Swami temple are located in the area subtended by the Shiva temples at Srisailam,Draksharamam & Kaleswaram also called "Trilinga Desam" (meaning "the region bounded by three lingas") which in following centuries of existence became Telugu desam,the language spoken by the people around these locations was named as Telugu, hence it is believed by some historians that the word "Telugu" was born from this region.



The main attraction of Palakol is the temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, Sri Ksheera Rama Lingeswara which is considered as one of the Pancharama Kshetras. The height of the temple is 120fts and constructed during Chalukya period by Chalukya Bheema. The construction took place during 9th century.



The lingam, which is white in colour, is believed as the tallest. There are 72 pillars made of black stone. Inside the Garbhalaya (Garbha Gruha), Gokarneshwara and Vigneshwara (Ganapati) alayas are situated at the left with Kshiralingam located at the center. To the right, Subramanya Swamy and Janardhana Swamy alayas with Nandi at the centre are situated. Gostani river flows through the town Palakollu and there is a sangam place near Narsapur with river Godavari. From here the river enters the sea at Antarvedi. Once upon a time this place was a thick forest with natural greenary.

The Shiva Lingam (Moola Virat) can be seen from all the four sides through windows in the Garbha Gruharam. Additionally, Sun God, Kashi Vishweshwara, Goddess parvathi, Goddess Lakshmi, Nagareshwara Lingam, Dundi Vigneshwara, Veera Bhadra, Sapta Matruka, Kanaka Durga, Brahma, Saraswathi, Kumara Swamy, Kartikeya, Mahishasura Mardhini, Naga sarpa, Nataraja, Dattatreya, Kala Bhairava, Nageshwara, Shaneeshwara, Shankara, Radha Krishna can also be seen in the temple.

There is a belief that the Shiva lingam is installed by Lord Vishnu. People say that, staying one day in Kshirarama is equivalent to staying one year in Varanasi.
The Prakara is designed by Sri Velupathi during 10th century. The art of temple construction resembles those constructed during Chalukya period. Gopuram is constructed by Sri Alladu Reddy during 14th Century. During 17th century, Kalyana mantapam (choultry) and Ashtha Bhuja Lakshmi Narayanaswamy alaya have been constructed.
The temple timings are, 5.30am to 11.30am and 4.00pm to 8.30pm. choultry facility is available for tourists to stay in the temple premesis.
Excellent transportation facility available to reach Palakollu. Very good service available for trains and buses. Bhimavaram is located just 20Kms away, Narsapur is 10 Kms away from here. Very frequent buses run towards Narsapur. The temple is situated very nearer to Bus station. Palakollu is 20Kms from Bay of Bengal.

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