Amma had sent me a video regarding a mysterious temple called Gudimallam. Gudi in Telugu means temple. According to the video, there is a 5 ft tall Shivalingam in this temple and when you pour gallons of water anywhere in the temple, the water disappears somewhere. Also every 60 years waters enter the garba griha as though performing abhishekam for the Shiva Linga. They recede within minutes as mysteriously as they come. The legend says these waters come all the way from Kashi. We were intrigued, just as you would be after watching the video –
Coincidentally we were in Tirupati on Sept 22nd, for our annual darshan of Balaji and when I googled the location of Gudimallam, it was just 20 kms from our serviced apartment !!
We immediately made plans to visit the temple on our way to Chennai on the 23rd.
Sri Parasumareswara Swamy Devasthanam
As you exit Tirupati using the bypass road, there is a road junction where Chennai is to the right and Papanaidupet Road/Gudimallam is to your left. It’s NH 716 or also known as Chennai-Tirupati-Renigunta expressway. It’s a single lane village road, but a good road. From our serviced apartment it took us 45 mins to reach the temple.
There is a huge billboard six kilometres before the temple that urges you to take a right turn as it’s a shortcut, but don’t take that because it’s not a paved road.
There is lots of parking right next to the temple complex. Many shops have sprung up as the number of people visiting this temple has increased. ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) has been maintaining the structure and doing a great job of it.
ASI for long has had to kowtow to political pressure and Western historians. The West would like everything to be after Christ, negating the existence of a civilisation that’s more than 20000 years old… The Indus Valley civilization itself is 7500 years old. The Bhimbekta cupules are manmade and date back to nearly 100,000 years. The Kailash temple at Ellora has no parallel in the world … it’s carved from the top and such exquisite carving !! So I would like to think that this temple is 12000 years old.
As you walk into the main door, on your left is the temple dedicated to Parvati. From there we walk across and enter the main temple.
The outer structure is square, but the main temple with the Shiva Lingam is shaped like a yoni – circular with an outlet. We did an outer pradakshina and there is a dwaja stambham at the back. There is a moat around the main temple, which is dry. Just before entering the garba griha, there is a beautiful murti of Ganesha on your left. Right across from the main Shiva Lingam you have the murti of Nandi. As you do the pradakshina, you get to see small “Murtis” of Vishnu, Brahma and Vishnu Durga carved on the outer walls.
There are small temples dedicated to Dakshinamoorthy, Kartikeya and Bhagwan Surya. All these are within the main temple enclosure.
The Panditji told us that every time in May around the 14th to 17th, the sun’s rays touch the lingam. And he confirmed the once-in-sixty years flooding of the garba griha as well. The last time it happened was on Dec 4, 2005. So we may not be able to witness the next flooding … as it will happen in 2065.
Inside the Garba griha, the main Shivalingam is very different from any other lingam that you have seen anywhere. On the base, you have Brahma in the form of a Yaksha, Standing on top on him is Bhagwan Parasuram (Vishnu) in the form of a hunter and the carving is exquisite. The feeling is surreal as you stand inside the garba griha.
Since we are not supposed to take pictures of the murti inside the garba griha, but the video above shows the Shivalingam from the garba griha. It seems to be from a time when the poojas were not being done.
We spent about 30 minutes in the temple. As we were walking outside, I took a few pics of the outer walls, the live Nandi at the entrance and the scenery outside.
Phone works even in this remote tiny village … so you can check things out on the internet. Do visit the temple because this is a very rare and very different type of temple. Its considered as the first Siva temple anywhere in the world and that’s something !
The customary selfie outside the temple –
#KrishnansTempleTrails
I have also read somewhere that this is the oldest Shivalingam
Yes that’s what it says on the information plaque at the entrance 👍