Visit to Jyotirlinga Temple of Lord Shiva at Malikarjun in South India
rjunThere are total twelve Lord Shiva Jyotirlingas in India. Almost all the Hindus have an inner desire to cover all these 12 Jyotirlingas during their life time. Malikarjun is one of such Jyotirlingas Lord Shiva temples located in south India. It is also known as the Mount Kailas of South India. Some of these Jyotirlingas temples are situated in the city area, but this famous temple of Malikarjun is located amongst very thick and dense forests. This is the place where the pilgrims can visit only during months of February to May as it is extremely difficult to reach this temple during heavy rains.
This Lord Shiva temple is located in Karnul district, on the Mountain Shrishail, at the shore of River Krishna. There is a town of Pedachettum, around 12 miles away from this temple. You can reach Pedachettum by train or road from Chennai, Madurai, and Bangalore. There is a small guest house here at Pedachettum for the pilgrims to stay. The temple is located on top of the Mountain Shrishail. There is one small Shiva temple at the side of the main temple, which is called old Malikarjun. This old temple is very small and each pilgrim has to enter carefully inside it. There are 1008 small Lord Shiva Lingams engraved on the main Lingam. That is why this Lingam is also called Sahastralingam. There is also a very beautiful statue of Lord Nataraj in this temple in the dancing posture. This temple is located in the middle of thick and dense forests and hence, do not have many facilities. The local people staying here are called Chenchu and they extend all types of helps to the tourists. The quiet and peaceful environment of this famous temple generates spiritual energy in all the human beings and hence, is an ideal place for doing meditation, yoga, and dhyana. The pilgrims take a holy bath here in the River Krishna prior to entering in the main temple.
There are in all five centers like Shrishail Mountain in India, where holy statue of Devi Bhagvati is installed and prayed by all the pilgrims. This is the additional reason as to why Mountain Shrishail has become the holy place for the pilgrimage. Devi Bhagvati is one form of Devi Gayatri and the eagle is kept on the flag of this temple. As the flag is kept very high, this Gayatridevi temple is called Gagangami temple. It is said that this goddess is the daughter of Mountain Himalayas and is considered very fond of music. That is why many famous musicians come here at the Mountain Shrishail to sing their new music compositions in front of the goddess. There are no facilities for hotel and the food here at the Malikarjun temple. Make sure to carry your own food and bottled drinking water supply with you. It would be preferable to stay for a night at Pedachettum and proceed to the main temple on the next day morning.
As compared to all other Jyotirlingas Lord Shiva temples, this temple is the least visited temple due to its remote location in the middle of thick forests. However, the people interested in the adventure travel, this is the ideal place to visit. There is a real threat of wild animals in the forests near this temple. Hence, it may not be advisable to stay here for the night. All the pilgrims including the priest leave the temple premises after the evening arti ritual. They come back again in the morning to perform the morning arti ritual.
I have visited this Lord Shiva temple once in the year 2007. It is to mention here that I did enjoy my visit immensely due to the isolated location of this great temple. Would you think to visit this temple?
