Pattiseema - Sri Veereswara Swamy Temple

Sri Veereswara Swamy Temple

Thirty five miles downstream from Pattiseema, there existed a great Shiva Mutt. Presumably within this mutt a temple was built and maintained by the Kings of the Chola-Chalukya dynasty. The area where this mutt is located was later renamed after one of the Chola-Chalukya kings, Raja Mahendra Varman, thus gaining its present name of Rajahmundry.

In the bed of the River Godavari, near Rajamundry, are two hillocks lying in the opposite direction of one another separated by a distance of approximately three miles. The northern hillock is known as Mahanandi Swaram, and the southern hillock was named Pattiseema, getting its name from the prior mythylogical story.

This hillock is surrounded by Papi hills and abounds in natural beauty and situated in the middle of the river Godavari it is also called as Devakutadri. Sri Veera-bhadra Swamy Temple, which is picturesquely located on a hill known as Devakuta Parvatha in the middle of the Godavari river. The temple has a beautiful Nandi Vigraha. Carved images of dancing people adorn the walls while an awe-inspiring life size sculpture of Devi Bhadra-kali with lot of ornaments and a sword, catches the eye. A temple dedicated to Sri Bhavanarayalla Swamy can also be visited.

On the hillock at Pattiseema there are two groups of temples, one headed by Sri Veeraswara Swamy and the other by Sri Bhavanarayan Swamy, a leading shrine for Vaishnavites. The Sri Veeraswara Swamy temple has sub temples of Parivara Devathas, Bhadra Kali, Sri Kanakadurga, Lakshmi Ganapathi, Kumara Swamy, Subramanian Swamy, Mahishasura Mardhini, Tandava Verabhadra Swamy and Saraswati. In the second group there are three temples on the northern extreme of the hillock. They are Sri Bhavanarayan Swamy, which is as old as the Siva temple. Subsequently the Zamindar of Gutala, in the year 1912 constructed the Sri Sita-rama Swamy temple. The third is an Anjeneya Swamy temple constructed subsequently.

Rajamundry was later ruled by the Reddy Dynasty which in turn was conquered by the Gajapathi dynasty. The Gajapathi dynasty was later conquered by King Krishna Deva Raya of the Vijayanagar Kingdom, which was eventually conquered by the Delhi Sultanat then by the British Raj. The former kingdom was turned into estates that were eventually purchased by the Kotcherlakota family in 1814. The purchase included the Polavaram Estate comprising 6,400 villages extending from Gutala to Konda-modalu on either side of the river Godavari, twenty miles upstream. In 1825-26 Sri Rajah Kotcherlakota Jaggaihgaru donated extensive lands for the maintenance of the Temple(Approximately 1900 Acres). The descendants of Sri Raja Jaggaiah of Polavaram continue to be the hereditary trustees of this temple. Ram Chandra Venkata Krishna Rao Kotcherlakota worked with Air India, and after his retirement, has devoted his time and effort for the upkeep and welfare of this temple.His sons also help him the Eldest son Mr. Kotcherlakota Venkata Jagannadharao lives in Bombay and visits the temple often with his family.The youngest son Kotcherlakota Veerabhadraarao lives in London and also vistis the temple with his family.Either of them attend the MahaShivrathri function religiously.This temple presently is controlled by the Endowments department and is under the Jurisdiction of the Endowments Ministry excepting the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, which is regulated by a separate enactment

The main festival of Lord Shiva is Mahasivaratri. On this day approximately a Lakh (100,000) pilgrims visit this temple. The other important festivals are the Kalyanam of the Lord on Bheeshma Akadashi and Karteeka Masam.

This temple is considered the Dakshina Kashi, and the Temple is one of the Pancha Kshetras. The other four being Kedarnath, Kashi, Kalahasti and Srisailam. Those who visit this temple need not visit the other four temples. In Skandapuranam, Pattiseema is considered as Kailsam or Vaikuntham.

To reach this place take a taxi from Rajahmundry. This is roughly 35 km from Rajahmundry.and patiseema is very best temple