Amaravathi
Amaravati in Guntur district on the banks of the Krishna river is holy for both Buddhists and Hindus.
The Amaravati here is not the same as the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, though forms part of the capital region, and is located in the same area. Dhanyakatakam or Dharanikota near Amaravati was the capital of the Satavahanas, from where the great emperor Gautamiputra Satkarni ruled. The city was visited by Hiuen Tsang during 1st century CE, and wrote about it's splendour.
Amaravathi is believed to have got it’s name from the Amareshwara temple,where the Shivalinga is believed to have been installed by Indra himself. It forms one of the Pancharamas, 5 Shiva temples in Andhra Pradesh. As per legend, Tarakasura one of Lord Shiva’s devotees, prayed to him, and got the Shivalinga, that would protect him from any weapon. When Kumaraswamy attacked Taraka, the Shiva Linga around his neck, protected him.
Even when Kumaraswamy used the Shakti Ayudha, Taraka’s body split into pieces but was again rejoined due to the power of Shiva Linga. That was when Vishnu suggested that he needed to break the Shiva Linga which Tarakasura was wearing, and only then he could kill him.Kumaraswamy did as instructed, and the Shivalinga broke into 5 pieces, and fell on earth. Surya immediately fixed them to prevent the pieces from re uniting, and Kumaraswamy was able to kill Taraka.
The 5 places were the Shivalinga fell were called as the Pancharamas- 5 places of rest. Amaravati, was one of them. Others were Draksharama, Kumararama(at Samalkota) in East Godavari district, Ksheerarama( at Palakollu), Somarama( at Bhimavaram) both in West Godavari district.
The Amaralingeswara Swamy temple here, has one of the tallest Shiva Lingas, covering two stories, to date, priests mount on to a pedestal platform here to do the Pujas. Shiva here is worshipped as Amaralingeswara Swamy, while his consort is Bala Chamundika.
While the temple does exist from the time of Vijayanagara empire, it was Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, a local chieftain of Dharanikota, who expanded and renovated the temple in 1796.
Venkatadri Naidu ruled from Dharanikota, a wise and brave ruler, who took on the Pindari thugs, and chased them out of the region. He built around 100 temples primarily in the Krishna Delta region, and renovated existing temples too. He renovated the temples at Mangalagiri, Chebrolu, Bapatla, Chinnaganjam, gave extensive grants to them. The very tall gopuram at Mangalagiri temple was built during his reign, which was a feature of most of the temples he built or renovated.
However it was with the Amaravati temple that he had the closest association. Apparently in those days the Chenchu tribesmen, often used to waylay travellers, kill and loot them. In order to curb the menace, he invited around 150 of them to a feast. During the feast, he massacred all the Chenchus, that place is called Narukalapudu now. However he was struck with remorse later over his act, and decided to undertake penance which is when he started to renovate the Amaravati temple.
He not just expanded and renovated the temple, he also appointed Archakas, provided them with land, built Agraharas for Brahmins all around the place, giving many of them a livelihood. He appointed 9 Archakas, giving each of them 12 acres of land. The 11 storey gopuram at Mangalagiri Narasimha temple was also built by him, and renamed the erstwhile village of Bethavolu as Jaggayapeta in honor of his father. He spent his last days at the Amaravati temple.
Amaravathi is also famous as a center of Buddhism, one of the 17 holy Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh, that contain relics of the Buddha. The Buddhist stupa here built during Ashoka’s time around 200 BCE is carved with panels, telling the story of Lord Buddha.
With a height of 27 meter and circumference of 50 m, the stupa is covered with some rich sculpture detailing life of Lord Buddha, Jataka tales, and is famous for their richness. Most of the original sculptures though are now at the Madras Museum, and some in the local museum. One famous spot worth visiting in Amaravati is the Dhyana Buddha, a huge statue of Buddha on the banks of the Krishna river.
In 2006 there was a Kalachakra Mahapravachan conducted at Amaravati by the Dalai Lama, which had monks from Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. Adi Shankara visited Amaravati and set up the Sri Chakra here at the Amaralingeswara Temple. Sankaramanchi Satyam, wrote the Amaravathi Kathalu, a collection of short stories based on his life here.
Karunasari Jandhyala Papayya Sastri wrote the Pushpavilapam(Agony of the Flower) , one of the most popular Telugu poems, while Sankarambadi Sundarachari described the beauties of Amaravati in his song Maa Telugu Talliki Mallepoodanda.
Dr. Vavilala Subbarao who wrote the dictionary for a tribal language called Gabada hailed from Amaravati, as well as the author of the Panchanga Malladi Chandrashekara Shastri.
Many well known Telugu movies like Saptapadi, Devalayam, Pellidu Pillalu, were shot in Amravati. With so much history and culture, a place where Hinduism meets Buddhism, Amaravathi is worth a visit.