The legend of Mallikarjun Lingam Srisailam

Listen to this audio to learn about the origin of Srisailam Temple Lingam and why the Lord is called Mallikarjun.

Srisailam Temple Lingam

Malllukarjun temple at Srisailam Andhra Pradesh is one of the holiest temples of Lord shiva. It is one among the twelve Jyotirlingas.

The legend

You know, Shiva and Parvathy have got two sons - Ganesha and Karthikeya. They both wanted to get married and wanted to be the first one to get married. They started fighting for this.

Not real fight, you know. This is how Gods play, like how you fight with your brother or sister. It is not a serious fight.

The parents, Lord Shiva and Parvathy Devi told them: you both go and do a parikrama of the whole earth. Whoever does that and comes back here first, he can also marry first,

Now you compare both. Ganesha is heavy, Karthikeya is slim. Ganesha's vehicle is the slow mouse. Karthikeya's vehicle is the peacock

Karthikeya immediately set off on his mission. Ganesha thought I am never going to beat him.

But he suddenly remembered this principle:

पित्रोश्च पूजनं कृत्वा प्रक्रान्तिं च करोति यः ।

तस्य वै पृथिवीजन्यं फलं भवति निस्चितम् ।

What does this mean?

If you worship your parents and do a parikrama of them, that will give the result of doing parikrama of the whole earth.

Ganesha did just that. Shiva and Parvathy smiled and appreciated Lord Ganesha's wisdom.

It is not that Karthikeya did not have wisdom. He is one of the best scholars ever. But this time Ganesha outwitted him.

By the time Karthikeya came back, Ganesha's marriage had already taken place. In fact, he got two brides, Siddhi and Buddhi, Success, and Intelligence. Two sons were also born. Kshema and Labha.

When Kathikeya came back he couldn't come to terms with his apparent failure. He said this is not fair and said I will not marry ever.

Left Kailasa and went to Krauncha parvata to stay there alone. This is in the Bellary district of Karnataka.

Shiva and Parvathy also went there to pacify them. He was still angry. He ran away from them and went to Srisailam. Shiva and Parvathy went after him, there also and finally pacified them.

This place became a Jyotirlinga, A place where Lord Shiva's presence is there, always.

Why the Lingam at Srisailam is called Mallikarjun

King Chandragupta's capital was near this place. One of his daughters went to these mountains and started living with the cowherds there. She had a beautiful cow with her of grey color.

But someone was stealing the cow's milk every night. One day she decided to catch the thief and stay awake throughout the night. But soon realized that it was not a thief.

It was a Shiva Lingam there. The cow was standing above the Lingam and doing abhisheka with her milk. The milk was flowing out on its own.

That's when the Mallikarjuna linga was discovered for the first time ever. She did archana of that Shiva lingam with Mallika flowers, jasmine flowers and because of that, the Shiva Lingam became famous as Mallikarjuna.

This temple is very powerful. You should make effort to go there and get the blessing of Bhagavan. You can ask him for whatever you want. He will bless you with that.