Gudimallem Temple

  History Of Gudimallem Temple

Gudimallam is a village panchayat located in the Chittoor district of Andhra-Pradesh state,India.

Gudimallam Is A Small Village Situated Just 3 Km East Of Papanaidupeta Which Lies Close To The Tirupati International Airport And Renigunta Railway Station. A Shiva Linga, Discovered Between The 1st Century And 2nd Century BC, Is Installed In The Garbhagriha Of The Historical Parasurameswara Temple .

This lingam, which is unlike any other, is one of the oldest lingams, dating back to the first or second century BC! Shaped like a phallus, it is amazingly lifelike, and it also has an image carved on it. The carved image shows a dwarf sitting on his hunches, with a hunter perched on his shoulders. This is a unique image, seen nowhere else! The lingam is monolithic, but the texture of the stone varies too, and is clearly seen when the lingam is unadorned, as it was when we visited. The lingam has a peetham (base), part of which is still buried under the ground. The whole temple is maintained by the ASI, according to which this is probably the oldest continuously worshipped temple in the world.

The Lord here is known as Parasurameshwara, and this lingam is believed to depict the trinity. The legend of the temple connects it to Parasurama, an avatar (incarnation) of Lord Vishnu. To give a brief description of Parasurama, he was a warrior sage, who cleansed the world of its tyrannical kings. When he was a young man, his mother invited the wrath of his father, who ordered his sons to kill their mother. Parasurama’s older brothers refused to obey their father’s order, fuelling his anger further. Parasurama bowed down to his father’s command and cut off his mother’s head! The sage was pleased and gave him a boon, as part of which Parasurama asked for his mother to come back to life, which the sage had to agree to. Though his mother had got back her life, Parasurama felt guilty, since he had sinned by raising his axe (parasu) against his mother. He came to the banks of the Swarnamukhi where he meditated on Lord Shiva to expiate his sins. Each day, a lone flower would bloom in the river, which the sage would offer to the lord. Once, Lord Brahma decided to test him, and arrived in the form of a dwarf, offering his help, to which Parasurama agreed. The dwarf aided him with his prayers, but tried to find a way to test the sage. At last he hit upon an idea and plucked and threw off the single flower in the river before the sage could use it for his prayers. For the first few days, the sage thought that the flower had simply failed to bloom, but then he suspected his aide, lay in wait for him, and caught him in the act of plucking the flower. His anger aroused, he chased the dwarf, brandishing the axe. Brahma, realising that the joke had gone too far, called out to Shiva, who appeared and pacified Parasurama. He told him that his penance had borne fruit the minute Brahma had plucked the first flower from the river, and that he need not carry his guilt any longer. Further, he blessed them by merging them with the lingam, Brahma crouching down as the dwarf and Vishnu as Parasurama on his shoulders, holding his axe and a ram’s head. Such is the story of this unique temple.

The nearest railway station in and around Gudimallam

The nearest railway station to Gudimallam is Renigunta Jn 

which is located in and around 8.7 kilometer distance. 

The following table shows other railway stations and its distance from Mamakudi.Renigunta Jn railway station8.7 KM.Pudi railway station9.5 KM.Jutturu railway station18.2 KM.Puttur railway station18.2 KM.Tirupati West Halt railway station18.9KM.

 Nearest airport to Gudimallam
Gudimallam‘s nearest airport is Tirupati Airport situated at 5.3 KM distance. Few more airports around Gudimallam are as follows.Tirupati Airport5.3 KM.INS Rajali Naval Air Station60.4 KM.Chennai International Airport 93.1 KM

Brahma as Chitrasena, Vishnu as Parasurama and Shiva as the lingam form the Gudimallam Shivalingam.

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