Sri Raja Rajeswara Swamy Temple,Vemulawada.

             Sri Rajarajeswara Swamy temple and the Mosque inside the premises Vemulawada, located 150 km from Hyderabad is known for Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple.  Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swami is very famous temple of Lord Shiva, in this part of the region. The temple is Sri Raja Rajeswara Swami who is locally popular as Rajanna who is adorned on both the sides by the idol of Sri Raja Rajeswari Devi on the right side and to the left is the idol of Sri Laxmi Sahitha Siddi Vinayaka.There is holy tank called the DharmaGundam(Koneru) in the middle of the temple. It is considered holy to have a dip in the water of this pond but now the water is a bit polluted and doesn’t look that hygienic to have a dip. If you really want to have a dip it is better to have few drops of water from the pond over the head. Four mandapas are constructed around the pond with the siva lingas in the middle of them and the Statue of Lord Siva is in the centre of the Holy tank. The Lord is seen in a meditation posture with five lingas surrounding the holy tank.

             There is also another temple called the waddegeswaraswami temple.The Rajeswara swamy temple is obviously so named,either because it was built by Rajaditya which was the Biruda of Narasimha I , of the Chalukyas of Vemulavada,who was the grandson of Vinayaditya Yuddhamalla I , or is named after him.

           During Sivaratri which is the most auspicious of the festival for Shivaites there is a very heavy conglomeration of devotees. The crowd which gathers here and the revenue which is collected as the offering s of the devotees run to lakhs and is 2^nd to the Lord of Seven Hills, Tirumala.This temple that is devotees devote the additional things of common homeage's to the Lord of the rest of the temples. This is a very unusual custom, which is known as Sahasra Suvarna Adhisheka, at this ritual devotees worship the deity through the thousands of pieces of the gold. They also worship the Lord through the gift of bulls.

             The rest of the shrines are also essential and they are committed to the Kondanda Ramaswami, Bhimeswara Swami, Raja Rajeswari, Kasi Visweswara, ananta PadmanabhaSwami. There is also Muslim sage's tomb; it is very holy structure of Hindus & also Muslims. The prime festival which has been celebrated at this pilgrimage is Kalyanotsavam & Mahashivratri

            

 GandaDeepam :

          The visit of the devotees is believes as lighting of this divine structure or it is called as Ganda Deepam. The lighting of the holy lamp or Ganda Deepam is also considered auspicious by the devotees visiting the shrine.

KodeMokku :

          Though a lot of customs are followed here a unique custom which is very popular to this temple is that of "offering of Cow" to the god, locally called as "Kode Mokku".  Local people believe that by offering the "Kode Mokku" devotees will be cleansed of their sins and couple will be blessed with children.

LEGEND :

      

          Once upon a time god Indra went to many holy places after he killed Vrithasura and still could not purify his life. Then he took the advice from the guru of gods, Bruhaspathi to visit Sri Raja Rajeshwara kshetram. To the right of the presiding deity is the idol of Sri Raja Rajeswari Devi and to the left is the idol of Sri Laxmi Sahitha Siddi Vinayaka. In the temple premises there is a holy tank called the Dharma Gundam. Another historical story about how the dharma-gundam was built. Once upon a time a king named Sri Raja Raja Narendra came to this place while hunting wild animals. But accidentally he killed a Brahmin boy with an arrow while the boy was drinking water from a pond. Then with the curse of Brahma hatya he got an incurable disease and went on pilgrimage to many holy places and returned back to this place. One day he drank the holy water from the dharma gundam and slept the night praying the lord Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy. In his dreams lord shiva asked him, that to take lord’s existence, the lingam from the dharma-gundam and put in a templeThree mandapas were constructed on it and the statue of Lord Eshwara resides in the middle.. Although devotees make offerings to the presiding diety in different ways, the most important one is Kode Mokku (offering of bull to God). The devotees who bring the bull take them round the temple and tie it somewhere in the temple complex. This temple attracts followers of both Vaishnavism (worshippers of Vishnu), and Saivism (worshippers of Siva), and is also being frequented by Jains and Buddists. The sculptures on the temples also depict the cultures of Jainism and Buddhism.

Places To visit more temples in Vemulawada :

Sri Bhimeswara Swamy Temple : Architecturally important and archaeologically protected, Sri Bhimeswara Swamy Temple has huge Bhimeswara Lingam with a beautiful garden around spreading peace and serenity.
Sri Baddi Pochamma Temple : Built by Baddiga Bhupathi, is a "Village Mother Goddess". The pilgrims and villagers offer "Bonalu" to this deity for health and happiness, especially on every Sunday and Friday.
Sri Nagareswara Swamy Temple.
Sri Kedareswara Swamy Temple.
Sri Mahalaxmi Temple.
Sri Venu Gopala Swamy Temple.
Mandapa Hanuman Temple.
Uppugadda Hanuman Temple.

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