Sri Umamaheshwara Temple of Lord Shiva, also known as Maheshwaram Temple and Umamaheshwaram Temple is situated in Telangana State, 142 km from Hyderabad close to Rangapur village of Achampet Mandal, Nagarkurnool District. The Temple is located amidst the dense Nallamala forest on a huge hill, at a height of 500 feet, in a cave and the hill is close to 1000 feet high. It is a very ancient Temple with a long history and mention of it in various scriptures. The Temple is said to have been constructed in the 2nd century during the rule of Maurya Chandragupta. Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi are worshipped at this Temple in the form of Mallikarjuna and Bhramaramba. It is believed that Lord Rama had visited this place while doing Parikrama of Srisailam.
Umamaheshwaram is the Northern gateway of Srisailam, a very prominent and popular pilgrimage town for the Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Temple (of Lord Shiva and Parvati Devi) – one of the twelve Jyotirlingas. Srisailam is located 60 km further from here. Umamaheshwaram Temple is also known as Kubera Sthanam. There are other Temples here of Lord Ganesha, Lord Veerabhadra Swamy, Lord Janardhana Swamy and also that of Lord Nagaraju.
We visited this Temple last Sunday, that is on 20th January along with my sister’s family. My sister and brother-in-law visited this Temple a few times before during their innumerable pilgrimages to Srisailam, but for me and my wife, it was our first visit. We liked this ancient Temple, its importance and its location amidst hills and greenery and the beautiful scenery all around. The hill surrounding the Temple and the huge trees covering the area keep the sunlight away and also because of the altitude it is a very cool place. Though we have visited Srisailam a few times before it is during this visit we came to know that as per ancient scriptures the darshan of Srisailam Temple is incomplete without the darshan of Umamaheshwara Temple.
This place is also popular for its mysterious Papanashanam, a small water body, where one can always find water, in spite of drawing any amount of water from it, throughout the year. It is around 200 meters away from the sanctum sanctorum - where water comes out from underneath the huge rocks at the same rate all through the year. This water is considered to be very pious.
The attached pictures are of the Temple and its surroundings. I have also provided a route map to this Temple from Hyderabad.
A visit to this Temple en route to Srisailam Temple would be a great experience spiritually and will be very enjoyable.
A Video of the Temple:
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