Mahanandiswara Swamy Temple

Overview

Mahanandi is one of the Nava Nandis. The Mahanandiswara Swamy Temple, an important shrine, is located here. This ancient temple dates back over 1,500 years. The inscriptions of 10th century tablets speak of the temple being repaired and rebuilt several times. These nine temples are Mahanandi, Shivanandi, Vinayakanandi, Somanandi, Prathamanandi, Garudanandi, Suryanandi, Krishnanandi (also called Vishnunandi) and Naganandi.

About the temple

The temple is specially known for its attractive pond or called Kalyani (temple tank), which contains a sacred fresh water. There temple is surrounded by three temple tanks, where two temple tanks are located at the entrance of the temple and one located inside the temple. And the temple tank is maintained in such a way that the depth of the water does not exceed the level of five feet. The excellent architecture of the temple depicts artistic skill of the Vishwakarma Brahmins, who believe that they are descendants of Vishwakarma, a Hindu deity. The water source is believed to be originated from underneath of the self-manifested Shivalingam present in the sanctum sanctorum. Unlike the other temples, the devotees here are allowed to touch the holy water gushing out from the underneath of Shivalingam and they are also allowed to touch and worship the sacred Shivalingam inside the sanctum sanctorum. The remarkable feature of the temple is that sacred water rushing out from the sanctum sanctorum helps in irrigating 2000 acres of fertile land around the village. The village is surrounded with vegetables, rice fields, fruits, flowers and other vegetation. The incredible feature of the temple is that the holy water in the temple tank of this temple will be very hot during the winter season and very cold during the summer.

About the Deity

The presiding deity of this temple is Lord Shiva, worshiped by the name Lord Mahanandiswara Swamy, who is in the form of a sacred Shivalingam.

Festivals

Maha Shivaratri – February/March
Ugadi – March/April
Vaikunta Ekadasi – December/January
Kartika Poornima – November/December
Vijayadashami – October

Best time to visit

November to March

Accessibility

Air

The nearest airport to reach the temple is at Hyderabad, which is about 215 km from Kurnool.

Rail

The nearest railway station to reach the temple is Nandyal railway station. APSRTC run bus services to major cities like Tirupathi, Hyderabad, Kurnool, Vijayawada etc.

Road

Buses also ply to parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu such as Bengaluru, Bellary and Chennai.

Address

Srinivasa Nagar,
Nandyal,
Andhra Pradesh 518501.