Dear readers, i am back with a new story
East godavari district in andhra pradesh is a land of an ancient river GANGA, which is made to flow over GOVU (cow) and got name GODAVARI. godavari is nothing but ganga flown on he body of a sacred cow. From lord rama to sai baba, most of the gods and saints resided on the shores of this holy river. there are many ancient temples on the banks of godavari. Pithapuram/pithikapuram / puruhuthikapuram is one of the greatest places resided on the banks of godavari. this is a unique place in india, where you can see almost all gods and goddeses in the temple are swayambhu. In one temple preimises, you can see swayambhu idols of SHIVA, SATI (shivas wife), VISHNU and DATTATREYA. Tell me will u find any place like this in this universe?. lord vishnus real footprints can be seen here.
there are 18 shaktipeethas in india and srilanka.they are called ashtadasa shaktipeethas, which are the ultimate worship places for female goddesses. in those 18 shakti peethas, 5 are present in south india, in those 3 are present in andhra itself.in those 3, 2 peethas were located in east godavari district itself. one in draksharama where daksha yagna started and other in puruhuthikapuram or pithapuram. i will tell why and where daksha yagna started and why sati committed suicide? in other story as it is very big.here i wrote only the story of pithapuram.
As a shakti peetha
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| puruhuthika devi |
PITHAPURAM was earlier known as PEETHA PURAM OR PEETHIKAPURAM which means the place bearing the peetha (seat) sthan of goddess sati (first wife of shiva, later reincarnated as parvathy). According to Puranas it is said that after Daksha Yagna, Sati has set herself in fire and killed herself. lord shiva cried a lot after seeing her wifes lifeless body. with lord shiva, the life of universe himself fell in such a sad stage, the universe began to fell. then lord vishnu tried to bring back shiva into normal state by destroying satis dead body. using his sudarshan chakra, he cut the body into 18 piecesand they became 18 shaktipeethas.
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| shiva with sati's body |
As a shaiva and vishnu kshetra
Three Places are called as sacred places to perform”PINDA PRADANAM” (last rights) of one’s loved ones performed here ensures salvation of their loved ones.
- SHIRO GAYA: It is in Bihar. It is known as “Gaya”. Here lord Vishnu is worshipped in the form of Gadadhara even today. This is one of the 18 Shakthi peetas (MANGALYA GOURI) where Gayasur’s head is placed when he liked down for Yagna.
- NABI GAYA: This is in Orissa, near Bijapur railway station. It is known as NABHI GAYA KSHETRA. Lord Brahma is worshipped here. It is also one of the 18 Shakthi Peetams ( GIRIJADEVI) where the naval point of Gayasur is placed.
- PADA GAYA: It is in Pithapuram, East Godavari district. Lord Siva is worshipped here and Shakthi peetam is Purihuthika Devi. It is famous for Pinda Pradanam to ancestors. Vishnu Pada, Gaya Pada shrines are also present here.
The story behind is that during the time of KRUTA YUGA there had been a demon called GAYASURA. He, did a heavy penance and sought a boon that whoever see him should attain salvation (Moksham). Since salvation is achieved through being righteous in one’s lifetime, people started obtaining it easily by seeing Gayasura. To prevent immoral people from attaining salvation Indra prayed Trimurthis (Lord Brahama, Vishnu and Shiva). Trimurthis has approached Gayasura as Brahmins.
Then they told Gayasura, that they are conducting to do a Pavithra Yagna, and they requested land from him. Gayasura happily accepted to give the land. And they told to Gayasura, each and every place on earth has bad incidents in it’s history, so its unfit for their sacred Yagna . Gayasura has asked them to solve this solution, and Trimurthees has told to Gayasura, your body will be the best place for Yagna! They supported their logic with the boon he got from Vishnu and his wish in giving salvation to everybody! And told that this can be considered as a pious challenge to him and that after the Yagna was over, he can continue to grow in height and give salvation freely to all the people. He has to face the sins of all people before giving salvation. He has to face many vighnas(obstacles) to fulfill his desire. They told that the capabilities of Gayasura can be pre-tested in helping this Yagna. Gayasura has accepted. That Yagna was conducted on the pious body for seven days. He developed his etheric-body with his power and slept on earth.
Lord Trimurtees has started the Yagna., he has bore the fire on his body. He was counting the days with the help of crowing of cocks in the early morning. He became frustrated that day by day, because of the fire but not moving his body for the word he gave. On the seventh day Lord Shiva took a form of the cock and crowed at midnight. Gayasura has Considering that it has the sign of morning and he woke up. Then the yagna was destroyed. Trimurthees has asked Gayasura, “if you couldn’t control for seven days how you will be willing to bear the sins of entire humanity for unlimited time by growing in size.” Gayasura has realized his mistake and he accepted his fault. Trimurthis has appeared before him and told that his body will be present as it is and the entire land will become sacred because of him only. He was granted Moksha too and blessed. He entered into samadhi and nirantara tapascharyam and stopped his asinine act of growing in size. Lord Vishnu punished him by stamping Gayasura with his feet into the Earth. As a result Lord Vishnu’s foot prints remained on earth.
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| lord vishnu foot marks |
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| swayambhu shiva |
Home for lord Dattatreya
Lord Dattatreya had been SWAYAMBHU here.That means the idol present in the Temple is not carved by any one. Instead he appeared on his own . Unlike other Datta kshetras Idol is worshipped here.
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| sri pada sri vallabha |
sri pada sri vallabha was the first avatara of lord dattatreya, the ultimate guru , who himself an avatar of brahma, vishnu and shiva.lord dattatreya was born as sri pada sri vallabha in pithapuram. he live many years in pithapuram and later moved to kuruvapura in karnataka. he is revered as parabrahma or superior god in hinduism. according to datta sampradaya, there are 5 avatatars of dattatreya. they are
- sri pada sri vallabha
- nrusimha saraswathy
- akkalkot maharaj swamy samarth
- shirdi sai baba
- manikya prabhu
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| belief that sri vallabha come and take alms everyday in pithapuram |
The Dattatreya’s First Avatar is Sripada Sri Vallabha. He has born on the day of Vinayaka Chavith in 1326, at Pitapuram Villag – Andhra pradesh. He is the third child in his family, he has 2 elder brothers and 2 younger sisters. His Parents are Sri Ghandikota Appala Raju Sarma & Smt. Sumathi Maharani. His Grandfather is Bapana Charyulu.Once Appala raju Sarma family was celebrating the Pitru Karma . In the afternoon Bhikshuk came for bhiksha. Before feeding the invited Brahmins, Sumathi Maharani has fed this Bhikshuk considering him as Lord Dattatreya.
Dattatreya became quite happy and offered her a boon. She asked for a son with great knowledge.Dattatreya blessed her and saying that she will have world famous son who will be guru to all. Both husband and wife became very happy to hear the blessings from Lord Dattatreya.Then she had a son -(Dattatreya) & they named him ‘Shripada’ as the boy had auspious signs in his feet. Sripada has given so many messages and showed so many miracles to the people from his childhood.
"Pithapuram is blessed by the existence of Sripada for 30 years and later Sri pada took Sanyasa Ashram and left for Kuruvapur. Pithapur is the Karma bhoomi and Kuruvapur is the Moksha bhoomi of Sripada."
thus i provided many details about pithapuram in one blog….. give me feedback. you can contact me for further details.
i am dedicating my next blog only to write about dattatreya and his avatars..i will try to give every single detail of all avatars of dattatreya including miracles… thank you for reading my blog..
jai guru datta
