Bhaktikalpa

Sthalam

Ksheerarama is one of the five Pancharama Kshetras that are sacred to the Hindu god Shiva. The temple is located in Palakollu of West Godavari in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Shiva is known locally as Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy.

The Sivalinga was established by Vishnu. It is believed that staying one day in Kshirarama is equivalent to staying one year in Varanasi. It is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance.

It is one of the five powerful Shiva temples in Southern India that form the "Pancharama Kshetram". The remaining four are Somarama Temple in Bhimavaram; Draksharama Temple in Draksharamam; Kumararama Temple in Samalkota; and Amararama Temple in Amaravati, state of Andhra Pradesh.

The tower is one of the tallest among the temple towers in Andhra Pradesh. The height of the temple is 120 ft and 9 floors and was constructed during the Chalukya period (9th century) during the reign of Chalukya Bheema.

The Shivaling is a unique milky white in colour and the tallest. There are 72 pillars made of black stone in the temple mandapa. Inside, the garbhalaya, Gokarneswara and Vigneswara alayas are at the left. Kshiralingam is in the center. To the right are Subramanya Swamy and Janardhana Swamy alayas; Nandi is at the centre.

The Gostani River flows through Palakollu and there is a sangam (confluence) near Narsapur with the Godavari River. From here the river empties into the sea at Antarvedi. The Moola Virat (lingam), can be seen from the windows of the Garbha Gudiall on all four sides.

Puranam

Skanda Purana and Brahmanda Purana have mention about this temple. As per the legends, Amrutha Atma Linga emerged out during the Ksheerasagar Mathanam (drilling the Ocean of Milk), but Demon Tarakasura stole it. Wearing this Linga around his neck, he attained supernatural powers and became unbeatable. Kumara Swamy, the son of Lord Siva and Parvathi, was the commander-in-chief of Gods and he attacked Tarakasura in a face to face war. Using his Sakthi weapon Kumara Swamy repeatedly broke the body of Tarakasura into pieces but every time it reunited.

Lord Maha Vishnu advised Kumara Swamy that in order to kill the demon he should break the Linga into pieces. Still his body parts will reunite. So to prevent that reunion, the broken pieces should be fixed in those places where they fell, by worshipping and building temples on top of each piece.

As per Maha Vishnu’s advice, Kumara Swamy used his Agni weapon and broke the Siva Linga worn by the Tarakasura. The Atma Linga broke into five pieces, and the broken pieces tried to reunite by chanting ‘Aum’. To prevent the reunion, Indra, Surya, Chandra, Vishnu and Kumara Swamy worshipped the different pieces of Linga at their respective places and built temples which are known as Pancharama Kshethras. It is believed that Lord Vishnu installed the Siva Linga in the Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple.

As per another story, there lived a poor Brahmin Koushika who struggled a lot for his daily living. One day his son Upaveeta asked his mother to prepare milk rice. Because of poverty, she asked him to pray to Bhimeswara. As per his mother’s advice, he sat in front of the idol and started praying to the God for milk. Lord Siva was highly impressed and he created a milk pool with his Trishul. Hence, got the name Ksheerapuram and Palakolanu, which was later known as Palakollu.

Varnam

The Sivalinga was established by Vishnu. It is believed that staying one day in Kshirarama is equivalent to staying one year in Varanasi.The Shivalinga is milky white in colour and is believed to be the tallest.