SRIKURMAM NEAR SRIKAKULAM, ANDHRA PRADESH

SRIKURMAM NEAR SRIKAKULAM, ANDHRA PRADESH

The temple at Sri Kurmam depicts the second avathara of Lord Vishnu, Kurmam. A rare one for the entire India to have this avathara of Vishnu in a temple and the main deity itself is a Kurmam vigraha and poojas conducted for the same.  The village also is called by the name Srikurmam and is about 15 kms from Srikakulam and 11 kms from Arasavalli Sree Suryanarayana Swamy temple. Mukalingam temple is 42 kms from here towards Bhuvaneshwar.  Thus Srikakulam is the nearby place to reach srikurmam.  

APTDC Tour packages for a day from Vishakapatnam to Arasavalli and back covers Arasavalli Suryanarayana Swamy Temple, Srikurmam, Mukalingam, Kalingapatnam etc.,

From the national highway, where one has to take a turn to the temple, there is a statue of a Tortoise.   From this point about 3 kms is the temple.

Some of the photographs taken in the temple -

It is a very old temple with an wonderful temple tank known as Sheerasagara. On immediately entering main entry gate, to the left is the temple tank and to the right is the counter issuing tickets for special entry and archanai.   One can enter the sanctum sanctorum (Garbha Gruha) and as the mantras are recited by the temple priest the flowers can be offered to the deity by the devotees standing next to the Lord's idol which is in the form of a Kurma.  Flowers are offered on the head, back and tail portion of the Kurma.   

 SREE KURMANATHA

Legend has it that there was a mountain known as Swetachala and the region was ruled by a King Sutha.  On an Ekadasi day, when the Queen was following Vratham, the king made amorous advances to her.  She shunned him and prayed to the Lord that he should help her follow the Vratham unhindered.  The Lord separated the King and the Queen by making Ganges to flow between them and she started living on the banks of the river.   The King living in solitude also was worried without his consort.   Sage Naradha advised the King to do a penance on Lord Vishnu and also taught the king the Kurma Mantra to meditate upon. Pleased with the penance of King Sutha, the Lord appeared before him in his normal posture with 4 hands holding the Chank, Chakra, Gatha and Padmam.  Lord accompanied by the King and Naradha went the hill in which the Maharishi Vakranga was living.   On the way, seeing the beauty of the place, he made a tank with his disc and it was called by the name Ksheera Samudram. Mahalakshmi also joined him and settled there and the place was called as Srikurmam.  Hence taking bath in the temple tank Ksheera Samudram is considered holy.

The temple many million years old with outer structures constructed many a times.  The present structure seems to have  been of 700 years old.   The story of the temple is mentioned in Kurma, Vishnu, agni, padma and Brahmanda puranas.  Sree Ramanujacharya prayed in this temple in the 11th century.  The deity, facing east, until then, turned to West to bless the Acharya, similar to Udipi in Karnataka.  Hence the temple has a second flag post for this direction too.  Ksheera Samudram created by the disc of Lord Vishnu is also called as Swetha Pushkarani.  It is believed that Lakshmi came out of this tank in Garuda Vahana to join the Lord to bless devotees as Kurma Nayaki. The temple structure which has been altered by many Kings bears the structure of Andhra Pradesh as well as Odisha (Kalinga).  


Lot of shops in front of the temple offer pooja materials.

Temple Timings:

06.00 AM to 07.45 PM