The
popular legend about Prataparudra is that the King wanted to cast a gold Shiva- linga but
whatever be the cast, the final figure that emerged was the figure of Lord Narasimha. The King was deeply perturbed at this experience, and during his
meditation the Lord appeared before him, and told him that it was futile to make a
distinction between Siva and Vishnu and asked him to worship the Lord in upper Ahobalam,
as the Lord was the same in whatever form he was worshipped.
Ahobalam is a great centre of religious and spiritual
activities. It is a seat of a famous Math, which has extensive following among Vaishnavite
devotees.
The spiritual heads of this are called Jeers. The first
spiritual Jeer of this Math is stated to have been born in 1379 A.D. to one Kesavacharya,
a Srivaishnava of Tirunarayanapuram near Melkota Devagiri. |