| Temples & Legends of Andhra Pradesh |
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| Temples & Legends Of India |
ANNAVARAM |
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| Bhishma
Ekadashi is particularly sacred and important for this shrine, as the day when Bhishma,
the great hero of the Mahabharata, voluntarily gave up his life on the battlefield of
Kurukshetra. It was just before this that he initiated Yudhish thira into the most
powerful and efficacious of all mantras viz., the Vishnu Sahasranama. This mantra is so holy and so powerful, that Adisankara, the great Advaitic teacher, has thought fit to write a commentary on it, just as he did on the other important scrip- tures like the Prasthana trayas. There is a Vratham called the Satyan- narayana Vratham, which actually puts into practice, this sacred mantra, and this Vratham is one of the most popular and powerful of all the Vratams of the Anna- varam temples. Hence the Satyanaravana Vratham which is specially dedicated to Vishnu Sahas- ranamam, has to be performed on the Bhishma Ekadashi day, and Annavaram, temple which is dedicated to Lord Satyanarayanaswami, is the very shrine in which the Vratham is performed with great sanctity. Hence literally thousands of pilgrims flock to the temple on the Bhishma Ekadashi day and perform this Satyannarayana Vratham in the direct presence of the Lord. |
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| About Annavaram | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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