The
Cave And The Snow Linga
On
the auspicious Sravana Purnima day, devotees after purging of their
impurities sticking to body, mind and soul in the river Amaravathi
also called Amaraganga enter the cave to greet their eyes with the
holy snow image of Siva linga. This sacred cave is about 150 feet
high and 90 feet broad. The walls are moist and appear to have been
made of gypsum. The ceiling is leaky except for a small area. There
are two holes in the northern wall from which snow white water drops
trickle down and form into ice as soon as they fall. Of the two, one
hole is slightly bigger and right below it is the huge Sivalinga
measuring about two yards in height formed by the snow water
dripping from the roof. To the right of this Linga, there is another
formation of Snow linga and it is called the image of Parvathi, and
to its left there is yet one more little - linga for, Ganesh formed
likewise. The devout pilgrims offer obeisance to all the three snow
images with all due fervor. Several types of prayer services and
rituals are performed with the aid of priests.
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