Kalahasthy - One of the Pancha Bhoota shrines of Lord Shiva
Kalahasti is located near the pilgrimage town of Tirupati and is visited by thousands of pilgrims. SriKalahasti temple is located 36 km away from Tirupathi in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradhesh, India. This temple is also associated with Rahu and Ketu, (of the nine grahams or celestial bodies in the Indian astrological scheme).
The vast west facing Kalahastiswara temple (13°45′N 79°42′E) is built adjoining a hill, and on the banks of the river Swarnamukhi. At some points, the hill serves as the wall of the temple. The temple prakarams follow the contour of the adjoining hill and hence the temple plan is rather irregular. North of the temple is the Durgambika hill, south is the Kannappar hill andeast is the Kumaraswamy hill. Kannappa Nayanaar, a hunter and an ardent devotee of Kalahasteeswarar offered his own eyes to Lord Shiva. Thus the hunter earned the name of Kannappan. His original name was Thinnan. His statue is therefore present in the sanctum.
History
Legend says that Lord Shiva disguised as Vayu (Air) observed that The Spider (SRI)
, Cobra (KALA) & Elephant (HASTI) worshipped Him very devotedly. To please the Lord, the spider wove some splendid objects with silk, the elephant brought flowers and washed the idol with water and the snake decorated the idol with some special stones.
A fight with the snake and the elephant began when the elephant removed the precious stones brought by the snake, to decorate the idol with flowers. In the fight that followed, the spider got caught in the middle and the three eventually died.
This devotion was so strong that the Lord merged the three souls in Him and thus the name Sri Kalahasti. So Lord Shiva made them to relieve from the curse and attain salvation, hence this place is called Srikalahasti.
