Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga

Mallikārjuna is worshipped at Srisailam, a hill town deep in the forested Nallamala range of Andhra Pradesh. The Krishna river runs through a gorge below the town, where pilgrims know it as Pātālagaṅgā. The hill itself is the Śrīśaila, or Śrīparvata, of the old texts.

The Śiva Purāṇa links the shrine to a family quarrel. When the time came for their sons to marry, Śiva and Pārvatī said that whichever of them first went round the earth would be married first. Kārttikeya set off at once. Gaṇeśa instead walked around his parents, saying that for a son they are the whole world, and he was married first. Kārttikeya came back, felt wronged, and left for the Krauñca mountain. His parents could not bear the separation and followed him there, and Śiva stayed on the mountain as the jyotirliṅga Mallikārjuna. The text adds that Śiva comes to see his son on the new-moon day and Pārvatī on the full-moon day. The name is traditionally explained as Mallikā, meaning Pārvatī, together with Arjuna, meaning Śiva.

Srisailam is unusual in being honoured twice over. The goddess here, Bhramarāmbā, is counted by tradition among the Śakti Pīṭhas, so a jyotirliṅga and a seat of the Goddess stand within one temple complex. The Tamil Śaiva saints also sang of this hill. The long road in, through forest and tiger reserve, is part of the pilgrimage.