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Shrines of the Vijayawada
 (1).jpg "Shrines of the Vijayawada")
Vykuntapuram is a small village located on the banks of River Krishna near Amaravati bordering Guntur and Krishna districts. It is believed that Sri Venkateswara Swami along with wife Alimelu Manga are self-manifested (Swayambhu) on the Krounchagiri Hill at Vykuntapuram.
VYKUNTAPURAM SRI VENKATESWARA SWAMI TEMPLE
Vykuntapuram is a small village located on the banks of River Krishna near Amaravati bordering Guntur and Krishna districts. It is believed that Sri Venkateswara Swami along with wife Alimelu Manga are self-manifested (Swayambhu) on the Krounchagiri Hill at Vykuntapuram.
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History of the temple
In the 11th century, when Amaravati was ruled by the Kakatiyas, Venkateswara Swami happened to pass a message to Brahmin brothers Chinna Ramana and Pedda Ramana, in their dream stating that he was present in a small cave on a hill northeast of Amaravati. When the brothers started paving a way onto the hill and through the cave, they discovered the stone statue of the lord in the form of Salagrama Sila i.e., with a head, a Sankham and a Chakram. Later in the 14th century CE, the rulers of Kondaveedu constructed a Mukha Mandapam around the cave and when they tried to give a complete structure to the Lord’s statue, they encountered incessant bleeding at the heart of the Lord’s statue. Then the Lord, in the form of Aakasavaani, announced that as he was present in a cosmic form without any shape. He advised them to worship him in the shapeless stone form and perform a daily archana to him by plastering the wound with fresh sandalwood paste.
Later in the year 1750 CE, the then Amaravati King, Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu, constructed a full-fledged temple for Sri Venkateswara Swami along with a “Maharaja Gopuram” (similar to that of the Lord’s temple in Tirumala) at the foot of the hill. From then on, the village was aptly named Vykuntapuram. When a cyclone in 1977 wreaked havoc in the Krishna Delta, the Maharaja Gopuram was devastated. And over the years, the stone steps to climb the hill to reach the main temple have also been ruined.
A powerful temple
Adding to the sanctity of Vykuntapuram, River Krishna, the third longest river in India originating from Mahabaleswar in Maharashtra in the west and before meeting sea at Hamsaladeevi in Andhra Pradesh on the east coast, momentarily changes its direction and flows as ‘Uttara Vahini’ (i.e., flowing in northern direction) after hitting the Krounchagiri Hill. This lends a million-fold potency to Vykuntapuram and makes it a Maha Kshetram similar to Varanasi in the north where holiest of the rivers, Ganges, flows northwardly. Another similarity that can be drawn to the Varanasi temple is the presence of eight stone statues of Anjaneya Swami protecting the temple and the Lord in all directions making it Ashta Digbandhanam.
