150-feet statue of Ardhanarisvara to come up in Srisailam

The Srisailam temple management had decided to construct a 150 feet statue of ‘Ardhanarisvara’ — a form of Lord Shiva combined with His Consort Parvati — in the temple town. The statue will be constructed with cement in the Nakshatravanam.

The management of Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam, at its recent trust board meeting, had discussed the proposal to construct the statue to instill devotion and spirituality among the visiting devotees. The statue will be built after taking suggestions and recommendations from experts in Vedas and architecture.

As part of Dharma prachara activities, the temple management had decided to gift a saree or loincloth that were gifted to the temple by devotees to the Chenchus who participate in the activities related to propagation of dharma.

Meanwhile, the temple management had opened a Spiritual Library in the Mallikarjuna Sadan Hall as part of its Dharma prachara activity. Books on Puranas, itihasas and devotional literature were kept in the library. Trust Board Chairman P. Ramesh Naidu said the old building of Tirupati Satram near Gangadhara Mandapam will be dismantled and a Spiritual Library and museum will be built there.

Nearly 1,000 books from the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and another 1,400 other devotion books were kept at the library for the visiting devotees to access. The temple management is planning to get more books from authors and organisations apart from making available newspapers and devotional magazines at the library.

Meanwhile, the temple trust board had also approved setting up of a vigilance committee with temple officials to prevent any propaganda of other religions and also entry of liquor or non-vegetarian food into the temple town. It was also decided to appoint a Deputy Superintendent of Police rank officer to supervise security arrangements and also to monitor the Special Protection Force that is providing security to the temple. Further, a bomb disposal squad will also be formed to undertake thorough checks of those visiting the temple, as part of the security measures.