Arasavalli Surya Narayana - Sustainer of Life

India is a land of mysticism, and ancient temples in India only add to its glory. Worshiping Sun is part of Indian culture. The Sun was one of the most worshiped gods in the ancient world , Whether it be Apollo or Greeks or Romans. In Hinduism, the sun or Surya or adithya occupies a very prominent place. Sun plays a very active role in Mahabharata as the father of Karna. Several temples have been built by legendary kings to worship this source and sustainer of all life on earth.

Surya means the Sun, God Sun is one of the nine Navagraha in India and the temples were built by different cultures and kings. Unlike many other civilizations, sun temples in India still attract faith and pilgrims throughout the year. Every sun temple has sacred tanks connected and belief is that it would cure leprosy, blindness and skin diseases when we take a dip in that. Sunday is the special day for worship and thus these temples are more crowded than is normal during those days.

There are many sun temples in India and 12 of them seem to be very important. Arasavalli Surya Narayana temple in andhra pradesh is one such temple. The temple is a 7th century temple situated in Arasavalli Village at a distance of 1 km east of Srikakulam Town. The temple was built by the king Devendra varma, ruler of the Kalinga dynasty. The temple is one of the most visited temples in town as well as from other parts of the country. The temple is one of the oldest temples.

In Hindu traditions, the sun god Surya travels across the sky in a chariot pulled by either seven horses or a single seven-headed horse. The chariot driver is Aruna, the personification of dawn. In Hindu mythology, they fight the demons of darkness.

Legend says that, during the war of mahabharata , Balarama brother of Lord krishna could not decide which way to fight either with pandavas or Kauravas. So he decides to go for a pilgrimage without fighting the war. He returns after completing the pilgrimage, but no one believes that he completed the pilgrimage. Listening to this, Balarama becomes furious and hits the land below him with his weapon plough and says “if he really done the pilgrimage, river ganga will come out of the place where he hits with plough”. Water comes out of the place where he hits with plough. Since plough in telugu is called as “nagali”, the river that came out from this place is called “nagavali” river. Bala rama then does puja to Shiva and installs shivalinga here. The shivling is called as Koteswara swamy.

One day, Lord Devendra visited this Koteswara swamy, but it was a personal time for lord shiva. Nandhi who is guard of Lord shiva does not allow Devendra to visit shiva. Words went out and both of them started to fight. Nandhi then using his horns crushed Devendra and threw him out. Lord Devendra with all his injuries did puja to God Surya here. Surya being happy with the Puja cured all the injuries of Lord Shiva. Valli means Sun rays. Since Lord Devendra is cured by sun rays, this place is called Harshavalli. IN time it changed to Arasavalli.

The deity is a 5 ft tall one of black granite holding lotus buds - flanked by Usha and Chhaya. Padmapani is the name of this Sun God - padma stands for wisdom usha and chhaya stands for eternity. Mysterious thing about this is that the temple is built in such a way that the early morning rays of the sun fall on the feet of the deity twice a year (Uttarayanam - March 9-11 and Dakshinayam - October 1-3), even when the 5 entrance gates are closed.