Mahanandi: Water So Clear You Can Count the Coins on the Bottom

The origin story is one of the most widespread in the Indian temple repertoire, and Mahanandi's version has a particular detail.

As it is told:

• A cowherd noticed that one cow was giving no milk at the end of the day
• He followed her and found her standing over a spot in the forest, releasing her milk into the ground
• Angry or startled, he struck at the place, or in some tellings the calf did
• Beneath the ground was a linga, and the blow left a mark on it
• The linga was worshipped from then on, and the temple grew there

The mark. The linga at Mahanandi is said to bear a depression or soft patch from that blow, and devotees are told which part it is.

Why this story is everywhere. Some version of the cow that empties itself into the earth is attached to hundreds of temples across India, and it is worth asking what it is doing.

• It says the deity was found, not installed. The temple has no founder to credit and no date to defend
• It says the deity was found by an ordinary person, usually a cowherd, not a king or a priest
• It uses the cow, which in this tradition is the emblem of giving without being asked
• It makes the point that the sacred was already there, under the ground, before anyone knew

What it also tells you, read historically, is that these are usually old local sites. A stone under a tree that villagers had been honouring becomes a linga, the linga acquires a temple, and the temple acquires a story that explains the stone.

The Nandi. Mahanandi means the great Nandi, and Nandi is Shiva's bull and his vahana.

The cow story and the Nandi name reinforce each other. This is a cattle country temple, in a region where herding mattered, and both the story and the name reflect it.

Mahanandi is the principal shrine of a group, and the group is the reason to give the region more than an afternoon.

The Nava Nandis are nine Nandi shrines in the area around Mahanandi, and pilgrims make a circuit of all nine, traditionally in a single day.

The nine, as generally listed:

• Prathama Nandi, the first
• Naga Nandi
• Soma Nandi
• Surya Nandi
• Krishna Nandi
• Vishnu Nandi
• Shiva Nandi
• Garuda Nandi
• Mahanandi, the great one, which is the culmination

How the circuit works:

• The shrines are spread across the area around Nandyal, at varying distances
• Pilgrims traditionally complete all nine in a day, starting early
• Mahanandi is generally kept for last
• The whole is treated as a single observance rather than nine separate visits

Why circuits are built this way. The multi shrine circuit is one of the most characteristic structures in Indian religious practice, and it appears everywhere in different numbers.

• The Panch Kedar in Uttarakhand, five Shiva shrines
• The Ashta Vinayak in Maharashtra, eight Ganesha temples
• The Pancharama Kshetras in Andhra, five Shiva temples
• The Char Dham, four
• The Jyotirlingas, twelve
• The Shakti Peethas, in varying counts

What the structure achieves. A circuit turns worship into a journey, which is a different thing from a visit.

• It takes time, and time given is the offering
• It requires effort and planning, which the single visit does not
• It ties a region together, so that the whole landscape becomes sacred rather than one point in it
• It creates a sequence, with a beginning and a culmination, and the arrival at the last shrine means something because of the eight before it

Nandyal. The town's name is read from Nandi, and the whole district is Nandi country. That is not a coincidence of naming. It reflects a genuine regional cult of the bull, which is older and broader than any one temple.

Devotees bathe in the tanks at Mahanandi, and this is a large part of what the visit is.

The three gundams:

• Brahma Gundam and Vishnu Gundam, the outer tanks
• Rudra Gundam, the inner one closest to the source, which is the principal bathing tank
• Water flows from the inner outward, so it is cleanest at the source

What bathing here is for:

• Purification before darshan, which is the standard reason
• The water itself is regarded as tirtha, sacred, because of where it rises
• Many devotees regard it as having healing properties, and the constant temperature and mineral content are offered as the reason

Practical notes on bathing:

• Separate arrangements exist for men and women. Follow the temple's directions
• The water is around waist to chest deep in the main tank and there are steps
• It is cold by the standards of the local climate, and the shock in summer is part of the appeal
• Bring a change of clothes and a towel. Wet clothes in a queue in the sun are unpleasant
• Soap, shampoo and oil are not to be used in the tanks

A word on water and religion in India. The connection between temples and water sources is not decorative and it is not accidental.

• A great many old temples sit at springs, river confluences, tank heads and wells
• In a country where the water supply was seasonal and unreliable, a permanent source was a genuine matter of survival
• Declaring it sacred put it under protection, gave it a custodian, made polluting it an offence against the deity rather than a mere inconvenience, and paid for its maintenance through offerings
• Sacred groves work the same way for forest, and the Kerala kavu and the Rajasthani orans are the clearest examples

Mahanandi is a good place to see this working, because the water genuinely goes out and irrigates fields. The religion and the agriculture are the same system, and neither is decoration on the other.

Mahanandi sits at the edge of the Nallamala hills, and the setting is a substantial part of what the place is.

The Nallamala:

• A range of the Eastern Ghats running through Andhra Pradesh and into Telangana
• Heavily forested, with dry deciduous and thorn forest
• Cut through by the Krishna, which carves a gorge on its way to the plain
• Home to the Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve, one of the largest tiger reserves in India
• The traditional territory of the Chenchu, a forest dwelling community

Srisailam. The great Shiva temple of Srisailam, a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peetha, sits in the same hills, and Mahanandi is often visited on the way to or from it.

The Chenchus. Their presence in this landscape is worth knowing about.

• They are among the communities officially classed as particularly vulnerable tribal groups
• They have lived in the Nallamala forest for a very long time and have deep knowledge of it
• Local tradition at Srisailam holds a relationship between Shiva and a Chenchu woman, Chenchu Lakshmi, and the community has a recognised role in the temple's tradition
• Their situation now involves the usual pressures faced by forest communities, including displacement questions around the tiger reserve

Belum caves. About 70 km from Mahanandi, the Belum caves are among the longest cave systems in the Indian subcontinent, with over three kilometres explored, formed by the same karst geology that produces Mahanandi's springs.

They are open to visitors, lit, and worth the detour for anyone interested in where the water at Mahanandi has been before it arrives.

Ahobilam. Also within reach is Ahobilam, in the same hills, with its nine Narasimha shrines, another circuit of the type described above.

What this adds up to. The Nallamala is one of the more rewarding parts of Andhra Pradesh to travel in and one of the least travelled. Forest, caves, a Jyotirlinga, spring temples and shrine circuits, in a landscape most visitors to the state pass by entirely.

Getting there

• Mahanandi, Nandyal district, Andhra Pradesh
• About 15 km from Nandyal, which has a railway station
• Roughly 100 km from Kurnool
• Nearest airports are Kurnool and, further, Hyderabad
• Autos and buses run from Nandyal

Timings

• The temple opens early and runs through the day with a midday break. Check locally
• Bathing in the tanks is generally possible during temple hours

When to go

• October to February for the most comfortable weather. This region is very hot from March to June
• Maha Shivaratri, the temple's principal festival, with large crowds and an all night observance
• Karthika Masam, November or December, which is a major Shiva month in Andhra and brings numbers
• Early morning on any day, when the water is at its clearest and the light is on it

What to bring

• A change of clothes and a towel for the bath
• Water and a hat for the Nava Nandi circuit, which is a long day
• Cash. Facilities in the area are limited

Doing the Nava Nandi circuit

• Start very early. Nine shrines spread across a district is a full day
• Hire a vehicle for the day. Public transport will not manage the sequence
• Ask at Mahanandi for the current recommended order and for directions
• Keep Mahanandi for last if you can

Combining the visit

• Srisailam, the Jyotirlinga, in the same hills, about 150 km by road
• Belum caves, about 70 km
• Ahobilam, with the nine Narasimha shrines, about 70 km
• Yaganti, about 60 km, with its growing Nandi
• Nandyal town, as a base
• Gandikota, further west, the gorge of the Pennar with its fort, which is one of the most striking landscapes in Andhra

A suggested route. Kurnool as a base, then Yaganti, Belum, Mahanandi and the Nava Nandis, Ahobilam and Srisailam, taken over three or four days. That covers a stretch of India that almost nobody travels and that has as much in it as far more visited circuits.

A closing thought. Every temple claims something remarkable. Most of the claims cannot be checked. At Mahanandi you can put your hand in the water, look at the bottom of a five foot tank and see it perfectly, and then walk out and watch the same water going into somebody's rice field. That one is true, and you can verify it in about a minute.