SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

34O SRI PARVATAM.
To southerners generally, a temple is sacred, if it had been
visited by the Saiva Saints or Alvars and
; Sr! ailam has been
visited
by all the three Saints Appar, Sambhandar and Sundarar,
and their separate Hymns appear in the Devara Collections ;
and
the place
is called Sri Paruppatam, Tamil reading of Sri Parvatam,
and the hill is locally known by this name more than by the name
of Sri Sailam or Mallikarjunam.
Now to describe briefly our journey to the place.
From
Madras, we reach Nandyal, by the M. and S. M. R. lines, and
from Nandyal, we go by cart to Atmakur, a distance of 28 miles.
The road is
wretchedly bad for the greater part, and does not
reflect much credit on the Board in charge of it. In fact, cart-men
avoided the High Road for nearly 10 miles and preferred to go
by the country
roads. Atmakur is a small town and is the
seat of the Deputy Tahsildar, Police Inspector and a Local
Fund Hospital. From here to the foot of the Hill (Nagaluti) is a
distance of 12 miles. This road, too, except for a few miles, is of
the worst description. The situation of Nagaluti
is
very pleasant,
surrounded by shady groves,
in which there is a nice and cool
spring, the water flowing into a small tub from the mouth of a
bull. There is here a small Temple dedicated to Siva and
Virabhadrasvami. From Nagaluti we commence the ascent, and
it is a steep one for over 2 or 3 miles. The chief difficulty of the
ascent is due to the flight of steps that have been constructed
over this distance. After we go up two or three hills, the ro^.d
is not bad and it is slightly up and down, and as we reach Peddacheruvu,
we get into a big plateau, a valley surrounded on all
sides by the hills. Peddacheruvu is our halt for the day, and its
distance is
reported to be about 16 miles. There is a fine tank
here and it is
edged with tall growing bamboos, which give
it a
most picturesque appearance. In the tank itself, beautiful white
lotuses, water lilies and tall cuscus, grasses grow and the water
actually tastes sweet with the smell of the cuscus, grass. Early
next morning we resumed our journey, and after some distance
the way was rough but not difficult, having to go over several
small hills; and near ing Bhimani Kollum, we descend into a deep