Samarlakota

 town, mandal headquarter

Tehsil Samalkota, District Kakinada (Kakinada), Andhra Pradesh, Bharat


Samarlakota is a mandal(Mdl code-25) in East Godavari District (Dt code-4), AP State, India. Total no. of villages in this mandal are 19. The Mandal HQ is Samarlakota (samarla village code-5).
Samal-kot సామర్ల కోట also known as Samarla-kota is a city, a municipality and Mandal in East Godavari district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Samalkot is a Town and very big Industrial City , north-east of Rajahmundry in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh in south India, about 150 km south-west of Vishakhapatnam and is on the rail line between Madras and Calcutta. The nearest city (10 km) is Kakinada, the nearest air strip (40 miles) is Rajahmundhry and the nearest airport (100 miles) is Visakhapatnam (Vizag).The Mandal of Samalkot had a population of 101,752 in 2005, Samalkot itself has more than 41,000 voters.
The region is cyclone-prone, and the people are mostly landless agricultural workers.The villagers are known for growing one of the most sought after varieties of hot pepper and is famous for the production of onions, ground nuts, cotton and rice.Sri Chalukya Kumararama Sri Bhimeswaraswamy vari temple (Kumararama, one of the Pancharama Kshetras) is located at about 1 k.m from the Railway station. The presiding deity at this temple is Lord Shiva known as Kumara Bhimeswara. Maha Sivarathri is the most important festival which is celebrated in this temple.
The temple is historically prominent, as it was built by Chalukyas who reigned over this location. Construction of the temple started in 892 A.D. and completed around 922 A.D. It is similar to the temple in Draksharamam, but is also unique, such as the linga being white. The temple still stands strong and it was made National Heritage Site .and its resemblance of twin of Draksharam ,with two staired mandapa ,really amazes more as its so well without any cracks, though the temple is not in a populated place, people do come here.

The Linga is a limestone ,14 feet high .The temple was built in Dravidian style ,by the King Chalukya Bhima,Hence the god name is Bhimeswara (between 892-922 A.D) .The Kakatiya rulers (in the period 1340-1466 A.D)have added and renovated the temple pillars with a very fine sharp finishes .The work of CHalukyas and Kakatiya's is very easily distinguished ,by the well decorated and polished pillars in the temple to the rest of the temple.both new and old.the construction of this temple is so well that it has not changed much through all years, when compared to Draksharaam temple .Kala Bhairava is also of importance and Balatripura sundari is the Goddess.Shaasanas between 1147-1494 A.D were scripted into pillars of the temple,which also have list of gifts given ,thru the ages, for the temple. In Puranas its been written that its a Yogakshetram,which means ,the person who has the "yogam"(kind of "fated to have" "opportunity given by god" ""boon") to visit ,will visit the temple. The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Kakinada Depot runs circular tours covering all the 5 Pancharamas (Amaravathi, Bhimavaram, palakollu, Draksharama & Samalkota) in a span of 24 hours. The journey starts at 8.00PM evey Sunday and ends at 8.00P.M next day covering 700 km approximaely. Currently charges are Rs.350/- and are inclusive of darhan charges at the respective places. Nearby this temple there is one more temple "Mandavya narayana swamy temple".This temple is situated on the bank of the canal. Once upon a time a great saint named Madavya did Tapassu for Lord Narayana swamy at this place and he got the dharshan of Lord Narayana swamy at this place.So that this temple is named as Mandavya Narayana Swamy temple. It is said that Indra Deva came to this place to had the saint Mandavya dharshan with his Pushpaka Vimanam. This temple was built with very good architecture. In Samalkot there is one more old temple which has more age than above mentioned temples i.e. "Trimukha lingam temple". As the Sivalingam has three faces this temple is named like that and the three faces are believed as Trimurtulu( Lord Brahma, Loed Vishnu, Lord Maheswara).This temple was totally buried and we can see only upper portion of Linga which is of 14feet long.