Kalahasti

Temple and sacred site (tirtha) in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh,
about fifty miles east of the town of
Tirupati and 125 miles northwest of the
city of Madras. Kalahasti is famous as
one of the bhutalingas (“elemental lingas”), a network of five southern Indian
sites sacred to the god Shiva. At each of
these sites Shiva is worshiped as a linga,
the pillar-shaped object that is his
symbolic form, and at each site the
linga is believed to be formed from one
of the five primordial elements
(bhuta)—earth, wind, fire, water, and
space (akasha). Kalahasti’s linga is
associated with the element of wind,
and the manifestation of Shiva there is
Kalahasteshvar, the “Lord of Kalahasti.”
Kalahasti is also one of the Shakti
Pithas, a network of sites throughout
the subcontinent that are sacred to the
Goddess. Each Shakti Pitha marks the
site where a body part of the dismembered goddess Sati fell to earth, taking
form there as a different goddess; in the
case of Kalahasti the body part was Sati’s
left shoulder. Kalahasti’s sanctity is thus
reinforced by having two highly powerful and sacred sites to two different
deities. See also pitha.