Shrishaila

(“holy mountain”) Sacred mountain in
the center of the state of Andhra
Pradesh, about 185 miles south and
slightly east of Hyderabad. The site is
remote and difficult to reach but is
famous for a temple sacred to the god
Shiva, in his manifestation as Mallikarjuna, “[Lord] White as Jasmine.”
Shiva’s image as Mallikarjuna is in the
form of a linga, the pillar-shaped image
that is his symbolic form, and the
Mallikarjuna linga is one of the twelve
jyotirlingas, a network of sites deemed
especially sacred to Shiva, and at which
Shiva is uniquely present.