name. The sage Vasishta cursed the Vainatéyam, and a bath in it is only sanctifying if taken on a Sunday. The lingam in the Siva temple is said to have been brought from the Nerbudda river by the kite Garuda, and the supposed marks of the bird's claws are pointed out on it.
Késanakurru: Eleven miles north-east of Amalápuram in a straight line. Population 3,556. A bath in its tank is supposed to confer religious merit. The sage Vyása, who (see p. 250) is said to have founded Drákshárámam, once, say the local legends, intended to establish a second Benares at Késanakurru; but heard a voice saying 'Kási nakuru,' 'do not make a Benares.' He accordingly founded Drákshárámam instead; but Késanakurru was named after the words of the divine warning, which have since become corrupted to their present form.
Mandapalli: Fourteen miles north-west of Amalápuram. Population 542. The god at the Siva temple here, Mandésvara, is bathed in oil every Saturday; and a common form of vow consists in a promise to provide the oil for this bath. Saturdays coinciding with the second day before full-moon day are particularly propitious for the fulfilment of this vow.
Muramalla: Thirteen miles north-east of Amalápuram. Population 1,448. The Siva temple here is visited by numerous pilgrims, and the usual vow taken by the devout is a promise to celebrate the marriage of the god. Hardly a day, it is said, passes without this ceremony being performed; and there is a proverb to the effect that at Muramalla there is a marriage every day and the garlands are always green. The temple is rich, and is said to have been founded and endowed 'about 500 years ago' by the widow of a Kóna Síma Drávida Bráhman.
Palivela: Twelve miles north-west of Amalápuram. Population 7,509. The Koppésvara temple here contains a number of inscriptions, some of which have been copied by the Government Epigraphist (Nos. 498 to 505 of 1893). The oldest records a gift by a minister of one of the Vélanándu family and is dated 1172 A.D. None of the others are earlier than the fourteenth century. One on the east wall of the shrine belongs to the time of the great Kákatíya king Pratápa Rudra, and is dated in 1317, or not long before his fall.*[1] The nandi in front of the temple is popularly declared to have been mutilated by order of Aurangzeb.
In former times dancing-girls used to sleep three nights at the commencement of their career in the inner shrine, so as to
- ↑ * See Government Epigraphist's Annual Report for 1894, pp. 22 and 23.
