Hello friends, welcome to my blog. Recently I visited Indrakeeladri, a powerful Maa Durga temple in Andhra Pradesh. The temple has years of history. Indrakeeladri is situated on the banks of Krishna river in Vijayawada district, Andhra Pradesh. In this blog, I want to share legendary story behind this temple.

Once a Yaksha named keela performed severe penance upon goddess Durga. Pleased by his devotion, Maa Durga appeared before him. Keela was happy and asked the goddess to stay on his head forever. With pleasant smile, Maa Durga replied to him that in Kritayuga, you will born as a hill and I will stay on that hill forever after slaying the demons. As per boon, Keela took mountain form waited for the goddess arrival. After killing Mahishasura, goddess Durga abode on Keela mountain. Now, the mountain called as Keeladri became permanent home for the deity. In the temple, idol is pleasant with beautiful smile and a golden glowing face of thousand's sun. So, the deity attained a name as “Kanaka Durga”. Since the Lord Indra worships the goddess daily, the mountain got a name as “Indrakeeladri”.

Lord Brahma thought Lord Shiva should reside on the mountain along with goddess. So, he performed “Sata Aswamedha Yagam”. Because of this Yagna, Lord Shiva took the form of Jyotirlinga, and resided on the mountain. Brahma Dev worshipped Lord Shiva with Jasmine flowers. Thus, Shiv ji attained the name as “Malleshwara”. So, the Shrine became “Sri Durga Malleshwara Swamy temple”. The specialty of this temple is that the lingam is in North-east to Devi Durga  this shows shakti is predominant and both idols are self-manifested (Swayambhu).

There are some popular stories behind this temple. There was a story that Maa Durga roam around Vijayawada during night times. One such incident happened in 1955. It was near to midnight, a rickshaw puller named Venkanna, waited near a theatre to get passengers, at that a woman came and asked him if he can drop her in indrakeeladri. Venkanna asked the woman to hop in. After sometime, she questioned him why he was working at this hour and isn't he afraid of goddess who will wanders at night time. He answered that his family living relies on his earnings and he was not afraid of Maa Kanaka Durga because she was his mother. After reaching the foot hill he asked the woman for destination but no reply came from back. When he turned around no one was there. He saw the passenger woman going towards hill and shouted Amma please pay the fare. She replied, I already paid, look into your turban. When he removed his turban he saw a ten rupees note and glittering golden bangle. He realised that passenger is none other than Durga Maa. He was overjoyed to see his mother. This story was published in “Andhra Kesari” at that time. There is a myth that when Krishna river touches the nose pin of Durga Maa, Kaliyugam ends. 

In the present times, the temple management started developing the temple step by step. Now they are trying to provide satisfactory benefits to devotees and the constuction work is still ongoing. There is also a lift facility for the devotees to reach the main temple. Inside the temple premises, there are many subshrines like Hanuman temple, Valli Devasena Sametha Subramanya temple, Nataraja temple, and a huge snake hill surrounded snake god idols. There are no words to express the beauty of temple and goddess. From 2024, for the first time in Vijayawada history, they celebrated Varahi Navaratri from July 6th to July 15th. On the occasion of dasara, lakhs of people visit the temple to seek the blessings from Maa Kanaka Durga and the nine of days of dasara celebrated in a pompous manner by decorating Devi Durga in different avatars. In the month of Ashada, they celebrates an annual festival called ‘ Shakambari festival’ where the deity is decorated with fresh vegetables. So, finally Indrakeeladri is a must visit divine destination in India.

Hope my readers enjoyed the content and I wish Maa Durga bless you all.

Thanks for reading!!!!