Mallikarjuna: Where Parents Sought Their Son

Shiva and Parvati following their angry son Kartikeya

Visit Mallikarjuna at Srisailam in the Nallamala Hills, one of the few jyotirlingas that's also a Shakti Peetha. Learn the touching story of Kartikeya's anger at losing the marriage competition, his retreat to this hill, and his parents' eternal presence here to be near their son.

The Angry Son and the Searching Parents

High in the Nallamala Hills of Andhra Pradesh, where the Krishna River carves through ancient rock, stands one of India's most emotionally resonant temples. Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga is not a story of demon-slaying or cosmic battles, it is a story every family can understand: parents who would go anywhere to be near their child.

The legend begins not with Shiva, but with a quarrel between his two sons.

The Mango That Divided Brothers

Once, a celestial mango of extraordinary virtue arrived at Mount Kailash. This was no ordinary fruit, whoever ate it would gain supreme knowledge and wisdom. Both Kartikeya (the elder son, god of war) and Ganesha (the younger, lord of beginnings) wanted it.

Shiva proposed a contest: whoever could circumnavigate the universe three times and return first would win the mango.

Kartikeya, confident in his speed and mounted on his peacock, immediately set off to circle the cosmos. But Ganesha, pot-bellied and riding a mouse, simply walked around his parents three times and sat down.

"What is this?" asked Shiva.

Ganesha replied: "The scriptures say that one's parents contain the entire universe. By circumambulating you and Mother, I have circled all creation."

Shiva and Parvati, moved by this wisdom, awarded the mango to Ganesha.

When Kartikeya returned from his cosmic journey and learned what had happened, he was furious. He felt cheated, his physical effort dismissed, his brother's cleverness rewarded. In his rage, he left Kailash, vowing to live alone.

The Wandering and the Waiting

Kartikeya first went to Krauncha Parvat (often identified with Palani in Tamil Nadu). But when Shiva and Parvati followed him there, he moved further north, eventually settling at Srisailam, the "auspicious mountain" rising from the Nallamala forest.

Here, Kartikeya declared, he would remain in solitude, away from his parents.