Situated in a small village called Mandapalli, 38 km
from Rajamundy, in the East Godavari District of Anshra Pradesh, this
famous temple is one of the rare ones with Saneeshwara Bhagwan as its
presiding deity. Also known as Sri Mandeswara Swami Temple and Someswara
Temple, it is said that Saturn himself consecrated the linga
representing Lord Shiva here. The other deities of the temple are
Bhrameswara and Nageswara enshrined in the form of black stone Shiva
Lingas. The small temple has some interesting legends attached to it. A
great and benevolent sage 'Dhadichi' undertook a great sacrifice of
donating his valuable spinal cord for Lord Indra's 'Vajra', so that he
can relieve the people from the tyranny of the demon Kartabha by killing
him using this weapon. However, the sons of the demon known as Aswartha
and Pippala vowed revenge against the prople and the gods alike and
broke havoc in Mandapalli.
They tortured people and sages and brought forth untold miseries on
them. Touched by their disheartening state, sage Agastya approached Lord
Shaneeswar or Saturn, who is also the Lord of Dharma (Righteousnes) and
the Son of God Surya, who was doing penance at the time to get the
powers to kill those demon brothers. Shani (Saturn) stated that till the
prayers and penance is completed, he wouldn't have enough strength to
fight and get rid of the demons. However, he relented when sages agreed
to give their 'Tapasshakti' (power of penance) to him. Then, he fought
and killed the demons and relieved the people and the sages from their
long tyrannical rule. There were rejoicings and everybody praised Saturn
in many words. Sage Agastya and the other sages showered him with
blessings and boons while Saturn installed a 'Shiva Linga' known as
'Someswara' or 'Mandeshwara' to mark his victory, around which the
Saneeshwara temple is built.




