Kalahasti temple is a famous Siva temple, and is said to be the site where Kannappa, one of the 63 Saivite Nayanars, was ready to offer his last remaining eye to cover blood flowing from the Siva linga before the Lord stopped him and granted mukti. The temple is near the famed Tirupati temple.

Additionally, the temple is said to be the place where an elephant and a snake were fighting over their offerings to the Siva linga. The elephant had poured water over the Siva Linga while the snake offered jewels. A fight ensued between them over the nature of their offerings to the Lord. Siva, pleased with the their worship, stopped both of them and granted mukti or salvation to both.

It seems that the animals retained evidence of their past lives as humans or intelligent beings in order for them to be steadfast in their devotion to the Lord.

Kalahasti is one of the Panchabhoota Stalams signifying the 5 elements, 1) wind (Kalahasti), 2) water (Tiruvanaikka), 3) fire (Tiruvannamalai), 4) earth (Kanchipuram) and 5) space (Chidambaram) that Siva embodies.

External Links

• cited from http://www.templenet.com/Andhra/kalahasti.html
• http://www.templenet.com/Tamilnadu/panchabhoota.html