Chejerla Temple, Kapotheswara Swamy Temple in Chejerla, is a famous Shiva Temple in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. Chejerla Temple is located at a distance of 24 Kms from Narasaraopet town.
Chejerla Kapotheswara Swamy Temple is probably the only temple in India dedicated to Lord Siva as Kapotheswara. The deity is in Lingakara. Siva is here represented as Kapotheswara, who gave a portion of his own body in order to save a pigeon that took refuge with him. Curiously, in the imago of the Linga there are even today large cavities as if portions have been scooped or cut out, and these are said to be the places of the body, from which the Lord cut off his own flesh, in order to save the life of the Kapotha.
The image is said to be the image of the ‘Kalebara’ of Sibi, with the head cut off, and on top of the Linga, there are still two large vertical cavities. One of these cavities helps to drain off the Abhisheka Tirtha to an unknown place and even today the smell of raw flesh and blood comes out of this since the God here is a very powerful one. The temple is of the greatest importance to us from the point of view of temple architecture.
Major Festivals at Chejerla Kapotheswara Swamy Temple
Maha Shivaratri, Makara Sankranthi, Ugadi, Vinayaka Chavithi (Ganesh Chaturthi), Durga Sharan Navarathri, Karthika Masam and Magha Masam are the famous festivals that are celebrated at this temple.