Nandalur Sowmyanatha Swamy Temple is one of the famous temples in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. Nandalur is on the west bank of river Cheyyeru.
Once it was a famous Buddhist centre in Rayalaseema. In 1913 Buddhist caves and viharas were discovered.
Sowmyanath Temple, here is a very big temple, situated nearly on ten acres of site. It is a replica of Thiruvannamalai and patronized by Cholas, Pandyas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara, Pottapi and Matli Kings.Here most of the inscriptions, are in Tamil. Lord Sowmyanatha is installed on an elevated place and attracts pilgrims with his glittering beauty.
The temple and Buddhist caves are worth seeing at this town and is well connected by road and rail.
How to Reach: It is on the Cuddapah-Chennai highway and is at a distance of 38 KMs from Cuddapah.
The main attraction of the village is this temple built in the old Chola style by the Matli kings who ruled the Cuddapah district.
The Presiding deity here is Sri Soumyanatha Swamy and Sri Maha Lakshmi Ammavaru. The temple is old and holds quite a bit of archaeological importance. Being a known Buddhist site, Nandalur has garnered quite some interest from the archaeological quarters of the country.
The temple has four Raja gopurams overlooking the four directions. The main idol is Sri Soumyanatha Swamy facing East. Legend has it that the Lord is another incarnation of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Tirupati is towards the east of Nandalur. The idol resembles the idol of Sri Venkateswara Swamy in Tirupati, the only difference being here in Nandalur, the Lord has “Abhaya Hastham” whereas in Tirumala the Lord has “Kati Hastham”. Normally in all the temples dedicated to Sri Venkateswara Swamy, the idol will be carved as having “Kati Hastham”.
The temple also contains a shrine dedicated to Sri Yoga Narasimha Swamy near to the entrance of the sanctorum. Every year during the month of July, Kalyanotsavam to the Lord is performed at the temple. Nandalur is one of the two temples in Cuddapah district where the Government sends pearls to the Lord during the performance of Kalyanotsavam; the other place is Ontimitta which is about 18 kilometers from Nandalur.
Though the temple is in Andhra Pradesh, which is a Telugu-speaking state, there are more Tamil inscriptions on the temple walls than Telugu inscriptions. On the walls of the temple there are symbols depicting fish, the Sun and the Moon. There is also a carving of a huge fish on the ceiling of the temple. Local tradition states that some day the fish will turn alive and swim in the ocean.
The whole of the temple is constructed with redstone. The pillars of the Mandapam (porch) have lion’s heads at the bottom of the pillar. There are other small temples of Prayoga Narasimha Swami, Ganapati and Anjaneya and a huge Yagnashala in the complex. There is also small pond in the temple premises.
There is another important temples in Nandalur like Muttumaremma temple in Aravaplli, Sivalayam in Gundlur, Veera Bramhendra Swamy Temple and Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple’s in Nagireddypalli, Every Year Dasara will Be celebrated by Arya Vyasya Comitte will be looks Colourful, Every year there is a big festival in August….like Sri Sri Sri Mutthumaremma Jatara. We will celebrate 3 days. First day Maremma Talli Uregimpu through out Nandalur, 2nd day it is main Jatara, so many people take non-veg on this day, and 3rd day is PALA Pooja.