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Pancharama is the name given to those five temples which are dedicated to Lord Shiva. These places are distributed over three districts, East Godavari, West Godavari and Guntur of Andhra Pradesh in India. All Hindus consider visiting these temples as very sacred. Pancha means five and Aarama is peace. Aarama is something related to Buddhism which is actually aims at pleasant state of mind. So Pancharama means five pleasant and peaceful places.
There are two stories related to Pancharama temples. One story related to Pancharama temples is in Bheemeshwara Puranam written by Shree Nathudu. The Story goes like this...
With these powers Asuras start torturing people and Devtas. Again Devtas worship Lord Shiva to avoid this. Lord Shiva gets angry and starts punishing Asuras. During this war, a Shivalingam worshipped by Thripurasura (Tripurasura) remains un damaged even though all Asuras die. Lord Shiva (Mahadeva) makes this Lingam into five pieces and makes this installed in five different places. These five places (Prathishtapana) are now famous as Pancharama.
The second story begins from Hiranya Kashipu and his son Simuchi. The son of Simuchi, Tharakasura worships Lord Shiva and gets his Atma Linga. Then, Tharakasura starts troubling people and Devatas. As per blessings, Tharakasura dies only by a boy. Devatas go to Lord Shiva to find solution for finding a solution to punish Tharakasura. Lord Kumara Swamy Avtar thus happens and and boy kills Tharakasura. After when Tharakasura dies, the Athmalinga gets divided into five. Each one gets installed by Devatas in five different places. These places are called Pancharama Kshetras. Below are the details of Pancharama Kshetras and the five faces of Lord Shiva
1. Amararama is installed at Amaravati in Guntur district of Andhrapradesh. The name of Lord Shiva is Amareshwarudu and considered incarnated as, Aghorarupam, installed by Lord Indra.
2. Draksharama located at Draksharamam in East Godavari District of Andhrapradesh. The lord Eshwara is called Bhimeshwarudu (Daksharama) and seen as Thatpurusha Mukha Swarupam.
3. Kumararama is available in Samalkot, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh. The temple is called with same name as Daksharamam - Bheemeshwarudu. But Lord Shiva is seen here as Vamadeva Mukha Swaroopam. This Shiva linga is installed by Kumara Swamy.
4. Somarama is at Bheemavaram situated in West Godavari district of Andhrapradesh. Lord Eswara is called Someshwarudu (Somarama) in this temple and considered as Sadyojatha Mukha Swarupam, Siva linga is installed by Lord Chandra.
5. Ksheeraramam is situated at Palakollu, West Godavari Districtof Andhra Pradesh. Rama Lingeshwarudu (Kshirarama) is the name given to the Lingam installed in this place and Lord shiva is Eshanya Mukha Swarupam, installed by Sri Rama.
There is a saying that all these temples are installed by Gods (Devatas) and visiting all in one day (especially during Karthika Masam, i.e., during November-December month) is very sacred. During this season special bus arrangement is made by APSRTC (Andhra Pradesh Road Transport corporation) to visit all the temples in one day. Contact any of the nearby APSRTC offices for details during these months.
