At a distance of 1.7 km from Palakollu Railway Station, 85 km from Eluru, 67 km from Rajahmundry, 138 km from Vijayawada, 97 km from Kakinada, 22 km from Bhimavaram and 258 km from Vizag, Sri Ksheera Rama Temple is one of the Pancharama temples, situated in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. The other four are Amararama Temple in Amaravathi, Draksharama Temple in Draksharamam, Kumararama Temple in Samalkoti and Somarama Temple in Bhimavaram.
Lord Shiva is worshipped as Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy at this temple. The temple tower is one of the tallest among the temple towers in Andhra Pradesh. The height of the temple is 120 ft with 9 floors constructed during the reign of Chalukya Bheema in 9th century. The Prakara was designed by Sri Velupathi during 10th century. Gopuram was constructed by Sri Alladu Reddy during 14th Century. This ancient temple has been listed as a protected monument by the Archaeological Department.
The Shivlinga is a unique milky white in color and the tallest. According to legend, Upamanyu the son of sage Kaushik, requested Lord Shiva to grant him enough milk so that he can carry on the rituals in the temple. Lord Shiva filled the Ksheera Pushkarni Tank with the mythical milky ocean (Ksheera Sagaram). Hence this place is known with different names, Ksheerarama, Palakollu and Dugdhapovanam.
The Shiva Lingam inside the garabha griha can be seen from all the four sides through windows. There is a belief that the Shiva lingam is installed by Lord Vishnu. It is believed that Lord Sri Rama performed first pooja here. Sri Adi Sankaracharya installed Sri chakram in this temple.
There are 72 pillars made of black stone in the temple mandapa. Inside the temple complex, Gokarneshwara and Ganapati shrines can also be visited. To the right, Subramanya Swamy and Janardhana Swamy shrines with Nandi at the centre are situated. Gostani River flows through the town Palakollu and it gets merged with river Godavari at Narsapur.
The temple complex has many shrines, including Kashi Vishweshwara, Goddess parvathi, Goddess Lakshmi, Nagareshwara Lingam, Dundi Vigneshwara, Veera Bhadra, Sapta Matruka, Kanaka Durga, Brahma, Saraswathi, Kumara Swamy, Kartikeya, Mahishasura Mardhini, Kala Bhairava, Naga sarpa, Nataraja, Dattatreya, Nageshwara, Shaneeshwara, Radha Krishna, Shankara.
Mahashivaratri is an important festival celebrated in this temple.
Palakollu is well connected by bus and train with major towns in Andhra like Vijayawada, Eluru, Vizag, etc.
Timings: 5.30 am - 11.30 am and 4 pm - 8.30 pm.
