Sri Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple

Sri Yaganti Uma Maheswara Temple was constructed by King Harihara Bukka Raya of the Sangama Dynasty of theVijayanagara Empire in the 15th century. It was built according to Vaishnavaite traditions.

One story of the site’s origin is as follows: The sage Agastya wanted to build a temple for Lord Venkateswara on this site. However, the statue that was made could not be installed as the toe nail of the idol got broken. The sage was upset over this and performed a penance for Lord Shiva. When Lord Shiva appeared, he said the place suits Shiva better as it resembles Kailash. Agastya then requested Lord Shiva to give the devotees a Parvathi Goddess as Lord Uma Maheswara in a single stone, which Lord Shiva obliged.

A second story is as follows: Chitteppa, a devotee of Lord Shiva, was worshiping Lord Shiva and Lord Shiva appeared to him as a tiger. Chitteppa understood that it was Lord Shiva in tiger form, and shouted Neganti Shivanu ne kanti (meaning: I saw Shiva I saw), and danced with joy. There is a cave called Chitteppa nearby.

The Yaganti Nandi Statue history.

The story according to the priests is that when the sage Agastya completed his uttara desha yatra and started dakshina desha yatra he found the beautiful and pleasant place called yaganti( Nekanti-i have seen)and thought to build a temple for Lord Venkateswara on this site . while roaming around caves one of the caves was found to have a very old statue of Lord Vishnu . After all the yagna, homa and pooja he found that the statue really contains a small defect as broken nail on the foot thumb finger. To seek an explanation he prayed to Shiva and Shiva explained that at this place which contains natural springs and nature only I can be worshipped. Then the sage Agastya asked a boon to Shiva to reside in this place for eternity with Mother Parvathi. So this place is called as Umamahesware (Uma: parvathi, Maheswara: shiva) temple. The shrine contains the statue of Shiva and Parvathi on a single stone.