There are five ancient Hindu Temples in Andhra Pradesh, where the shattered pieces of a single Shivalingam worn by the demon King Tarakasuran are worshipped.

As per the famous legend, King Tarakasuran wore the powerful Shivalingam as a pendant which gave him the ultimate power.

When Lord Shiva's son Karthikeya went on a head-to-head battle with Tarakasuran, he was unable to defeat the demon King.

But soon, Karthikeya learned from Lord Vishnu that he had to destroy the protective Shivalingam to defeat the demon and attacked him with agneyastra, a powerful fire weapon.

This broke the Shivalingam into five pieces, which were installed and worshipped in five temples across Andra Pradesh. These temples are known as Pancharama Kshetras:

Amararama




The Amararama Shivalingam is prayed in the form of Amaralingeswara Swamy. Lord Indran installed and worshipped this Shivalingam which is located in Amaravati.

Draksharama




Draksharama is located in Ramachandrapuram. Here the Shivalingam is worshipped in to form of Bhimesvara Swamy.

Somarama




Somarama is worshipped as Someswara Swamy in Bhimavaram. It is said that the Shivalingam here changes colour according to the phases of the moon.

Ksheerarama




Located in Palakol, the Ksheerarama Shivalingam is worshipped as Ksheera Ramalingeswara Swamy in this temple.

Kumararama




It is believed that, Karthikeya himself installed the Shivalingam at this temple which is prayed in the form of Kumara Bhimeswara Swamy.


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Source: TimesOfIndia, TempleNet and SpeakingTree
Image credit: IndianTemples, ePuja, Youtube, Trawell.In, Pinterest and RVAtemples