.jpeg)
.jpeg)
About Rathala Gudi
The history of the temple begins with the devotional journey of shri “MAHADEVA SHASTRI” of “ANNARAMBATLA” vamsam back then in the 13th century. Shri Mahadeva shastri was a resident of polasa(currently Karimnagar dist) and was a great devotee of lord shiva.
He was on his devotional journey visiting many temples and meeting sadhus allover Bharat. Once he was staying at the “GANDAKI” river and was offering “ARGYHAM”(a vidhi in Sandhyavandanam) to the suryabhagavan(sun) at the banks of the river “GANDAKI” and a sadhu approached him and described him about a particular place in the forest in “KASHI”(Varanasi) near “GANGA” river where he would find a shivling and idols of shri Annapoorna matha, Ganapathi and Panchamukhi Nagendra and Nandi.
.jpeg)
The sadhu had also gave him a message to find those idols in kashi, take them to nirmal and perform pratishtapana to the idols at the place where the temple is situated today. Shri Mahadeva shastri then went to kashi, found the idols exactly at the place where the sadhu had described, was surprised and and started his journey to nirmal in a bullock cart as per the sadhu’s message and travelled for over 6 months and reached nirmal.
Back then in the 13th century, the city of nirmal was under the rule of Kakatiya dynasty and the then ruler of Kakatiya dynasty was also a great devotee of lord shiva. Shri Mahadeva Shastri met the king and explained the entire incidents that happened till that date and the king was very pleased to know that lord shiva himself came to his kingdom and gave Shri Mahadeva Shastri the responsibility to construct and maintain the lord shiva temple over there as per Nirmana Shastras, Sthuthas, mantrasamhithas, vedas, dharmas, Aagama Shastras, Alankarana Shastras, Upasana Shastras, Dharshaniya niyamas.
Shri Mahadeva Shastri who was a strong believer and follower of “ADHWAITA SIDDHANTHAM” described by “SHRI SHRI SHRI JAGADHGURU AADI SHANKARAACHARYA” then also brought the lord krishna, Radha and Garuthmantha idols and constructed both Shri Vishweshwara Swamy temple and Shri Venugopala Swamy temple in similar style and named the temple premises as “HARI HARA DEVASTHANAM” to spread the idealogy of “ADHWAITA SIDDHANTHAM” and to end the conflict of difference between Shaivas and Vaishnavas.
He had also built a beautiful holy pushkarini beside Shri Venugopala Swamy temple with the combination of holy water from all the holy rivers across the Bharat and also a ”DHARMASHALA” for the seva of sadhus and other people. Marvellous chariots(rathas) were brought by Shri Mahadeva Shastri for “Rathotstavam” and elephants for “AMBAARI-UTSAVAM” of idols of god which led every devotee stunned. As the temple had many marvellous chariots(Rathas), it was also called ”RATHALAGUDI” People used to come in great numbers everyday, in big numbers for “SHIVAPARVATHI KALYANAMAHOTSTAVAM”, "SHRI KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI MAHOTSAVAM" and other occasions and they used to have “ANNAPRASADAM” in big numbers at the “Dharmashala” of the temple.
Since then, family of Shri Mahadeva Shastri and his next generations continued to maintain the temple with all the traditions and offer poojas to the god and the people of “ANNARAMBATLA” vamsam were also called as “GUDI VAMSHASTHULU” by the local people. Once the Kakatiya rule was ended, Mughal rule had started over there and some of the Mughal kings tried to destroy the temple but failed to do it. Later in the 17th century, shri Nimmanaidu became the king of nirmal and encouraged the family of Gudi vamsam to maintain the glory of temple but after him the Nizam rulers destroyed majority of the temple premises but failed to destroy the temple.
As Nizam rulers tried to destroy hindusim with religious converstions and other things, the glory of the temple had fallen aside. After the end of Nizam rule in 1960, Shri Gadicherla Narayana Siddhanti- smt.Gangamma, Shri Gudi Rajeshwara sharma siddhanti- smt. Rajamani, Shri Gudi krishnamurthy shastri- smt. Amrutha bai, shri Gudi Narsimha Siddhanti- smt Godavari, shri Gudi Narsimha Siddhanti- smt Vatsala tried to revive the glory back and then the successors of Shri Gudi Rajeshwara Sharma Siddhanti- Smt Rajamani: Shri Gudi Somnath Sharma siddhanti- Smt Rajeshwari, Shri Gadicherla Nageshwara Rao siddhanti- Smt Manorama, Shri Oruganti Rama Rao siddhanti-Smt Uma Maheswari, Shri Gudi Amarnath Sharma- Smt Varalaxmi ; the successors of G.Narsimha Siddhanti- Smt Godavari: Shri G Uma Maheswar Sharma Siddhanti- Smt Sudha Rani, Shri G Chandrashekhar Sharma- Smt Sudha Parimala and the Successors of Shri G.Narsimha Siddhanti- Smt Vatsala: Shri G Rajeshwara Sharma Siddhanti- Smt Renuka, Shri G Venkatesh Sharma- Smt Aliveni are continuing the same Parampara as per all the Aagama shastras, Alankarana Shatras and other ancient traditions prescribed by shri Mahadeva Shastri.