Sri Siddaiah gari matam
The name of Siddaiah is invariably associated with that of Sri Veerabrahmam, the sage of Kandimallayapalle. These two saints are very popular all over Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka. According to belief, the former is said to be the incarnation of Lord Siva and the latter of Vishnu, born in this world with mutual agreement in order to maintain dharma, bhakthi and peace and to destroy the wicked and to protect the good in this world.
Birth of Siddaiah : Lord Siva is believed to have been born as the son of Vijaya Singh, the ruler of Benares and was named Ananda Singh. In an attempt to save a pregnant cow from a tiger Ananda Singh killed the cow by accident and to be absolved of this sin, he undertook a pilgrimage during which he met Sri Veerabrahmam , who revealed to him his birth and he had to be born in a Muslim family. Afterwards Ananda Singh renounced the world took the name of Ananda Bhairava Yogi, completed his pilgrimage and joined his parents at Benares.
Later he gave up that life and was born as the son of Adambi and Peeru Saheb of Dudekula community of this village.It is believed that Lord Siva told Peeru Saheb in a dream all about the previous life of his son. The boy, named as Siddaiah, was always thinking of and praying Lord Siva and advised his parents not to bring mutton into the house. His father, a target for the criticism of Muslims withdrew Siddaiah from the Hindu school and society of Hindu boys and prohibited him from entering Hindu temples and offering prayers to Lord Siva. But soon both Hindus and Muslims had to recognize him as a great saint. He soon left in search of a guru. On his way, a group of devotees promised to take him to Sri Veerabrahmam of Kandimallayapalle, but left the place before he woke up in the morning. He soon realized that it was the wishes of Sri Veerabrahmam to draw him to himself where he was engaged in deep mediation. Siddaiah went and prostrated before him. Veerabrahmam opened his eyes for a moment and exclaimed “oh you have come Ananda Bhairava Yogi” and closed his eyes.
Siddaiah did not get up as he felt that his presence was not noticed by Veerabrahmam. Veerabrahmam’s son Pothuluraiah attempted to drag him out; then Veerabrahmam revealed to them that he had taken Siddaiah as his dearest disciple. Peeru Saheb who traced his son and tried to take him back was induced to leave him there and go back. He gave Siddaiah brahmopadesam, expounded several secrets of the Atchambi.
Miracles : After his tour of South Andhra , Veerabrahmam sent for Siddaiah and taught him and other disciples, the principles of sankhya yogam. Siddaiah showed a few miracles in his life such as consuming food prepared out of 15 bags of rice etc. Siddavattam (Sidhout) Nawab demanded in his darbar (court) that Siddaiah should go alone and salute him. Siddaiah advised him not to insist upon the salute as he, though a Nawab, could not withstand its effects . The Nawab persisted and as a result, he cried aloud with pain and fainted. At the request of the Nawab ‘s wife, Siddaiah brought back the Nawab to consciousness and accepted him as his disciple.
Veerabrahmam decided to enter jeevasamadhi at mid-day on Sunday,the tenth day in the bright fortnight of Vaisakham and told to his wife Govindamma that he had decided to keep Siddaiah away from Kandimallayapalle at the time of entering jeevasamadhi in order to subject him to severe test and reveal his greatness to the public. He asked her to send siddaiah, on his behalf, to Banaganapalle and fetch flowers for his Samadhi. Govindamma conveyed this to Siddaiah, the previous night.
Siddaiah thought that this was the highest law as his guru’s order and decided to obey implicitly. He did not think for a moment how he could cover on foot 120 miles to and from Banaganapalle. He simply started and found himself, at eight o’clock on the following morning, 10 miles only away from Kandimallayapalle i.e., 50 miles more to Banaganapalle. The aim of Veerabrahmam was to see that he was not present at the time of entering jeevasamadhi. So he did not like to trouble him more and appeared before him in the form of a sage, pointed out to him that it was highly impossible to bring flowers from Banaganapalle to Kandimallayapalle within that short period and advised him to collect a bundle of thornless leaves which would convert themselves into fragrant flowers. The sage disappeared and Siddaiah collected a bundle of thornless leaves from the forest and returned to Kandimallayapalle. On the way he kept that bundle on the edge of a well and by the time he climbed back after a wash in the well, the leaves were all transformed into fragrant flowers. Filled with delight he started on his journey hoping to be in time to offer the flowers to his guru before he entered jeevasamadhi. But to his utter disappointment he was intercepted by a Brahmin who revealed to him that he was returning from Kandimallayapalle after witnessing Sri Veerabrahmam entering jeevasamadhi the entrance of which was closed.
Weeping and wailing, he rushed to Kandimallayapalle, but was refused to have the darsan of his guru’s Samadhi. When he decided and attempted to give up his life by yoga, in front of the guru’s Samadhi, athem to open the covering of the Samadhi, came out of the Samadhi and showed him his viswarupam (his original form of Sri Maha Vishnu). He also gave him his silver handstick seal (yoga dandam) and sandals which were denied to his own son, Govindaiah and again entered the Samadhi. Siddaiah returned to Mudumala after taking leave of Govindamma. After some time he attended the burial of Eswaramma, the great saint and grand-daughter of Veerabrahmam.
During his life time, he brought back to life a man who had died of cobra bite. Once while he was having some discussions with a group of non-believers in his greatness, he suddenly turned to the south and in a tone of reproach and contempt called out “stop and get away”. The assembly was insulted and demanded an explanation of his unexpected conduct. Then Siddaiah explained that the chastisement was not intended for them, but for the heartless and cruel tiger that attempted to kill a pregnant cow in the Yalamavari hills. On verification the cowherd explained that while a tiger attempted to kill the cow, Siddaiah appeared and drove it out and also showed them the marks on the cow’s neck by the claws of the tiger. Finally he entered Samadhi at his native place Mudumala and it is here that the annual festival is celebrated.
Annual Festival :
Siddaiahgari festival is celebrated for two days from Chaitra Suddha Padyami (March-April). Devotees offer incense and naivedyam. Sheep, goats and fowls are sacrificed in fulfillment of vows. This festival is being celebrated for the last 300 years and is widely known. Dudekulas patronize the festival. It attracts people of all communities in large numbers from distant places of the State. The pujari is Matam Kalugotla Siddaiah, a Dudekula, with hereditary rights. Prasadam is distributed to all.
How to Reach Mudumala : By Road:
Kadapa –> Mydukur –> Vanipenta —> Palugurallapalle –> Mudumala
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