Devalok
Temple legend · 1 telling · South India

The spider, the snake and the elephant

Who is in it

Places: Srikalahasti

The story, beat by beat

  1. A spider spins a web over the linga to shade it and, when a lamp sets the web alight, throws itself into the flame.
  2. A snake lays gems on the linga; an elephant washes the gems away with water from its trunk and lays leaves.
  3. Each destroys the other's offering; they fight and die together at the linga.
  4. Shiva frees all three, and the place is named Sri (spider), Kala (snake), Hasti (elephant).
  5. The linga is the air element; the priest never touches it and a lamp inside flickers in a closed room.

animal devotion air linga release

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Temple tradition

Srikalahasteeswara temple tradition

South India · Srikalahasti, Andhra Pradesh Shaiva

Three animals loved the same linga before any man did. A spider built its web across the stone to keep the sun and dust off, and when a lamp caught the web the spider jumped into the flame rather than see its work burn. A cobra brought jewels from underground and laid them on the linga. An elephant, coming to bathe the god, found the jewels, thought them dirt, hosed them off and laid bilva leaves; the snake came back, found its gems gone and leaves in their place, and the two fought until the snake was in the elephant's trunk and the elephant was dead of the bite. Shiva released all three, and the town carries their names: Sri for the spider, Kala for the snake, Hasti for the elephant. The linga they served is the air element among the five, never touched by a human hand, and the hunter Kannappa later gave it his eyes.

Srikalahasteeswara Temple — Wikipedia; Kannappa — Wikipedia

Sources: Srikalahasteeswara Temple — Wikipedia; Kannappa — Wikipedia

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