மாணிக்யாம்பா கோயில் (த்ராக்ஷாராமம்)Manikyamba Devi Temple, Draksharamam

Sthala Mahātmyam

Manikyamba at Draksharamam, invoked as 'Manikya Daksha vatike', is the twelfth Maha Shakti Peetha, in the Konaseema region of the Godavari delta. Tradition holds that the left cheek (manikya) of Sati fell here, giving the goddess her name, Manikyamba. She stands beside Bhimeswara Swamy, whose towering linga makes Draksharamam one of the five Pancharama Kshetras sacred to Shiva, so that this single site unites a Maha Shakti Peetha with a Pancharama, a rare confluence. The name Draksharamam recalls Daksha, whose ill-fated yajna set the entire Shakti Peetha legend in motion, and the place is regarded as the very site of Daksha's sacrifice. The great two-storeyed temple, built by the Eastern Chalukyan king Bhima in the 9th-10th centuries and enriched under later Chola and Kakatiya patronage, is celebrated for its inscriptions and sculpture, and its sacred tank, the Saptagodavari Kund, is said to be fed by the seven streams of the Godavari. Chief festivals are Maha Shivaratri, when a grand Brahmotsavam is held, along with Navaratri, Dasara and the Kalyanotsavam of the divine couple.