Saraswathi Kshetramu, Ananthasagar, Hindu temple in Ananthasagar, India.
Saraswathi Kshetramu is a Hindu temple on the Shivaru hills in Ananthasagar village, Siddipet district, Telangana. It enshrines a standing image of the goddess Saraswathi, a pose described as the first of its kind in India. The temple stands 22 km from Siddipet, 125 km from Hyderabad and 63 km from Medak.
The temple was founded on 2 May 1980 by Astakala Narasimha Rama Sharma, a schoolteacher and astrologer who funded the construction from his own salary rather than donations. The Telugu source records the consecration (pratishtha) on 31 January 1990, on Magha Shuddha Panchami. It is counted as the third Saraswathi temple in India, after Vaishnavi in Jammu and Kashmir and Basar.
Saraswati Puja falls on the fifth day of Magha in the Vedic calendar, Basant Panchami. During the last three days of Navaratri, from Mahalaya Amavasya, books and musical instruments are placed before the image at dawn on Mahanavami and no study or performance is done. On Vijaya Dashami they are removed and Vidyarambham begins, when students revise and start something new.
The temple lies between Siddipet and Karimnagar, 22 km from Siddipet, 125 km from Hyderabad and 63 km from Medak. It stands on the Shivaru hills near Ananthasagar village, so the final approach is by road. Photography is allowed in some areas of the temple.
The site is notable because it is the first in India where the goddess is shown standing upright, rather than in the traditional seated position commonly seen elsewhere. This unusual presentation makes the location distinctive among devotees and visitors.
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