Srikalahasti Temple is located in the town of Srikalahasti, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the most famous Shiva temples in South India, and is said to be the site where Kannappa was ready to offer both his eyes to cover blood flowing from the Siva linga before the Siva stopped him and granted him moksha.Srikalahasti temple, situated 36 km away from Tirupati is famous for its Vayu linga, one of the Panchabhoota Sthalams, representing wind. The temple is also regarded as Rahu-Ketu kshetra and Dakshina Kailasam. The inner temple was constructed around 5th century and the outer temple was constructed in the 11th century by the Rajendra Chola I, later Chola kings and the Vijayanagara kings. Shiva in his aspect as Vayu is worshiped as Kalahasteeswara.

Around the 11th century, the Chola king Rajendra Chola I king renovated the temple and constructed the main structure.The temple received contributions from various ruling dynasties like Chola Dynasty and Vijayanagar Empire. The hundred pillared hall with intricate carvings was commissioned during the regime of Krishnadeva Raya during 1516 AD. The presiding deity of the temple Gnana Prasunambika Devi was born in Vellathurar Gotra of Senguntha Kaikolar. Customary for the bride to bring home the dowry and submit it by these Vellathurar peoples at the Shiva Parvati wedding held here.

The temple was built by Rajendra Chola I, The 120 feet (37 m) high main gopuram and the 100 pillar mandapam were constructed by Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara king in 1516. The presiding image of Shiva in the form of Linga is made of white stone in a shape resembling trunk of elephant. The temple faces south, while the sanctum faces west. The temple is located on the foothills of a hill, while there is also a belief that the temple was carved out of a monolithic hill. There is a rock cut shrine of Vinayaka, 9 ft (2.7 m) below the ground level. Vallaba Ganapathi, Mahalakshmi-Ganpathi and Sahasra Lingeswara are some of the rare images found in the temple. There is a large shrine of Jnanaprasanammba, the consort of Kalahatisvara. There are smaller shrines in the temple for Kasi Viswanatha, Annapurna, Suryanarayana, Sadyoganapathi and Subramanya. There are two large halls namely Sadyogi Mandapa and Jalkoti Mandapa. There are two water bodies associated with the namely, Surya Pushkarani and Chandra Pushkarani.

During the early days of creation, Vayu performed penance for thousands of years to "Karpoora lingam" (Karpooram means camphor). Pleased with his penance, Shiva manifested before him and said, " O Vayu Deva! Though you are dynamic in nature, you stayed here without movement and did penance for me. I'm pleased with your devotion. I shall grant you three boons". Vayu said, "Swami! I want to be present everywhere in this world. I want to be an integral part of every Jiva who is none other than the manifestation of Paramatma. I want to name this Karpoora Linga, which represents you, after me. Samba Siva said," Your are qualified for these three boons. As per your wish, you will be spread throughout this world. Without you there will be no life. This linga of mine will forever be known all over through your name, and all Suras, Asuras, Garuda, Gaandharvas, Kinneras, kimpurushas, Siddhas, Saadhvis, humans and others will worship this Lingam". Shiva disappeared after granting these boons. Thereafter, this Karpoora Vayu Lingam is worshipped by all Lokas (worlds).

There are several other legends connected to the glory of the temple. Prominent among them is of Parvati who was cursed by Shiva to discard her heavenly body and assume the human form. To get rid of the above curse Parvati did a long penance here. Pleased with her deep devotion Shiva again recreated her body – a hundred times better than her previous heavenly body and initiated various mantras including the Panchakshari. Consequent to this, Parvati gained fame and came to be known as Shiva-Gnanam Gnana Prasunamba or Gnana Prasunambika Devi. Cursed to become a ghost, Ghanakala prayed at Srikalahasti for 15 years and after chanting the Bhairava Mantra many times Shiva restored her original form. Mayura, Chandra and Devendra were also freed from their curses after taking bath in the river Swarnamukhi and praying at Srikalahasti. To Bhakta Markandeya, Shiva appeared in Srikalahasti and preached that a Guru alone could make esoteric teachings and, therefore he is Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. As per another legend, Vayu and Adishesha had a dispute to find out who is superior, to prove the superiority Adishesha encircled the Kailasam, Vayu tried to remove this encircle by creating Twister. Because of the twister, 8 parts from kailasam fell into 8 different places which are Trincomalee, Srikalahasti, Thiruchiramalai, Thiruenkoimalai, Rajathagiri, Neerthagiri, Ratnagiri, and Suwethagiri Thirupangeeli.  Source : Wikipedia

Trasnport

By Road: It takes about 5 hours by road to get to Tirupati from Bangalore. Both KSRTC and APSRTC operate buses during the day and night. It is about 3 hours by road from Chennai to Tirupati. Frequent buses are available from CMBT Chennai. APSRTC has buses plying very frequently (every ½ hour) from Tirupati to Sri Kalahasti. It also operates a special package called Yathra darsini and Divyadarsini.
By Train: Through railways there is a railway station at Sri Kalahasti. Srikalahasti is on the Tirupathi-Vijayawada broad gauge rail route and all express trains have to stop at Srikalahasti. It is well connected to all major cities in south India directly. There are trains from Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Kolkata. The closet railway junction is Renigunta and all trains plying between Chennai and Mumbai stop at Renigunta. The Renigunta is just 25 kms from SriKalahasti.
By Air: Srikalahasti 29 km away Tirupati Airport (TIR), Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, Srikalahasti 96 km away Chennai Airport (MAA), Chennai,Tamil Nadu.