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Somaramam is one of the pancharamas present in west Godavari district near Bhimavaram. Lord Someswara swamy is the main deity here and Worshiped by Moon god for the first time.

How to reach Somaramam : Somaramam is well connected by Road and Railway route. There are so many direct buses to Bhimvaram from Vijayawada and Eluru. Previously Gunupudi is a small village, but now, is a part of Bhimavaram. After reaching Bhimavaram we have to go Gunupudi by an Auto.
In Karthika masam APSRTC maintains speacial Pancharamas tour buses to cover all Pancharamas in a single day.
Bhimavaram Railway station is located at 2km distance from Someswara swamy temple. This Railway station is not present in main-line. So many expresses will not go through this station. It is better to step down at Vijayawada or Eluru.
Nearest Airports are at Vijayawada / Rajahmundry.
See Somaramam map

Temples to see in Somaramam :

Someswara swamy temple : Lord Someswara swamy temple is at Gunupudi. This temple is an old temple but looks like new one because of colored paintings on the walls and sculptures. In front of the temple there is a pond called Chandrakundam. It is fully covered with lotus flowers. There is a big Gopuram as the entrance of temple. In the left side of temple there is a big hall in which temples of Lord Srirama and Hanuma are present. In the right side of temple there is an open hall above the temple office. When crowd is present, pujaris / Pandits conduct puja here for individuals. The temple has so many sculptures which are giving a nice look. In the hall of temple there is a big statue of Nandi. After crossing hall there is a room in front of sanctum. In that room there is a temple of Annapurna mata. In the sanctum we can see Lord Shiva in the form of a beautiful Shivaling. Shivaling in this temple is small unlike in other Pancharamas. There is a speciality in this temple ie. Shivaling will change its color according to Lunar aspect. At the time of Pournami (Full Moon nights) shivaling will be in white color and in Amavasya days (Dark nights) it's color shades black.

Lord Someswara swamy was first worshipped by Moon god here after Tarakasura vadha. Hence in the name of Moon god, came the names Somaramam and Someswara swamy.

Mavullamma temple : This temple is present in Bhimavaram. Everyone should visit this temple in Somaramam tour. Mavullamma is the deity here. There is a big idol of Mavullamma in this temple. She is a local deity and people worship her with lot of devotion.

Somaramam was also called pagunaraseema of Pavunaraseema in olden days. Gosthanee river flows adjacent to Gunupudi.

The divinity of the Somarama in Gunupudi is depicted in puranas. Once upon a time Gandharvas took away the Moon to their loka. Then the world suffered a lot because of lack of the cool, and Amrutha Kiranas of Moon. Then all the deities went to lord Brahma to request him to find Moon and let him Shine in his old place. Then brahma saw with his Divya Drushti and revealed the fact that Moon was taken away by Gandharva’s. He advised the deities to request Gandharvas to give back Moon. But the deities were doubtful whether the Gandharvas would give back Moon of not. Then Maa Saraswathi called them and said that they need not worry and advised them to give her the Gandharvas and take Moon in exchange. Then deities requested Lord Bhahma to send Maa Sarswathi with them.

Lord Brahma smiled and agreed to send Saraswanthi as he knew that she would come back to him soon. Then all the deities went to Gandhrva loka with Maa Saraswathi. They requested the king of Gandhrarvas to relieve moon and take Maa Saraswathi. The king agreed and gave back moon. All the deities took Moon and went back to their loka leaving Maa Saraswathi behind. Maa Saraswathi , did not liked to stay in Gandharva loka. Maa with her tactics convinced the king to let her free. She reached satyaloka to Lord Brahma and stayed there only and did not returned to Gandharva loka. Gandharvas came to know this fact and were afraid of Lord Brahma and they planned to get Moon once again to their loka. Dieties came to know this and they advised Moon to worship lord shiva in Gunupudi and get the blessings to that he can be saved from Gandharvas. Then all the deities along with Moon came to Gunupudi and worshipped Lord Shiva with great devotion. Lord shiva appeared before them and assured that there woruld be no harm to Moon and disappeared. All the deities were happy.

It is also seen that this Shiva lingham will be increasing it's brightness in Shuklapaksha and would be most beautiful on Poornima when Moon is full.

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