Situated in a small village called Mandapalli, 38 km from Rajamundy, in the East Godavari District of Anshra Pradesh, this famous temple is one of the rare ones with Saneeshwara Bhagwan as its presiding deity. Also known as Sri Mandeswara Swami Temple and Someswara Temple, it is said that Saturn himself consecrated the linga representing Lord Shiva here. The other deities of the temple are Bhrameswara and Nageswara enshrined in the form of black stone Shiva Lingas. The small temple has some interesting legends attached to it. A great and benevolent sage 'Dhadichi' undertook a great sacrifice of donating his valuable spinal cord for Lord Indra's 'Vajra', so that he can relieve the people from the tyranny of the demon Kartabha by killing him using this weapon. However, the sons of the demon known as Aswartha and Pippala vowed revenge against the prople and the gods alike and broke havoc in Mandapalli.They tortured people and sages and brought forth untold miseries on them. Touched by their disheartening state, sage Agastya approached Lord Shaneeswar or Saturn, who is also the Lord of Dharma (Righteousnes) and the Son of God Surya, who was doing penance at the time to get the powers to kill those demon brothers. Shani (Saturn) stated that till the prayers and penance is completed, he wouldn't have enough strength to fight and get rid of the demons. However, he relented when sages agreed to give their 'Tapasshakti' (power of penance) to him. Then, he fought and killed the demons and relieved the people and the sages from their long tyrannical rule. There were rejoicings and everybody praised Saturn in many words. Sage Agastya and the other sages showered him with blessings and boons while Saturn installed a 'Shiva Linga' known as 'Someswara' or 'Mandeshwara' to mark his victory, around which the Saneeshwara temple is built.
