Śrīkāḷahasti is one of the most sacred Śiva kshetras of the south. It stands on the bank of the Svarṇamukhī river in present-day Andhra Pradesh. The presiding form of Bhagavān Śiva is Śrīkāḷahastisvāmin, enshrined as a Vāyu-liṅga, the liṅga of air.

The kshetra takes its name from three great devotees of Bhagavān Śiva: Śrī (the spider), Kāḷa (the serpent) and Hasti (the elephant). Each worshipped the Śivaliṅga here in its own way and reached moksha (liberation) through the purity of its devotion.

The kshetra and the Vāyu-liṅga

Śrīkāḷahasti is counted as one of the five Pañcabhūta Kshetras of the Tamil and Telugu Śaiva tradition. Each of the five enshrines Bhagavān Śiva as a liṅga of one of the five great elements:

Kāñcīpuram: Pṛthvī-liṅga (earth)
Tiruvanaikā: Jala-liṅga (water)
Śrīkāḷahasti: Vāyu-liṅga (air)
Tiruvaṇṇāmalai: Agni-liṅga (fire)
Cidambaram: Ākāśa-liṅga (space)

The Vāyu-liṅga cannot be seen as a form, for its nature is air. Pilgrims know it by the flickering of the eternal flame in front of the liṅga. The flame trembles because of the divine Vāyu, who is the nature of this liṅga, blowing even in the closed inner sanctum.

The three devotees and the origin of the name

The name Śrī-Kāḷa-hasti keeps alive the memory of three animals. They worshipped the Śivaliṅga here with no knowledge of the rules of ritual, but with pure and natural devotion.

Śrī, the spider, wove webs over the liṅga to protect it from falling leaves. It served as a canopy-maker.
Kāḷa, the serpent, decked the liṅga with its own hood and jewel. It served as a crown.
Hasti, the elephant, carried water in its trunk to bathe the liṅga. It performed the abhisheka (ritual bath).

Each did not know what the others offered, and each undid the work of the others. The elephant’s bath washed away the spider’s web, and the elephant disturbed the serpent. A quarrel broke out. The spider entered the elephant’s trunk and bit it from inside, and both died. Bhagavān Śiva appeared, moved by their pure bhakti (devotion), and gave all three moksha at the same moment.

The kshetra is named after them. It stands as a lasting memorial to the teaching that pure devotion, with no calculation in it, goes beyond all knowledge of ritual.

In Sūta’s pilgrimage

In the Kailāsa Saṃhitā of the Śiva Purāṇa, Sūta Romaharshaṇa visits Śrīkāḷahasti after Kanyākumārī, on his pilgrimage to the south. This lies between the teaching of Oṃkāra at Kāśī and his arrival at Kumāraśikhara on Meru. At Śrīkāḷahasti he has darśana (sacred sight) of Śrīkāḷahastisvāmin, the Vāyu-liṅga. The text notes the holiness of the Svarṇamukhī, which flows at the base of the hill of the kshetra.

From Śrīkāḷahasti, Sūta goes on to Kumāraśikhara on Meru. There he is present at the dialogue of Vāmadeva and Kumāra.

Sources

Śiva Purāṇa, Kailāsa Saṃhitā, Chapter 10