On the sacred Srisailam hill in Andhra Pradesh, sharing the mountain with the Mallikarjuna Jyotirlinga, is enshrined Bhramaramba Devi — one of the eighteen Maha Shakti Peethas named in Adi Shankaracharya's stotram, "Sri Shaile Bhramarambika." In the tradition of the Peethas, the neck of Sati fell here, and the Goddess is worshipped as Bhramaramba, the Mother of the bees.
Her name recalls the legend in which the Devi, to slay the demon Arunasura — who could be killed by no two- or four-legged creature — took the form of a swarm of bees (bhramara) and destroyed him. Because Srisailam holds both a Jyotirlinga and a Shakti Peetha, devotees revere it as a rare place where Shiva and Shakti abide together, and hold that a single darshan bestows the grace of both.
Bhramaramba is the fierce and protective Mother of the Nallamala hills, worshipped with deep reverence in the Sri Vidya tradition.
