Within the great Bhimeswara temple at Draksharama in Andhra Pradesh — itself one of the five Pancharama Kshetras of Shiva — is enshrined Manikyamba, honoured as one of the eighteen Maha Shakti Peethas named in Adi Shankaracharya's stotram, "Manikya Daksha vatike." In the tradition of the Peethas, a part of the Goddess's sacred form fell here, and she is worshipped as Manikyamba, the Mother adorned with rubies (manikya).
Draksharama is revered in tradition as ground linked to Daksha himself, and the Bhimeswara shrine, raised by the Eastern Chalukyas, is famed for its towering two-storeyed sanctum and the Sapta Godavari tank, said to hold the waters of the seven mouths of the Godavari. To worship here is thus to honour Shiva and Shakti together in one ancient kshetra.
Celebrated in Telugu devotional literature, Manikyamba remains a cherished seat of the Mother in the Godavari delta.
