Upamanyu

Maharshi Upamanya
The life of great Shiva bhakta Upamanyu was narrated by Vaayudeva in Shiva Maha Purana.
Upamanyu was a devotee of Lord Shiva who with his great penance obtained the blessings of Ksheera ramalingeswara in his childhood only.
The beauty of his life and devotion is that he prayed for Ksheeraramalingeswara with a childish desire that he wanted milk(ksheera).

Upamanyu is the son of Ugradanta who used to live in forests and was poor. They could not feed their child with milk and his mother used to give the child , powder mixed in water. Once Upamanya was taken to his uncle's house who was the brother of his mother. There as his uncle was rich enough Upamanya was given cows milk which was so tasty that Upamanya disagreed to take the powder milk after returning home.
His mother said that they were not blessed by Lord Shiva and this was the cause of their poverty(unable to give cows milk).
Upamanyu's desire for milk provoked him to ask his mother that who could give him milk. His mother in turn replied that it was a boon to be blessed with holy things in this world and one can get them only by sacrifice and penance. She also said that,
Any thing with which we are blessed in this life is only a product of which we have sacrificed to Lord Shiva in our previous life(purva janma).
She also said that Lord Shiva was reason for everthing and very existence of this world. She described the greatness of Shiva Panchakshari that it was the base of all mantras and all of them were born from that Panchakshari mantra.
The words of his mother touched his heart and the child promised his mother to do penance for the blessings of Lord Shiva who was the only person who could give him milk. His mother was happy for the childs decision and blessed her child and taught him the great Shiva panchakshari(Five lettered mantra of Lord Shiva = Na Ma: Shi Va Ya).From that moment the child started chanting of panchakshari. He went to himalayas and built a small temple with eight bricks and worshipped Lord Shiva in the form of Paardhiva linga(Shiva linga made of mud). As the child was doing penance without food he became weak and demons who were cursed by Marichi tried to disturb the child. But the child did not stop chanting Panchakshari and the demons left him.
The child was so devoted to Lord Shiva that his penance enlighted all the world and the deities requested Lord Vishnu to make the child stop his penance as they could not bear the energy of the childs penance. Lord Vishnu accepted their prayer and went to Lord Shiva to ask about the child. Lord Shiva heard the prayer of Lord Vishnu and ensured them that he would bless the child and asked them to return to their home.
Lord Shiva wanted to test the devotion of his child Upamanyu. Lord Shiva with Maa Paarvathi took the disguise of Lord Indra and Maa Paarvathi as Maa Sachi and all the Shiva ganas as deities and Nandi as Iravatha(vahana of Indra). They appeared before the child and admired him of his penance and started to speak disgraceful words about Lord Shiva and also said that Lord Shiva was Nirguna swarupa and he was not one of them. They also said that worshipping Lord Shiva cannot fulfill his desires and asked him to be with them and worship them. Upamanyu who was in deep devotion to his Lord Shiva was hurted to hear disgraceful words about Lord Shiva and forget all his desires. He said that it was his previous sins that made him to hear Shivaninda(disgraceful words about Lord Shiva). Then he chanted Aghora mantra threw some bhasma on the face of Lord Indra and decided to burn himself in Yogagni(fire generated by the power of penance).
At that moment Lord Shiva showed himself as Ksheeraramalingeswara and showed the child ksheerasamudra(ocean of milk),Ghrutasamudra(ocean of ghee),Amruta sagara(Sea of immortality), and lots and lots of tasty food.
Upamanyu was out raged in happiness seeing his Lord Shiva and Maa Paarvathi on Nandivaahana and worshipped them with joy and happiness.This was also a joyous moment for all the dieties and they showered the boy and Lord with flowers and sweet music.
Upamanya was delighted and knelt before Lord and prayed. Lord Ksheeraramalingeswara lifted the child with love and affection and kissed him and told Maa paarvathi that the child would be their son from that moment and assigned the boy with the leadership to all ganas(ganadhipathi).Maa Parvathi blessed him with a boon of being young throughout his life and offered the child Ksheerasamudra in the form of a ball.
Lord Ksheeraramalingewara blessed Upamanyu with all the boons like the Ksheera samudraSambhavi vrata and Paasupata vrata. Lord was not satisfied with all the boons he gave to the child and asked for any other boon he wanted.
Upamanyu innocently replied that inspite of all the boons he was given he would not be free from this worldly relations without complete and permanent devotion towards his Lord Shiva and asked Lord to stay with him and protect him throughout his life.

Lord Shiva was happy and fulfilled the request of his child. From that moment He stayed there as Ksheeraramalingeswara with Maa Paarvathi and this place is called Ksheerapuri and now as Palakollu.
and all the tasty food that was with him.He also blessed the child with immortality and capacity to do