Namaste,

Sri Kalahastishwara is one of the Panchabhuta(Five elements) Sthala Lingas.On the banks of river Swarnamukhi,Lord Shiva manifested as Vayu(Wind) Lingam.The shrine is also associated with Sri Kanappa Nayanar,a tribal saint devotee of the Lord,one among the 63 saints of southern Saivism,who is considered as an re-incarnation of the Pandava Arjuna.(Meaning of the name Sri-Kaala-Hasti-Ishwara is below)

Mahakavi(Great poet) Dhurjati wrote a great Shataka(comprises 108 poems) on the Lord of Sri Kalahasti.Durjati Kavi was one of the Ashta Diggajas(eight great elephants) in the court of Emperor Sri Krishna Devaraya.

Translations of some of these devotional and philosophical poems is available online.


Sample translation:

Oh God Sri Kalahastiswara –You have been so kind to have the name attached to you of three trivial beings-Spider, snake and elephant for their immense devotion. That shows your love towards your devotees. Why don’t you shower the same love towards me who is totally engulfed in these unnecessary worldly affairs? Let this devotion shine as much as sun shines after the clearing of the clouds. Oh god! Please have mercy on me in letting me free from these relations of family & bondage. Let my mind, soul and heart pound with your devotion. Oh god ! I once again plead you to have mercy on me as much as you have on lotus flowers for them to bloom during “Sarat Kalam”..(i.e. autumn) season.

More poems are there in the translator's website:

https://vijayadhurjati.wordpress.com/

Also,a complete translation by Hank Heifetz is available in Google books,poems start on page 13:

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=...page&q&f=false

Legend of Lord Sri-Kaala-Hasti-Ishwara from wiki:


Sri Kalahasti is named after the staunch devotees of Lord Shiva. They were the Spider (Sri), the Serpent (Kala) and the Elephant (Hasti). Appeased with their unflinching devotion, Lord Shiva gave them a boon that their names be merged with the Vayulinga and called as Sri Kalahasteeswara.

According to Hindu mythology, the elephant or Hasti used to clean the Shiva deity by watering the idol with the help of river-water carried in his trunks and pray for him by placing Bilva leaves. The spider or Sri tried to protect the deity from external damage by weaving his web and to provide shelter for the Shiva lingam. The snake or Kala used to place its precious gem on the linga to adorn the lord. In this way, they all worshipped the Vayu linga separately without knowing what the other was doing.

One day, the spider had built a very big and thick web around the deity to protect it from dust and weather while the snake places its gem. The elephant not knowing this and assuming that this form of puja by Sri and Kala is a desecration by the seeming miscreants, pours water on it and cleans it up. This causes a war between the three. The snake punishes the elephant by entering its trunk and in the process kills itself while the elephant runs amok and hits its trunk and head against the shiva linga. During this struggle, the spider is squashed against the linga by the elephant's trunk and the elephant dies due to the snake's poison. Lord Shiva then appeared and gave moksha to all three of them for their selfless devotion. The spider takes rebirth as a great king while the elephant and the snake reaches heaven for satisfying all its karma.

This king continues his good work from his previous birth and builds a variety of temples that seeks to protect the underlying deity with tons of stones. It is interesting to note that all his temples, keep the deity beyond the access of an elephant. In this temple, access to the deity is through a narrow passage in the side of the building that prevents an elephant from extending its trunk over the lord from any side.
Brief story of Sri Kannappa Nayanar from wiki:

At Sri Kalahasti, Lord Shiva tested the unshakable devotion of Thinnadu (Later became Bhaktha Kannappa) before the sages gathered at SriKalahasti. With his divine power, Lord Shiva created a tremor and the roof tops of the temple began to fall. All the sages ran away from the scene except Kannappa who covered the linga with his body to prevent it from any damage.


In another incident, Kannappa plucked out one of his eyes and placed in the eye of Linga which was oozing with blood and tears. When the tears and the blood were still trickling from another eye, Kannappa decided to remove his second eye and placed one of his feet on the spot of the right eye of the Shiva Linga. Before he could pull out his second eye with the arrow, Lord Shiva appeared and restored his eye while granting him a boon to occupy a place close to him.


Saivite traditions believe that Kannappa was the reincarnation of Arjuna. Arjuna, worshipped Siva for seeking the Pasupatha Astra and failed to recognize Him in the form of a hunter. Thus, according to this tradition, Arjuna had to be born as a hunter and adore the Lord before attaining final liberation.
Ashtadiggajas

Ashtadiggajas (Ashta + dik + gaja) means elephants in eight directions. It refers to the old Hindu belief that eight elephants hold the earth in eight directions which are namely Airaavata, Pundareeka, Vaamana, Kumuda, Anjana, Pushpadanta, Sarwabhouma, Suprateeka, whose wives are Abhra, Kapila, Pingala, Anupama, Taamraparni, Subhradanti, Angana, Anjanaavati. The court of poets were also called Bhuvana Vijayam (Conquest of the World).
Sri Kalahasti Temple:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srikalahasti_Temple