KURNOOL: The historical Sangameswara Swamy temple in Kothapalli Mandal of Nandyal district was partially submerged in Krishna floodwater on Saturday. With only some gopurams visible, the temple is likely to submerge entirely due to heavy inflows into the river.
The temple remains underwater for eight months and pujas are performed for four months only. However, priest T Raghurama Sharma performed pujas on top of the temple as the last puja of this season.
Interestingly, the wooden Shiva Linga remains undamaged even after staying underwater for nearly eight months each year. Sangameswaram is considered as ‘vayuvya dwaram’ to Srisailam and is the place of confluence of seven rivers Krishna, Veni, Tungabhadra, Beemradhi, Malapaharini, Sangameswara and Bhavanasani.
The ‘kshetram’ also has temples of Surya, Mrityunjaya, Saraswathi, Subrahmanya swamy, Anjaneya swamy and Narasimha swamy.
To reach the temple, devotees travel by bus from Atmakur to Kapileswaram. Then take an auto or jeep or walk for 5 km. It can also be accessed from Nandikotkur. One has to go 14 km via Machumarri and then take an autorickshaw.