KURNOOL: Temples are closed only on rare occasions like solar or lunar eclipses, or for cleansing rituals. But, Sangameswara Swamy Kshetram, located on the banks of River Krishna in Kothapalli Mandal of Kurnool district is out of bounds for devotees for 7-8 months in a year because it remains submerged in flood water. As a result, the priest performs puja only for four to five months.
Flood water from Krishna and Tungabhadra and their five tributaries leave more than 70 per cent of the temple submerged. Curiously, the wooden Linga in the temple remains intact despite the fact that it remains in the water for the most part of the year.
On Monday, more than 70 per cent of the temple was under backwaters of Srisailam dam and only ‘gopurams’ were visible. “The gopurams will also get submerged completely by dawn or in the next 24 hours,” priest Telakapalli Raghurama Sarma said. The priest along with devotees performed ‘Sikhara harathi’ to the confluence of seven rivers. Special pujas, yagas, homams concluded with ‘mahamangala harathi’ being performed on Monday.
Sangameswaram temple is considered a ‘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. The temple on the banks of the confluence of seven rivers is slowly going under the water as floods to the Krishna is on the rise as the river is receiving 1.97 lakh cusecs from its upper reaches.
Meanwhile, the water level in the Srisailam project reached 850 feet as against FRL 885 feet with an increased storage capacity of 80 TMC of water against the total capacity 215.807 TMC. According to a myth, once the Pandavas came to Kurnool during their exile. They decided to install a Shiva Linga in this region after visiting Srisailam Mallikarjuna temple. So, Yudhishtira told his brother Bhima to bring a Shiva Linga from Kashi. Later, they consecrated the Linga at the confluence of the River Krishna, Tungabhadra and five tributaries. Hence, the Linga was named as Sangameshwara (the place where seven rivers meet).
The temple was submerged in water after the construction of Srisailam dam in 1980. In fact, it remained hidden under water for 20 years and resurfaced in 2003. The temple is visible for some days when the water levels are low. The temple has also opened to the public during these days. Since 2003, the temple has constantly resurfaced every year for four to five months.