KURNOOL: The Sangameshwara temple on the Krishna riverbed near Muchumarri in Kurnool district was submerged by water on Sunday. The temple serves as a barometer for water flow into the river. “If there are good rains in the upstream areas, the temple gets swallowed in the first week of August. This year it has been submerged 10 days in advance,” said temple priest Raghunadha Sarma Telakapalli.
The temple submerges when the water in the Srisailam reservoir reaches 860 feet. When the waters recede to 810 feet, it emerges again when pujas will be resumed, the priest said. Villages like Muchumarri on the riverbed were rebuilt after locals were paid compensation and asked to move out but the temple remained at the spot. It weathers the submergence and is reportedly none the worse for the wear.
Mr Sarma said that in a good year the temple is open only for about six months. “Sometimes with low inflows we have the opportunity to extend sevas for another one to two months,” he said. He said that good rains in Karnataka and Maharashtra had brought water to the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, which feed the Srisailam dam. “It improves ground water and at least for the next two years there won’t be any scarcity in the villages along the river,” the priest said.
