Kaleshwaram: Telangana's temple town of Kaleshwaram, the only place in India where the Hindu god of death and justice 'Yama' is believed to be worshipped in the form of Shiva Linga, is waiting for development and attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to the state for election campaign.
About 1,000 years old, the Kaleshwaram Mukteshwara Swamy temple is located on the bank of river Godavari in Kaleshwaram village in Mahadevpur mandal of Manthani assembly segment. It is known as Dakshina Kashi and the specialty of this ancient temple is the presence of two Lingams engraved on a single pedestal. It is on the Maharashtra-Telangana border.
The temple is 134 km away from Karimnagar district where Modi is scheduled to hold an election rally on November 27 to seek people's support for BJP in the assembly poll. This is the place where Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project is built and the Opposition has made an election issue of this project pointing out at defects that surfaced in one of the barrages.
Highlighting the uniqueness of this temple, Shravan Kumar -- a computer science graduate and junior priest of the temple -- said it finds a mention in the Hindu religious text 'Skanda Purana'. This is one of three temples where Nandi (bull) is seated before Shiva Linga outside all four doors of the sanctum. The other two temples are Pashupatinath temple in Nepal and Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
It is also one of the three Saraswathi Shakti Peeths. The other two are Kashmir Saraswati Temple and Basara Saraswati Temple in the state.
Kumar said despite the rich history, the development of this temple in the modern era began only in 1972 by then Congress leader and Minister for Endowment and Transportation J Chokka Rao. In fact, former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao who was then MLA, was one of the members of the Renovation Committee of this temple.
"Prior to that, there was no connectivity and electricity. The first bus service was launched only in 1976. Gradually, the temple and buildings around it were constructed with the fund support from other temples including Tirupati and Vemulawada," temple superintendent B Srinivas said.
After the formation of Telangana in 2014, the K Chandrasekhar Rao government sanctioned Rs 25 crore for the development of the temple. The office and other buildings were constructed, he said, adding no support has come from the Centre.
A devotee and lecturer Srinivas from Thorrur village of Mahabubabad district, said "the temple area is very backward. Since it is in the border area, the place is ignored."
"The temple needs the attention of the central government. Godavari ghat is polluted and needs to be kept clean for the people to do puja and bath. If the temple is developed, more devotees can be attracted," said another devotee and military personnel from Hyderabad T Rajagopal.
However, the temple superintendent felt the shrine would have received more attention and support had state MPs and central ministers visited the place.
"Modi had renovated many temples in the north. He is coming to Karimnagar for political work. If he visits here, it will be nice," temple head priest Krishna Murthy said.
Even the neighbouring Maharashtra government had said it will build a bhavan for its devotees but nothing has happened so far. However the current basic facilities including 100 rooms are sufficient to meet the present flow of devotees but more needs to be done to meet the demand in the future, he added.
Devotees from within the state, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh throng the temple and the crowd is more during Kartik and Shravan months, and Maha Shivaratri festival.
As few days are left for the conclusion of Kartik month on November 28, many devotees have come to the temple to offer prayers. However some complained the place does not have train connectivity, good hotels and even an ATM.
This temple is revered as a wish fulfilling one and even Telangana Chief Minister Rao had offered a golden crown to the shrine after his wish to create a separate state was fulfilled in 2014, according to the temple priests.
As per the legend, Murthy said, Lord Yama felt he was not worshipped by people as they were getting rid of their sins from the holy Kashi. Therefore, he did penance on the bank of river Godavari for Shiva for 11 years and got a boon.
"Shiva gave a boon and told Yama he will appear as Mukteshwar in Kaliyug and asked Yama to consecrate a lingam in his name 'Kaleshwar' next to it. Those who worship Kaleshwar first and then worship Mukteshwar will get rid of their sins. This is the only temple in the country where two lingams are engraved on a single pedestal," he said.
Another unique feature of this temple is that there is a hole in the Mukteshwara lingam which can never be filled with water. The water goes all the way to river Godavari, which is believed to merge with two other rivers Pranahita and invisible Saraswati. Hence this place is also called 'Dakshina Triveni Sangam', he said.
