Kaleshwara-Muktesvara Temple, Kaleshwaram

Detail

• Kaleshwaram lies on the right bank of the Godavari, where the Pranahita joins it. The Census volume of 1964 places the village in thick forest, about 20 miles from Manthani.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• The Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1958-59 lists an inscription on a beam of the 16-pillared mandapa of the Muktesvara temple. The record is in Sanskrit and Telugu, and the report assigns it to the reign of Ganapati Deva.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• According to the report, the record tells of the consecration of the god Vimalesvara at Kalesvara, on the bank of the Godavari. The royal preceptor made the consecration. His name is lost, but the record calls him the son of Dharmasiva.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• The report identifies this preceptor as the celebrated Visvesvarasiva, also called Visvesvara-sambhu. The Malkapuram inscription calls Visvesvara-sambhu the son, meaning the disciple, of Dharmasambhu.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• The record also lists gifts of land by Buddhaya, son of Rudra and chief of Chernuru, and by Mayideva, chief of Rapuru. At its end, Soma-bhatta, son of Brihaspati, claims three verses in praise of Siva.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• The Karimnagar volume of inscriptions, edited in 1974, gives an undated record of Ganapati Deva's reign on a stone in the Muktesvara temple. The edges of the stone are broken.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• The editor writes that this record begins with praise of the king's preceptor, probably Visvesvara Sivacharya, and of his son Dharma Sivacharya. He adds that Dharma Sivacharya is said to have built some temple at Kalesvara and endowed it with lands.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• Other gifts of land are recorded at the end of the same record. The villages of Manthanavati, Chennuru and Utupalli are named.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• Epigraphia Telanganica lists these two records separately, as Nos. 345 and 375 of its second volume. The text printed in the Karimnagar volume, however, contains the names Vimalesvara, Buddhaya son of Rudra, the lord of Rapuru and Brihaspati.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023 · Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• The 1958-59 report gives the same names for its record. The two entries therefore seem to describe one inscription, copied twice. This comparison is made on this site and is not stated in the sources.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59 · Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• The two descriptions of the stone also differ. The Karimnagar volume puts the record on a stone in the temple, while the 1958-59 report puts it on a beam of the 16-pillared mandapa. Epigraphia Telanganica, citing the same page of the report, gives a 13-pillared mandapa.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974 · Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59 · Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• The sources disagree on how Dharmasiva and Visvesvara were related. The 1958-59 report makes the preceptor the son, or disciple, of Dharmasiva. The Karimnagar volume makes Dharma Sivacharya the son of the preceptor, and Epigraphia Telanganica follows it.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59 · Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974 · Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• The sources also differ on the work itself. The 1958-59 report speaks of the consecration of Vimalesvara by the preceptor. The Karimnagar volume says that Dharma Sivacharya built some temple at Kalesvara, which Epigraphia Telanganica renders as the same temple.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59 · Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974 · Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• Parabrahma Sastry reads the Malkapuram inscription of 1261 as saying that Visvesvara-sambhu founded a stone monastery, the upala-matha, and a Siva temple at Kalesvaram. Sastry writes that an inscription found at Kalesvaram proves this.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis)
• Sastry adds that the monastery at Kalesvaram was headed by Dharma-siva, whom he calls the son, perhaps the spiritual son, of Visvesvara-siva.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis)
• The Early History of the Deccan also says that Visvesvara Sambhu founded a monastery called the Upala-matha at Kalisvaram. It adds that he gave the monastery a village of Brahmins that he had founded himself.Yazdani 1960
• Sastry also cites a Kalesvaram record of Ganapati's reign. In it, Buddhayadeva, son of Rudra, gave the god Kalesvara four nivartanas of land beside a tank at Buddhapura. Sastry thinks that this Buddha probably belonged to the Natavadi family.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis)
• Kundamamba, daughter of the Kakatiya Mahadeva and sister of Ganapati Deva, set up an inscription at Nidigonda dated 21 April 1219. Among her works, the inscription names a shrine of Ardhanarisvara at Sri Kalesvara.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• The editor of Epigraphia Telanganica notes that no independent inscription at those places supports this claim.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• A damaged inscription of 2 June 1220 at Kolanupaka names Kalesvara among the places where its donor set up Siva. The donor's name is lost. The editor of Epigraphia Telanganica thinks that she was Kakati Mailama, a sister of Ganapati Deva.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023 · Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis)
• E. Hultzsch, writing on Vidyanatha's Prataparudriya in 1892, says that the name Trilinga is supposed to come from three famous lingas of Siva. These are at Srisailam, Kalesvara and Draksharama.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• Parabrahma Sastry states that Vidyanatha himself gives this origin of the name Trilinga. The Census volume of 1964 quotes a verse of the Prataparudriya that names Srisaila, Kaleswara and Draksharama.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis) · Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• Parabrahma Sastry writes that most villages in the forest tracts of Manthena and Kalesvaram were founded under the Kakatiyas, as their inscriptions show. Telangana - Land and People repeats this.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis) · Goel et al. 2022
• Sastry also lists Kalesvaram among the temples that owned several villages as gifts to the god.Parabrahma Sastry 1975 (thesis)
• On 28 February 1397, Devaraya, son of Harihara, performed the tulapurusha gift at Kalesvara on the bank of the Gautami, which is the Godavari. He was celebrating his campaign of conquest. The record is a single Sanskrit verse on a pillar of the 16-pillared mandapa.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023 · Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• In the tulapurusha, the giver gave away gold equal to his own weight. The Karimnagar volume calls it one of the sixteen great gifts prescribed in the dharmasastras.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974
• N. Venkataramanayya identifies the prince as Devaraya I, son of Harihara II. He writes that Kalesvaram then lay in the lands of the Velama kings of Telangana, who were allies of the Bahmani Sultans.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• The 1958-59 report lists one more record, on another pillar in the same mandapa. A pilgrim named Ramabhaktudu records his obeisance to the god Muktisvara. The report places it in late characters.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
• The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 says that Aurangzeb built two mosques in the Mahadeopur taluk, one of them at Kalesar.Imperial Gazetteer 1909
• The Hyderabad Archaeological Department photographed Kaleswar in 1929-30. Its list of negatives includes the "Mosque of the time of Aurangzeb", the "Lingayat Temple" and the linga inside its shrine.Nizam Archaeological Report 1929-30
• The same list includes a carving of a fish and the sculptures collected from the ruins of other temples at Kaleswar.Nizam Archaeological Report 1929-30
• The Census volume of 1964 describes a big mosque at the entrance to the village. Its writer supposes that the mosque was built after a temple there was pulled down. The writer also tells a local story that Aurangzeb stayed a night at Kaleshwaram.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• According to the temple tradition recorded in 1964, two lingas stand on one pedestal. One is Muktesvara, a form of Siva. The other is Kalesvara, a form of Yama, the lord of death.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• In the story, a visit to Muktesvara alone was enough to win salvation, so Yama complained to Siva. Siva then let Yama stand beside him as a linga.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• Devotees believe that water poured into two holes in the Muktesvara linga reaches the meeting of the Godavari and the Pranahita.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• The Census volume also reports other local stories. In one, a commander called Gannareddi held Kaleshwaram under Rudrama Devi. In another, Prolaraja gave his weight in gold here, which the writer says is supported by inscriptions.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar
• The inscriptions of Kalesvaram listed in Epigraphia Telanganica do not include a record of Prola. The only tulapurusha recorded there is that of Devaraya in 1397.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
• According to Telugu traditions, Pratapa Rudra came back from Delhi, spent a few days at Kalesvaram and died there in peace. Yashoda Devi reports this tradition, but she trusts the Vilasa grant, which says that he died on the way to Delhi.Yashoda Devi 1975
• S. Gopalakrishna Murthy writes that the Saiva scholars Ramesvara Dikshita and Mahendra settled at Kalesvaram, and that Ramesvara was the religious guide of Prola II. Murthy suggests that Ramesvara perhaps founded the Kalesvaram shrine.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
• Murthy also gives a story from local records. In this story, the pontiffs of Hidimbasrama and Kaleswaram came with the king when the Svayambhu linga was found at Warangal.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
• Murthy describes a relief of the goddess Annapurna at Kalesvaram. She holds a vessel of food in her left hand and a long-handled spoon in her right. He notes that he had not yet seen Annapurna elsewhere in South Indian sculpture.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
• Murthy describes a second Annapurna, carved with greater skill, as a later addition. He traces its crown to Hoysala influence.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
• Murthy also writes that the Kakatiyas made the next prominent four-faced lingas, one now at Kalesvaram and another at Warangal.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
• The Census volume of 1964 names many other temples in the village, among them those of Annapurna, Saraswati, Sri Rama and Adi Muktesvara. It says that some of the temples were badly ruined.Census 1961, Fairs and Festivals: Karimnagar

Historical photographs

These photographs were published a century or more ago. They show the monument as it stood before later repair and restoration.