TIRUPATI: Priests performed special rituals for the pinnacles of the historic Sangameshwara temple located at the confluence of seven tributaries near Muchumarri in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh submerged in the floodwaters on Saturday.
Every year Sangameshwara temple gets submerged in the flood waters when heavy rains are reported in the upstream areas and 2021 has been no different.
With several projects in the upstream areas in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and Kurnool district brimming to their full capacities owing to unprecedented rainfall during the last one week, the respective states have been releasing waters from various projects to downstream.
And as water levels continued to rise at the Srisailam project, flood waters entered the Sangameshwara temple on July 20 this year.
As flood waters continued to rise over the last four days, the temple got completely submerged in the flood waters on Saturday and the priests who reached the temple on boats performed special rituals to the pinnacles of the temple moments before the pinnacles too got submerged.
Sangameshwara temple dates back to the Mahabharata era and is believed that the sacred wooden Shivlinga is believed to be installed by Yudhishtir - the eldest of the Pandava brothers at the confluence of seven sacred rivers including the Krishna, Bhavanasi, Tunga, Bhadra, Veni, Bheemarathi and Malapaharini.
Sangameshwara temple got submerged in the flood waters for the first time after the Srisailam dam was constructed in 1981.
The temple resurfaced only after two decades in 2003 when idol and pilgrim worship were revived.
