Saraswati Pushkaralu in Kaleshwaram: when rivers meet and faith overflows

The Hindu

23-05-2025

Before dawn breaks, they come wrapped in devotion, barefoot and breathless, guided not by GPS but by something far older: faith. Men with ash-smeared foreheads, women balancing brass vessels and children yawning as the air thickens with summer haze. Some arrive in SUVs, others in bullock carts, tracing old forest paths. At the heart of it lies Kaleshwaram, a temple town not merely mapped on earth, but etched in spiritual memory.
Here, in this corner of Telangana where the State kisses the borders of Maharashtra, the invisible Saraswati meets the mighty Godavari and the Pranahita in a sacred embrace called Triveni Sangamam. And once in 12 years, that embrace becomes a cosmic event called Saraswati Pushkaralu, drawing pilgrims in throngs who come with an age-old belief that bathing here will cleanse their past sins and lead them closer to spiritual liberation.
Nonagenarian Susheelamma, born and raised in Kaleshwaram of Jayashankar-Bhupalpally district, has witnessed this moment more times than she can count. Quoting ancient texts from memory, she speaks of the region as a Shaiva Kshetram, a sacred space of Shiva, blessed by the unseen Saraswati flowing underground. 'It is the divine will of Lord Shiva. To be born here and be able to take holy baths at Triveni again and again is my greatest blessing,' she says, eyes closed in reverence.
Saraswati is no ordinary river. Unlike the mighty Godavari that thunders visibly or the expansive Pranahita that cuts through plains, Saraswati flows unseen, beneath the surface — an Antarvahini, or subterranean stream. And yet, to the devotees, her power is palpable.
Just 268 km from State capital Hyderabad, Kaleshwaram may feel remote, but during Pushkaralu, it becomes the beating heart of a much larger spiritual geography.
In Kaleshwaram, located about 268 km from State capital Hyderabad, ritual meets river, and myth seeps into every stone. This is the only place in South India where three rivers converge, and thus, three Pushkaralu — Godavari, Pranahita and Saraswati — are observed here in their respective cycles. For the faithful, a dip in the Triveni Sangamam is not symbolic; it is transformational.
As pilgrims gather in droves for the 12-day Saraswati Pushkaralu, which began on May 15, the banks of the Sangamam have been transformed. From the air, courtesy of helicopter joyrides, the confluence looks like a sacred mandala — rings of water, rings of people, and in the centre, a yearning for moksha (salvation). The last Godavari Pushkaralu took place in 2015 and the Pranahita Pushkaralu in 2022.
Twin lingas of liberation
Kaleshwaram's temple complex, crowned by the Sri Kaleshwara Mukteshwara Swamy shrine, is a marvel in itself. Here, two Shivalingas — Lord Kaleshwara (Yama) and Lord Mukteshwara (Shiva) — sit on a single pedestal, a pairing rare in the annals of Hindu temple architecture. According to legend, Lord Yama performed severe penance here at the Yama Kona (a mini arch-like structure on the temple premises) to earn the grace of Shiva, and in turn, was granted a place beside him.
Locals believe that those who worship the Kaleshwara lingam are freed from the torments of Yamaloka, while those who worship Mukteshwara are granted spiritual liberation.
At the Kaleshwaram temple, two powerful rituals — Kalasarpadosha Nivarajana Puja and Navagraha Puja — draw the devout in hordes. For many, these are not just ceremonies, but spiritual interventions to untangle karmic knots and appease planetary forces believed to influence human destiny.
The Mukteshwara Swamy lingam has a striking feature — two nostrils. No matter how much water is poured during abhishekam, not a single drop overflows. Instead, it disappears underground, believed to be the emergence point of the Saraswati river, which later merges with the other two at the Triveni Sangamam.
There are also shrines dedicated to Goddess Saraswati Devi and Shubhananda Devi (Goddess Parvati), Sangameshwara, and Dattatreya within the temple complex. The temple's origins are attributed to Gangadhar, a minister of Kakatiya king Rudradeva, according to a 1171 CE inscription found at Nagunur.
Until the late 1970s, bullock carts were the only way to reach Kaleshwaram. The dense forests of Mahadevpur mandal, once a hotspot of Naxalite activity, kept it secluded and sacred. The arrival of bus services in 1976 and road projects in the 1980s, spearheaded by former Karimnagar MP J. Chokka Rao, opened the gates of this Shaiva kshetram to the larger world.
Former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao served on the temple renovation committee during his tenure as an MLA from Manthani. Along with him, leaders like late Speaker and three-time MLA from Manthani constituency D. Sripada Rao played key roles in shaping the town's growth without stripping away its soul.
Today, National Highway 353C cuts through the region, bringing pilgrims from across Telangana, Maharashtra's Gadchiroli and Chandrapur, and Bijapur and Jagdalpur in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. Yet, even amid the trucks and tour buses, one can still find farmers from nearby villages arriving in bullock carts, honouring tradition.
Faith, infrastructure and aspirations
As the Pushkaralu enters its final stretch, the temple town is seeing a surge in pilgrim numbers. The district administration had ramped up efforts — doubling personnel, improving signage and deploying traffic monitors along the 17-kilometre stretch between Mahadevpur and Kaleshwaram. The aim is clear: a smooth, hassle-free passage to the sacred Triveni Sangamam, where every minute counts before the cosmic clock resets.
IT and Industries Minister D. Sridhar Babu, who represents Manthani assembly constituency, earned praise from Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for his efforts in organising the mega event. The State has allocated ₹40 crore for the festival and promised an additional ₹200 crore to develop Kaleshwaram into a major spiritual tourism hub ahead of the 2027 Godavari Pushkaralu.
A 17-foot statue of Saraswati, carved from a single stone by Tamil Nadu artisans, now stands at the newly developed Saraswati ghat, lending grandeur to the bathing ghats where pilgrims take their ritual dips. A 100-room choultry was also inaugurated ahead of the festival to host pilgrims.
With over 3,500 police personnel deployed for the once-in-12 years fete and nearly 200 CCTV cameras and drones in place, security is tight, particularly because the region lies close to what were once Maoist-affected zones across the Telangana-Maharashtra border. The National Disaster Response Force and Singareni Collieries' rescue teams are also on standby, says a police official on bandobust duty.
A helicopter joyride over Kaleshwaram is fast becoming a crowd-puller, offering a bird's eye view of the temple complex, the lush landscape and the riverine confluence that holds generations of faith.
Religion, ritual and beyond
The spiritual fervour is matched by cultural celebration. Every evening, Saraswati ghat comes alive with music, dance and devotional performances, showcasing Telangana's rich heritage. Pilgrims line up for the Maha Harathi, reminiscent of Varanasi's famed Ganga aarti.
'I would like to visit Kaleshwaram again with my family members on May 26, the final day of the festival, just to witness the Maha Harathi and also attend the Sri Chandi Homam at Kaleshwaram temple,' says N.Ramana, a pilgrim from Karimnagar.
But beyond the ritual and crowd control lies something deeply transformative. As pilgrims swirl around the ghats, Raj Kamal Reddy, a geologist from Karimnagar, urges a different kind of reflection. 'This is not just about a holy bath or religion. Our rivers are dying. Festivals like these must also serve to remind us of our duty — to protect the rivers that sustain us, to honour their self-purifying power, and to let them flow freely for generations to come.'
Tourism enthusiasts like Radhakrishna from Mancherial echo the sentiment, suggesting eco-tourism circuits linking Wadadham Fossil Park in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district about 27 km from Kaleshwaram with Ramappa Temple and Laknavaram Island in neighbouring Mulugu district, turning Kaleshwaram into both a spiritual and ecological beacon.
'There is still a long way to go in terms of basic pilgrim facilities,' says Sampath, a devotee from Bhupalpally. 'But what Kaleshwaram lacks in infrastructure, it makes up for in spirit.'
In Kaleshwaram, time bends. Ancient chants echo into modern megaphones. And between river and ritual, the faithful find something timeless. Here, where the visible and the invisible flow as one, belief isn't just practiced, it is lived. Perhaps, that is why devotees like Susheelamma return again and again, to bathe in the holy waters, to seek moksha and to touch, however briefly, something divine.