Sri Chaya Someshwara Temple Telangana
At a distance of 1.4 km from Panagal Bus Station, 4 km from Nalgonda Bus Station and 104 km from Hyderabad, Chaya Someswara Temple is a wonderful temple located at Panagal in Nalgonda district of Telangana. This is an interesting pilgrimage and historical site to visit from NalgondaSri temple was built during 11th – 12th centuries by Cholas. The temple got the name as it is believed that the formation of relentless shadow (Chaya in Telugu) of a pillar falls over the main deity of Shivalingam throughout the day. This amazing temple, engineered by the Kunduru, testifies the fantastic creative thinking and scientific knowledge of its architects. The complex houses three deities – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva facing three different directions connected by common mahamandapa. The temple also demonstrates wonderful sculpture and art work.
The temple is known for its architecture. One of the garbhagrihas situated in the west and facing east contains a continuing shadow of a pillar throughout the day. This mysterious shadow is a huge attraction of the temple. The chaya that falls on the deity looks like a shadow of one of the pillars carved in front of the sacred chamber. But it is not actually the shadow of any pillar. The dark area is formed by the reflection of light through multiple pillars placed in front of garbhagriha and the shadow is a consolidated shadow of those four pillars. The pillars in the temple are strategically placed so that the light falls at the same place throughout the day.
The pillars of the temple are decorated in great detail with relief sculpture of episodes from Ramayana and Mahabharata. Several sculptures collected from this area are preserved at the museum constructed in the compound of Pachala Someswara Swamy temple. Some of the ancient shivalingas preserved in the museum were collected from a village called Yelleswaram, which was submerged during the construction of Pachala Ramalingeshwara Temple lies 1.2 km from Sri Chaya Someshwara Temple in Panagal Village is another wonderful place that can be visited.
It was built around the mid 11th-century during the rule of the Kunduru Chodas (a branch of Telugu Cholas), supported and embellished further by later Hindu dynasties of Telangana. Some date it to late 11th to early 12th-century.
The temple, now partially restored, was in ruins in mid 20th-century. It has three garbhagriya (sanctums), a form of temple architecture that is called Trikutalayam (three-shrine complex). The sanctums are dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Surya. The three shrines share a common hall (mandapam) with intricately carved pillars in the Telingana style. These carvings depicts scenes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas. The temple is a popular pilgrimage site during Maha Sivaratri. The temple has three entrances.
The temple is in close proximity to Pachala Someswara temple, another Saivite shrine in Panagal. The pillars in the Ardhamandapa and open spaces near the central Shiva shrine were designed and placed by the temple architect in such a way as to cast a unified shadow (Chaya in Telugu) constantly on the lingam all through the day, irrespective of the position of the sun. This gave its name to the temple – Chaya Someswara Swamy temple.
