Mukteshwara Swami

The Mukteshwara Swami Shiva temple at Kaleshwaram in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, Telangana — located at the Godavari-Pranahita confluence, holding two Shiva lingas in a single sanctum (Shiva as Mukteshwara and Vishnu as Keshava on a single pedestal) in the Trimurti tradition. The temple is one of the three Trilinga Kshetras of ancient Telugu geography (with Srisailam and Draksharamam) that defined the Telangana cultural frame from the Satavahana period onward. The temple's two-linga configuration is iconographically unique among Indian Shaiva shrines. The temple's foundation is traditional Satavahana-period; the current structure is 11-century Chalukya and 14-century Kakatiya additions. The adjacent 2019 Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (world's largest lift irrigation system) has made Kaleshwaram a political-development pilgrimage site as well.