The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A surge of devotion at confluence point

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A surge of devotion at confluence point

By K.V.S. Madhav

Women taking a dip in the Krishna at Koodali Sangameswaram. — Photo: Satish H.

KOODALI SANGAMESWARAM (MAHBUBNAGAR DT.), SEPT. 3. The fairest of river goddesses - the Krishna and the Tungabhadra -- meet here, the blue of the Tungabhadra merging into the green of the Krishna. The meeting gives the place its name - a junction of rivers.

On Friday, the faithful saw hope in this great confluence in the derelict rural backwaters of the arid and drought-hit Mahbubnagar district. Here was untrammelled flow of happiness at the very sight of water in abundance, a rarity in this part of the world.

"Whenever there is plenty of water, it is Pushkaram for us. Like its once-in-12 years cycle, we get water once in many years," said a farmer of Alampur, Naganna who came along with his wife, sons, daughters and grandchildren in a decorated bullock cart. For them, this was a moment to be celebrated in togetherness however bleak the farming situation was at home following years of drought.

If one were to watch the true essence of a river festival and the river as a giver, it was here.

Hoary past

Men, women with children, infants, cattle and dogs in tow, literally entire rural households headed for the Koodali Sangameswaram confluence point where a cluster of temples of great architectural beauty once stood. The shrines of unsurpassable beauty, including the Sangameswara temple, have been relocated by the Archaeological Survey of India, several kilometres ahead in the uplands, while the original village lies submerged beneath the waters.

The gentle folk from the nearby villages took a holy dip in the place they were so familiar with, yet all new filled as it was with water after several years. "We used to drive down all the way to an island two km inside the river even last year," said two young auto drivers from neighbouring Kasyapuram, Shali Basha and Sekhar ferrying a village senior, Ayyanna. Basha insisted that this was a celebration of nature, which was all powerful and above all religions.

"With the rain god showing no mercy, many in our village had left for Hyderabad in search of livelihood. With news of inflows in the rivers, we all decided to come here," they explained. Fifty of them from the village had reached the place in autos and bullock carts. Even the autos were given a ritual bath while Naganna and Rajanna from Thangasila and adjacent Gundhimalla bathed their bullocks. "This is a festival for all. The beasts are part of our family," they explained, fondly scrubbing their cattle.

"People do not know much about this site. This is not in the pilgrim circuit either, but more publicity would have been of help," an RMP of Gundhimalla village, Balasubramaniam, said. Iruvaganti Jayarama Sarma, the priest of a popular hilltop temple located next to the confluence point, says "With the sun beating down and no shelters here, people are being put to inconvenience." The temple has erected a few makeshift changing rooms with the help of local villagers. More importantly, the temple provides food to all visitors.

Grim reminder

Even as children sang and the menfolk feasted on the sight of the river came the grim reminder that water levels were falling once again. Water scarcity, they said, was a perennial problem.

"Only when Karnataka releases water from the Hospet dam, we can think of farming. With scant rainfall, our lives are solely dependent on them," the farmers remarked wryly. The neighbouring State is located barely 75 km away and as farmers look westwards, their happiness appears to be short-lived.

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