Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy Temple (Vemulawada)

Vemulawada, now in Telangana’s Rajanna Sircilla district, was once the capital of the Vemulawada Chalukyas, a regional dynasty that governed the area from roughly the mid-8th to the late 10th century CE (c. 750-973 CE). The Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple is generally dated to this period, making it a rare surviving example of Dravidian-style temple building from that dynasty’s rule, though the precise year of construction and the name of the patron king are not firmly pinned down in available sources. The presiding deity, Shiva worshipped as Raja Rajeshwara Swamy and affectionately called Rajanna by devotees, shares the temple complex with a shrine to Raja Rajeshwari Devi and another to Siddhi Vinayaka, alongside smaller shrines to Anantha Padmanabha Swamy and to Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Anjaneya — an unusually broad pantheon for what is at heart a Shaiva shrine.

Two living traditions distinguish a visit to Vemulawada. Pilgrims bathe in the temple’s tank, Dharma Gundam, whose waters are popularly held to have healing properties, and many devotees undertake the “Kode Mokku” vow, circling the temple while leading a bull as an offering associated with Nandi, Shiva’s mount. The temple’s ritual calendar peaks at Maha Shivaratri, alongside Rama Navami and the wider Telangana festivals of Bonalu, Dasara and Bathukamma, drawing large numbers of pilgrims from across the Telugu-speaking region.