Chaya Someswaralayam in Nalgonda gets its name from the shadow covering the main deity

Around 100 kilometres from Hyderabad is the peaceful town of Panagal, and here is the ancient Shiva temple built during the 11th century, Chaya Someswaralayam; the temple gets its name from the shadow covering the main deity – Shiva lingam. It is the architectural excellence of the people of the time, that it is not one pillar but the entire lay out of the pillars placed strategically that creates the shadow visible from sunrise to sunset, and even on full moon nights. Even while several mathematicians came up with calculations to reveal the secret behind the shadow, which is ingenious of the architects 1000 years ago, devotees continue to revel in the magic of it all.

The amazing architecture reminiscing of the grandiose Kakatiya temples, the layered stone structure for the gopuram, with three sanctum sanctorums – characteristic feature of the Trikootalayams (triple structures), the pillars, some of which have beautiful carvings of warriors on horses and elephants and scenes from epics, the charm of the ancient stone structures, beautiful even when a few portions are cracked, and even though there is a sense of neglect – what makes Chaya Someswaralayam, an enchanting tourist destination is its beauty in the antiquity, and the peaceful surroundings. Just a hundred kilometres away from Hyderabad, Panagal was hot bed of politics serving as capital to the Kunduru Cholas, who ruled over the kingdom that spread across Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar and Khammam, a thousand years ago. The Chola kings had great taste for architecture and they also built a large lake, Udayasamudram, which supplies water to agricultural lands in these districts even today, according to the information board in front of the temple. One of the plaques found in the temple mention the name of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra from the year 1290. And that explains the carvings and sculptures that have a striking resemblance to Ramappa temple. But, one wonders if the temple work was abandoned midway, especially when you look at the incomplete, half carved pillars inside the temple.

Many temples of Telangana underwent some cleaning and construction work thanks to Krishna Pushkaralu in 2016, and this temple too was spruced up for the occasion, and you have a clean temple pond, good parking space and some repair works in place. However, this amazing structure continues to be neglected; stone benches donated by the village people find pride of place around the temple premises, so much so that some of them are placed dangerously close to the temple structure, spoiling the aesthetics to begin with, and posing threat if the habit continues. There are restrooms for tourists but less said about them the better.

Chayasomeswaralayam is around 100km from Hyderabad and takes less than two hours to reach. The Vijayawada highway has some good eateries and resting places, and that amounts for hassle-free drive. The temple is about 4 km from Nalgonda and at a distance of 1.5 km from Panagal bus station. It is open from 6 am - 12 pm and 2 pm - 8 pm on all days. One can also visit Pachala Ramalingeswara, which is about 1.2km away.