01Rajanna and the bull calf
To the farming families of northern Telangana, Shiva here is simply Rajanna, the king. The best-known vow is kode mokku: a family that has prayed for health or a good harvest leads a young bull calf round the temple and leaves it to the god, and the calves are kept in the temple’s goshala. Dharmagundam, the temple tank, is where pilgrims bathe first. On Mahashivaratri the town fills with pilgrims, and the temple ranks among the most visited in the state.
02Capital of the Vemulawada Chalukyas
From the 8th to the 10th century Vemulawada was the seat of a Chalukya line that ruled this region as feudatories of the Rashtrakutas. Their king Arikesari II was the patron of the Kannada poet Pampa. Temples of Bhimeshwara, Nagareshwara and others of their time stand around the main temple, and inscriptions of the dynasty have been found here. Within the temple precinct also stands the dargah of a Sufi saint, which pilgrims of both faiths visit.
The life of this place
- 10th centuryVemulawada is the capital of the Chalukyas under Arikesari II, patron of Pampa.
About 35 km west of Karimnagar and 150 km north of Hyderabad.
