Kankaleshwar Temple

Kankaleshwar Temple is a Shiva temple built in the middle of an 84 meter square lake in Beed, Maharashtra state, India. The temple stands on the banks of the river Bindusara on a ledge of 1.52 meters height. The government needs to pay serious attention to the fact that the temple area is getting polluted due to the negligence of the administration.

Temple Structure

Kankaleshwar temple is facing west and the temple has a mukhpandap, an ardhamandap behind it and a Talvinyas which is a spaced sanctum sanctorum connected to this mandap on three sides. All these three sanctum sanctorums are of similar size and their Talvinyas are star-shaped. The mandap of this temple is octagonal in shape. There are two pillars or a pair of pillars on the four main directions and four upadishas of the mandapa. These sixteen columns have a domed roof. This roof is made up of circular rings that get progressively smaller. The ceiling has floral carvings and ornamentation. At the center of the roof is a lotus at the top.

The structure of the pillars in the mandap and the sanctum sanctorum is of square base and at some distance above the square base there is an octagonal, square and circular square pillar and a kickahast on the circular part of the pillar respectively.

The outer part of the temple has different layers and the lowest layer is decorated with frame carvings and the uppermost layer is decorated with kirtimukhas. The shrines on the bhadra of the outer part of the temple house Shakti, Brahma and the deities of the Shiva sect. The ten incarnations of Vishnu and Ashta-Dikpala are shown above in the thigh on the Mandovar.

The doorway to the sanctum sanctorum of the Kankaleshwar temple is of the Panchashaka type and is decorated with lotus, flowers and vyala

About the Temple
The Chalukya King Vikramaditya (VI) built this temple in the 10th to 11th century. This is a Dashavatari temple. Women of the Chalukya period used to participate directly in the battles. There is a sculpture of fighting women on the temple. It bears the impression of Greek sculpture. The temple also has the sculpture of Aryanath and Neminath, two Tirthankaras of Jainism. The temple is shaped like a star fish and there is another sanctum sanctorum under the temple pavilion. It has been closed for five hundred years. Kankaleshwar temple was closed for many years. There was a khanqah. Further, the Nizam’s cabinet decided to ban the Mahashivratri fair as well. The Nizam appointed a priest named Shambuwa Pathak to conduct the worship in the temple by issuing a government order. It took 1915 to break this dilemma. Revolutionary youth Purushottam Godse, without begging the Nizam, broke through the police and consecrated the Pindi of the Kankaleshwar temple. On September 17, 1948 i.e. Hyderabad Independence Day, this temple was truly liberated. A legend is told of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesha being pleased. In the lower part of these dvarshakhas are shown dasi and Nidhi holding kumbh and chauri. On the front of the main sanctum sanctorum is a Ganesha idol.

Address : Kankaleshwar Temple, Tt. Beed, Distt. Beed. 431122
Dhule-Solapur National Highway No. 211