Untold Stories of our temples-4: After years of neglect, Kashi Bugga temple now a big draw for devotees

Hyderabad: Where there is money, there is the Endowment Department. But not to act in the spirit of trusteeship reposed in the endowment act of the Hindu Charitable and Endowments Act.

According to the Telangana State Endowment's Department, the late Raja Raghu Ramji founded the Kashi Bugga temple in 1822, and the current family trustee is Nanda Kumar. Long neglected, the temple, however, has shot to fame in recent years because of its Stala Purana (traditional belief associated with the place of the temple).

Speaking to The Hans India, several devotees said Sri Murali Manohar Swamy Temple was the main temple under Kashi Bugga Temple. The importance of this temple is that there is continuous seeping of water in the sanctum santorum near the Shiva Linga. This power of the presiding deity fulfils wishes and ushers in good tidings, say the devotees.

One such devotee was Sridhar, who, along with his family, had come to the temple from Patancheru. He said that he heard about this temple from his father, and several years ago, he tried to figure out the way to the temple. After much effort, he and his mother saw only dogs roaming around in the temple premises, with a huge tree in front of them.

But, now things have improved a lot. Still, one would not find a signboard guiding the way to the temple in the Old City. There is also a parking problem in the area for the devotees. Another way the devotees can access the temple is by walking on a low-laying footbridge across Musi connected to the Jiaguda area.

Against this backdrop, a proposal was mooted when Prem Singh Rathod was heading the Musi River Front Development to build a high-foot bridge across Musi from Jiaguda to the temple so that devotees could have easy access to the temple.

The then minister of municipal administration and urban development and officials visited the temple and took stock of the proposal. "A survey was conducted, and a proposal for the new high-foot overbridge across the Musi River was mooted during the last tenure of the GHMC." But for unknown reasons, it was put in cold storage.

It is learned that the endowment and GHMC officials said, “It is a politically sensitive issue. Do not press for such demands." The State endowment department never bothered to create amenities for the devotees who landed at Kashi Bugga temple and put up boards with rate cards for various pujas to make money from the visiting devotees.