The temple of Mukhalingesvara, anciently known as the Madhukesvara, stands in the centre of the village, Mukhalingam. It is a splendid ornate fane. Also in the village in the Aniyanka Bhimesvara, which is comparatively plain. In the outskirts of the village is the Somesvara, a most beautiful little temple.
Temple Architecture
The temple stands in two prakaras. A gateway, rather massive and flanked by standing lions, leads from the street to her first prakara. Past the Nandi mandapa, the devotee passes to the second prakara through an entrance which contains some superb friezes. On the lintel is a scene depicting a king on a throne with a warrior and a man in attitude of humility beside him. There is also a stand with a substance heaped up. According to local tradition, this scene tells the story of the founding of the temple.
There are eleven shrines on the four sides of the second prakara. The biggest are at the four corners of the main structure. Each of these is a small temple in itself, with spirited reliefs. The two entrances to the main temple from the second prakara, from the south and the east are artistic marvels. The eastern one is believed to be the loveliest entrance to a temple in the whole of India. The southern doorway is scarcely inferior. The former has two jambs on either side. Carved on these are wonderful foliage scrolls, so many running streams of stone water, as it were. There are also human figures and mithuna panels. The southern doorway has four jambs on either side, and here again there are some wonderful scrolls.
In niches carved on other walls there are some remarkable divine sculptures. These make an unexampled sculptural gallery. There are also some perforated windows. One of them is in the form of a swastika. The interior is unadorned. On its six pillars are carved most of the temple’s epigraphs, over a hundred in number. Written in Sanskrit or Telugu or a mixture of both, they record endowments to the temple. The Linga in the sanctum is of stone, and, contrary to popular notion, has no faces carved on it.
Other Information
The Mukhalingesvara seems to have been a kind of royal temple for the early Gangas. Today it is certainly their outstanding temple in Andhra Pradesh. Regular worship continues here and it is the centre of a popular pilgrimage. When exactly it was built can not be ascertained, but the probable date is the middle of the tenth century. It is associated with a king, Kamarnava, who ruled from 941 to 976.