Indian
States
Andhra Pradesh
Warangal
is a district of beautiful lakes, magnificent temples and rich
flora and fauna. Warangal is the headquarters of this district,
has always been an important industrial and cultural centre. Once
the capital of the great Kakatiya Kingdom. It is a town mentioned
in Marco Polo's travel diaries.
Warangal
Fort : It is 12km from Hanamkonda, this fort was built during
the 13th century by the Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva and his daughter
Rudramma. Warangal's main attraction is the enormous, abandoned
mud-brick fort, which has a terrific atmosphere and many interesting
features. Carved atones from wrecked Chalukyan temples are set
indiscriminately in the massive stone walls which form a distinct
fortification almost a km inside the outer mud walls. The remains
of four huge stone gateways, similar to those of Sanchi and several
exquisite pieces of sculpture can be seen. Rich ,intricate sculpture
on walls, pillars, brackets and ceilings will captivate you.
Thousand
Pillars Temple : Preched elegantly on the slopes of the hills
at Hanmkonda, the Thousand Pillars Temples is a fine specimen
of kakatiya architecture and sculpture. Built by Rudra Deva in
1163 AD in the Chalukyan style, the star-shaped, triple-shrined
temple is dedicated to shiva, vishnu and surya. The temple is
notable for its richly carved pillar, perforated screens and exquisite
icons, specially impressive are the rockcut elephants and the
Nandi statue is reminiscent of a turbulent yet glorious history.
The black basalt Nandi, a monolith, has a lovely polished finish.
We were the only people visiting this Jain temple. It was totally
silent, save for the wind that gently swayed the bells that hung
from the peaks of the roof.
Bhadrakali
Temple : Situated a top a hillock between Hanamkonda and Warangal,
it is famous for stone image of the goddess. Eight-armed, with
a weapon in each hand, she is shown in a sitting posture. The
2.7 mts tall stone image of the deity is the main attraction here.
The temple is dedicated to Goddess Bhadrakali, the Grant mother
Goddess, with fierce looking eyes and face. The main attraction
of the temple is the stone image of the diety in human form, in
sitting posture, wearing a crown and having eight hands holding
various weapons. About 1 km from the 1000-pillared temple is the
Hanamkonda fort. Within the fort is the Siddeshwara temple. It
contains a small Linga shrine.
