Kurnool and Alampur

Kurnool was one of the destinations I frequently visited in Andhra Pradesh during the 90s. The town’s situated on the east bank of river Tungabadhra. Incidentally the city is only on the east bank. On the west bank are the industries of TGV group.

During one of the visits, we went for a walk in the river bed. Rivers in Rayalseema belt are mostly shallow and wide. The bridges across the rivers are long. I’ve hardly seen rivers flow in this region, except for this one- Tungabadhra and Krishna.

It was a summer evening; the breeze was refreshing after a day of traveling from Bangalore and then work at one of TGV factories. As we entered the river bed, we noticed musk melon creepers… it was towards the end of the season, most of them were dry. The Kurnool variety musk melon is very popular.

Walking on dry sand was fun and needed lot of effort. As we approached the waters, I noticed this lovely little anchor. It was a beautifully crafted piece.

Wondering what an anchor is doing here? Small boats are used here to ferry people across the river from the town to the factories. I rode one of the bigger ones, powered by a diesel engine, couple of times. The route was a round-about one since it had to be navigated through the deepest parts of the river.

In the picture above, you can see a part of the ruins of the fort probably built during Vijayanagara. Kurnool was a place of strategic importance.

During another visit, we decided to check out other historical monuments within the city. This one is a small structure built like a fort, it's called as Kondareddy Buruju. Going by its construction it was a military barrack with a watch tower.

Look at the walls and the floor… they look solid. This structure was well-built and presently well maintained.

We spent some 45 minutes looking around. We could get a 360 degree of the flat city. Kurnool’s and Davangere are two towns which are real flat.

During the same visit, we heard about Alampur, a historical place about 22km from Kurnool. Here are seven or eight Chalukyan temples and a watch tower.
The is Sangameshwara Gudi situated in the outskirts of the village. It was originally built at another place close by. The temple was moved to the present location since its former location is submerged in Tungabhadra backwaters. ASI had put in lots of efforts into this project; mark every stone and dismantle the temple, shift the stones and assemble it back at Alampur.

The sculptures are beautifully decorated with floral and geometrical designs. Every sculpture tells a story from the Hindu legends. In the picture below, you see Ardhanarishwara, the a half man-half woman form of Shiva. The guide told us a story behind the temple but I cannot recall any of it.

This is one of the three temples positioned in a row. If I'm right this is Veera Brahma Devastana. This is typical Chalukyan architecture, feels like you are looking at temples in Pattadakal or Mahakoota.

The interior of one of the three temples.

This Nagadeva carving (which was lying in front of the archaeological museum) is supposed to have been exhibited at an art / historical show in Paris. There museum has a good collection of stone sculptures, most of which are Chalukyan.

We were almost done and we were passing the mosque within the temple complex and we noticed a huge cane basket inverted over a platform. Out of curiosity we asked a kid what was under that? Chicken? Out of no-where a bunch of kids were on the scene and a Mullah came and moved the ‘cane basket’. Wow! I was awe-struck seeing a bowl carved out of black granite.

The Mullah told us that during festivals, this bowl would be filled with food and people would have handfuls out of it. The carvings on the sides are intricate. This picture does not tell much, you have to see it in real.

Edit:
I happened to visit Alampur two more times once in 2014 and again in 2015. Here are the links to the newer articles.
Sculptures at Archaeological museum, Alampur
Sangameshwara temple, Alampur
Papanashi group of temples near Alampur

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