Thousand Pillar ~ Rudreshwara Swamy Temple, Warangal

Thousand Pillar temple remained stuck to my mind ever since I heard my college time friend Ramesh's narration of his trip to Warangal. This was mid 1990s when we has just started off with our working lives. Ramesh had taken up a job in Hyderabad. One weekend he and a friend rode a scooter all the way from Hyderabad to Warangal and back, that's about 300 kms. At the end of his story he mentioned he never ever do a two wheeler trip again!

After moving to Hyderabad, I seldom went on trips. One was my work time and the other was city traffic. Anyway, I slowly learnt to handle crowd and traffic and it was time I got back to historic trips. We planned a two-day trip to Warangal and also stop by at Kolanpak on the way. We also had plans of visiting a lake resort if time permitted. Finally the day arrived.

March 17, 2017
We left early morning while the traffic was easy. It was almost an effortless drive to Uppal and then towards ORR. Then it was open highway.. by 6-45 we were next to Bhuvanagiri, we had covered around 70 kms. With 80+ kms to go, I calculated that we should be reaching Warangal by 8-00. Well, about 10 kms from Bhuvanagiri, the 6-lane road suddenly shrunk to a 2-lane road. Our speed dropped drastically, we were averaging about 55 kmph. We stopped at Raghunathapalli for breakfast, a 30 minute stop. Soon we reached Hanamakonda and we took a diversion to Warangal. The first item on our list was Warangal fort. We went around the fort until noon before heading back to the city.. to
the Thousand Pillar temple. I was expecting to see a temple with rows of pillars.

So, finally I stood looking at the temple. This is the view from north-east.

 A small board at the entrance read as below-
The temple according to an inscription on the pillar here, was constructed by Rudra-I of the Kakatiya Dynasty in 1163 AD. This temple measures over 31x25M and stands on a platform raised to a height of 1m from the ground. It consists of three shrines of Siva, Vishnu and Surya arranged around a central hall with a Ranga Mandapa. In the fore front there is a large pillared Mandapa in variety of patterns. Between the temple and the Mandapa is a plain pavilion for a massive Nandi.

The elegant carvings at the richly decorated pillars under a spacious roof spanning the embellished side slabs is an achievement of unparalleled excellence of the architect. Other units have included a rectangular stepped Pushkarni, a Thorana entrance in the east and a pillared Mandapa correspondingly at the western wing of the ruined Prakara.

The midday heat was blistering; being barefoot, the sandy ground was burning our feet. We rushed towards a patch of grass and shade.. the temple as seen from the west. I was trying to imagine how a temple of this could have 1000 pillars..

Looking at the temple front portion.. a elephant and bull guarded the entrance. So this is a south-facing temple.. generally temple are east-facing.

Well, the temple is beautiful. It has signs of Chaulkyan architecture. But where are the thousand pillars?

A handsome tusker. The tusks are broken. It is said the temple was desecrated by the Tughlaq army during their occupation of the Deccan.

A board proclaimed that photography wasn't allowed inside the temple. Rituals are performed daily and a group of people were waiting inside. I got over my curiosity about the pillars and asked why this temple was called thousand pillars. The clerk replied "this temple has 400 pillars and the mandapa opposite has 600 pillars which sums to 1000." I understood the pillars were part of the temple walls.. that's why they do not obstruct the view of any of the deities. I thanked the lady and stepped out.

This style of temple building was continued by the Hoysalas. Most of their temples are built on star-shaped platforms.

Lord Rudreshwara's mount- Nandi or Basavanna as known in Northern Karnataka. This Nandi is almost 6 feet tall.  As you see, he is richly decorated with plenty of jewelry. Fortunately the Nandi looks well preserved..

Almost intact, except the tail is broken.

This is the Mantapa which contains 600 pillars. Being under restoration, it was out of bounds for tourists. I had to be content in taking two pictures of the beautiful structure.

I'm guessing the restoration work could go on two years.

We decided to leave since we wanted to see Bhadrakali temple. Walking back to the parking lot was a punishment.

Two massive Lingas close to the temple. These are quite similar to the ones seen at Pattadakallu.

Well, our tour of 1000 pillar temple was a quick one.
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Ekasila Gutta, Warangal fort

A trip to Warangal was on my mind for few years before it became reality. A college friend who was working in Hyderabad had told me about his scooter ride from Hyderabad to Warangal and back. It was a terrifying experience for him and he would never try anything like that again. Warangal is about 150 kms from Hyderabad. Our plan was to leave early morning, reach Warangal early so that all important spots could be covered.

March 17, 2017
Our journey started around 5-00 AM. Having visited Bhuvanagiri fort, we were familiar about the route to Uppal cross.. that's where the road to Warangal starts. Once past the Outer Ring Road, the highway is six lane. We made good speed and passed by Bhuvanagiri around 6-30 AM. About 10 kms from Warangal the 6-lane road abruptly ended giving way to a 2-lane road. We still had 80 kms to go, our time changed significantly. We would be reaching an hour later than planned.. never mind, we were on a vacation, no need to think too much of time. We stopped for bandi breakfast at a Raghunathapalle. By 8-30 we'd reached Hanumakonda and by 9-00 we were at Warangal fort.

At Warangal fort, our first stop was at the open-air museum. We spent close to two hours checking out the Kakatiyan art. At the museum was a map of Warangal fort showing the important spots within it. The next closest spot was Ekasila Gutta meaning Monolithic hill. The monolith is situated next to a small lake named Gundu Cheruvu.

Here's the monolithic hillock, to my right is the lake. Atop the hillock is an ancient temple and a watch tower.

Pushpa was unwilling to climb the hillock. She agreed only when I told that the climb would not be longer than 2 or 3 minutes. And I had to pull her half the way :)

There she is resting half-way up. The lake has a small island at the center. Tourists can rent boats here late afternoon. The view of the hillock from the boat would be interesting.

The summit came into sight; its a small plateau. On one side is an east-facing temple; on the left is a watch tower and a small room for a sentry. Close to the temple is a sculpture of a lotus with a pair of feet at its center (see inset). This seems like a Jain sculpture. There's another hillock in the city, next to Bhadrakali lake, on which a Jain Basadi dedicated to Padmavati. So it seems that even this hill was used by Jain monks at some point of time.

Another view of the lake; this is from a small mound next to the temple. The mound is probably ruins of a platform.

The watch tower and sentry room. The tower is octagonal in plan, about 20 feet high. This tower and sentry room seem to be constructed much later than the temple.

Atop the tower is a platform for a cannon however its in ruins. I guess the archaeology department has placed some ancient sculptures on the tower making it a mini museum. There's only one narrow stairway to the tower top.

The curved stair-way opening at the tower top. On the rim of the tower, one of the slabs next to the stairway, has an image of Lord Hanuman, The image is a typical form of Hanuman (see inset).

View of the sentry room and a foundation of another structure.

The temple as seen from the tower. Its a Ekatachala meaning a temple with one sanctum. As you see, the temple has a wide front side with three entrances. The roof is flat devoid of tower over the Garbhagudi. The roof is surrounded by sloped porch. The temple has ample space inside; it has a spacious Sabha Mantapa and Sukhanasi. At the center is a four-pillared Mantapa which would be the Natyaranga ~ the dance floor.

Ground level view of the temple. Its a simple looking structure yet a beautiful one. The temple is preserved fairly well. One of the reasons for its good condition is its location; being situated on a rocky hillock, its foundation is firm. Also being situated at a height, it has been relatively safe from vandalism.

The interior; Garbhagudi is devoid of deity. The temple design and architecture is similar to Chalukyan temples. The pillars are very much Chalukyan. It is possible that Kakatiyan architecture might have evolved from Chalukyan temple architecture.

That's Pushpa resting on the Sukhanasi. With a gentle breeze blowing, the interior was cool. A nice break from the glare and heat. This hillock and temple are part of the garden maintained by government - thanks to the restricted access. else this would be a place for gamblers and other kind of activities.

Had we come later in the afternoon, we could have enjoyed a cool boat ride and also got a good shot of the hill from the boat. Well, some other day.

While at Warangal fort, we also visited the following:

Open air museum of Kakatiyan sculptures & the iconic arches

Swayambu Devalayam

Kush Mahal

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