RAMAPPA TEMPLE

RAMAPPA TEMPLE

Ø     Ramappa Temple, also known as the Ramalingeswara temple, is located 77 km from Warangal, the ancient capital of the KakatiyA dynasty, 157 km from Hyderabad in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India.

Ø     It lies in a valley at Palampet village of Venkatapur Mandal, in erstwhile Mulug Taluq of Warangal district, a tiny village long past its days of glory in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Ø     An inscription in the temple dates it to the year 1213 and said to have been built by a General Recherla Rudra, during the period of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva.

Ø     This medieval temple is a Shivalaya (where Shiva is worshipped) and named after the sculptor Ramappa, a Vishwakarma Brahmin Sthapathi of Karnataka State, who built it rather that after its presiding deity, Ramalingeswara, perhaps to accent Shiva's importance as the personal god of the avatar of Vishnu, Rama.

Ø     The history says that it was taken 40 years to built this temple. This beautiful temple, an example of brilliant Kakatiya dynasty art, planned and sculpted by Vishwakarma Brahmin Sthapathis was built on the classical pattern of being lifted above the world on a high star-shaped platform.

Ø     Intricate carvings line the walls and cover the pillars and ceilings. Starting at its base to its wall panels, pillars and ceiling are sculpted figures drawn from Hindu mythology.

Ø     The roof or garbhalayam of the temple is built with bricks, which are so light that they are able to float on water.

Ø     The hall in front of the sanctum is filled with exquisitely carved pillars that are placed as to combine light and space wonderfully with the finely chiselled walls and ceiling.

Ø     There are two small Shiva shrines on either side of the main temple that are completely ruined.

Ø     The enormous Nandi within, facing the shrine of Shiva, remains in good condition.

Ø      In most of the shiva temples, the Nandi was strait to deity but in the temples built by KAKATIYAS the nandi is in an alert position and waiting for the order of lord shiva.

Ø     The city of Warangal is noted for its beautiful lakes, magnificent temples, mud-brick forts and wildlife sanctuaries.

Ø     Warangal today is an important tourist destination.

Ø     Palampet is located at a distance of 77 km from Warangal, the ancient capital of the Kakatiyas.

Ø     It is home to brilliant Kakatiya art as seen in the Ramappa temple.

Ø     The Ramappa temple is near the ancient engineering marvel of the 13th century AD Ramappa tank.

Ø     The ancient Ramappa tank can be dated back to the period of Kakatiyas. It is a well-conceived tank where a 2000 ft long earthen dam connects a semi circular chain of hills to form a lake.

Ø      The Ramalingeswara Temple is popularly known as the Ramappa temple because the chief sculptor was Ramappa.

Ø     It is probably the only temple in India to be known by the name of the sculptor who builds it.

Ø     It was built under the patronage of the King Kakati Ganapathi Deva by his Chief Commander Rudra Samani at Ranakude in the province of Atukuru.

Ø     The temple has been described as the "brightest star in the galaxy of medieval temples in the Deccan".

Ø     The temple is approached thorough a royal garden, now just a lawn with tree lined path. The temple is situated in a valley.

Ø     The Ramappa temple stands on a 6 ft high platform on a cruciform plan.

Ø     The sanctum is crowned with a shikhara and is surrounded by a pradakshinapatha.

Ø     Rich and intricate carvings adorn the walls, pillars and ceilings of this wonderful building. The hall in front of the sanctum has numerous beautifully carved pillars that have been placed to create an effect that combines light and space wonderfully.

Ø      There are many votive shrines within the temple. There are two subsidiary shrines on either side of the main temple, which are in a good condition.

Ø      The entire temple complex is enclosed with a compound wall. At the entrance to the temple is a ruined Nandi mandapam, with an imposing 9 ft high Nandi, which is still intact.

Ø     The Shivalingam in the sanctum also rises to a height of 9 ft. The east-facing sanctum is surrounded with pilasters crowned with Dravidian and Nagara shikharas in an alternating fashion.

Ø     There is an additional entrance from the north also leading to the Navaranga mandapam in front of the sanctum.

Ø     The ceiling is divided into compartments by columns from the bottom and is carved with intricate patterns.

Ø     There is a richness of carvings in this temple on dark rock with a smooth finish, portraying an amazing range of themes from the Puranas and various Indian mythological stories.

Ø     The temple signifies many facets of Shiva, his royal residence, the Himalaya Mountains and his inhabiting a sacred space beyond the mortal realm.

Ø     The temple is built upon the classical pattern of being first raised upon a platform that separates its sacred functions from the taint of the everyday.

Ø     This 'sacred mountain' mindset was characteristic of the temple builders in all the cultures. It represented a powerful symbolic representation of a perfect building, an intersection in midair of the spheres of heaven and earth.

Ø     The platform lifts it above the normal, transcends the profane, declaring with uncompromising firmness that it is a place for un-common activities dedicated to a god.

Ø      Maha Shiva Ratri is celebrated for a period of three days in this temple.

Ø     Many of the smaller structures are neglected and are in ruins in the Ramappa temple. There were even instances of people carrying away the bricks, to be proudly exhibited that they can float on water, before the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) took charge of it.

Ø     The main entrance gate in the outer wall of the temple is ruined, so one can enter only through a small west gate.