Kakatiya Rudreshwara- Ramappa Temple

Context:

India gets its 39th World Heritage Site

About Ramappa Temple

• Ramappa Temple, also known as the Rudreshswara (Lord Siva) temple, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the state of Telangana.
• It lies in a valley in Palampet village of Venkatapur Mandal of Mulugu district, a tiny village long past its days of glory in the 13th and 14th centuries.
• An inscription in the temple dates it to the year 1213 CE and says it was built by a Kakatiya General Recharla Rudra Deva, during the period of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva
• This temple was constructed by Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva’s general Recharla Rudra.
• Ramalingeswara Swamy is the presiding deity of this temple.
• Marco Polo, during his visit to the Kakatiya Empire, allegedly called the temple “the brightest star in the galaxy of temples”.

Location: Mulugu, (Near Warangal) Telangana

ARCHITECTURE

• Ramappa Temple stands majestically on a 6 ft high star-shaped platform.
• The hall in front of the sanctum has numerous carved pillars that have been positioned to create an effect that combines light and space wonderfully.
• The temple is named after the sculptor Ramappa, who built it, and is perhaps the only temple in India to be named after a craftsman who built it.
• The main structure is in a reddish sandstone, but the columns round the outside have large brackets of black basalt which is rich in iron, magnesium and silica. 
• The lower part of the temple is red sandstone while the white gopuram is built with light bricks that reportedly float on water.
• These are carved as mythical animals or female dancers or musicians, and are “the masterpieces of Kakatiya art, notable for their delicate carving, sensuous postures and elongated bodies and heads”.
• The Kakatiya temples, dedicated mostly to Siva, reveal in their construction a happy blending of the styles of North India and South India which influenced the political life of the Deccan.
• They adopted both the North Indian Nagara Bhumija style and the South Indian Dravida style.
• The most important of these temples are those at Palampet (Ramappa temple), Hanamkonda (Thousand Pillared temple) and the temples in the Warangal fort including the big ruined temple complex — Swayambhunadha temple.

Kakatiya Dynasty:

• The Kakatiya dynasty was a South Indian dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan region comprising present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and parts of eastern Karnataka and southern Odisha between 12th and 14th centuries.
• Their capital was Orugallu, now known as Warangal. 
• Early Kakatiya rulers served as feudatories to Rashtrakutas and Western Chalukyas for more than two centuries. 
• They assumed sovereignty under Prataparudra I in 1163 CE by suppressing other Chalukya subordinates in the Telangana region.
• Ganapati Deva (1199–1262) significantly expanded Kakatiya lands during the 1230s and brought under Kakatiya control the Telugu-speaking lowland delta areas around the Godavari and Krishna rivers. 
• Ganapati Deva was succeeded by Rudrama Devi (1262–1289) and is one of the few queens in Indian history. 
• Marco Polo, who visited India in 1289–1293, made note of Rudrama Devi’s rule and nature in flattering terms. 
• She successfully repelled the attacks of Yadavas (Seuna) of Devagiri into the Kakatiyan territory.
• In 1303, Alauddin Khilji, the emperor of the Delhi Sultanate invaded the Kakatiya territory which ended up as a disaster for the Turks.
• Another attack by Ulugh Khan in 1323 saw stiff resistance by the Kakatiya army, but they were finally defeated.
• The Kakatiya era also saw the development of a distinct style of architecture and notable examples are the Thousand Pillar Temple in Hanamkonda, Ramappa Temple in Palampet, Warangal Fort, and Kota Gullu in Ghanpur.
• Much of the information about the Kakatiya period comes from inscriptions, including around 1,000 stone inscriptions, and 12 copper-plate inscriptions.
• A 1978 book written by P.V.P. Sastry on the history of the Kakatiyas, published by the Government of Andhra Pradesh also constitutes one of the sources.

Sandbox Technique:

• The technique involved filling the pit — dug up for laying the foundation — with a mixture of sand-lime, jaggery (for binding) and karakkaya (black myrobalan fruit) before the buildings were constructed on these ‘sandboxes’.
• The sandbox in the foundation acts as a cushion in case of earthquakes.
• Most of the vibrations caused by earthquakes lose their strength while passing through the sand by the time they reach the actual foundation of the building.

Source: PIB

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