Warangal part 1 ------ Rudreshwara Swamy Temple & 1000 pillars Mandapam -------pride of Kakatiya rulers ---beloved diety siva!!!!

NH-202-----Hyderabad –Warangal highway connects to bhupalapatnam  at Chathisgarh

Route ------- JNTUC—Hyderabad(26kms)-choutuppal—bibinagar—bhongiri---aleru—ghanapur—khazipet—Warangal (147kms) ==total kms from my area  147+26=173kms)

Trip Vehicle : Maruthi WaganoR (friend vehicle)

Trip Members :2

Primary Deity:	Lord Shiva
Location:	Warangal
Date built:	1163 AD (855 years old temple)
Architecture:	Chalukyan Style of Architecture
State:	Telangana State
Country:	India

Trip Plan : The trip was not planned for these temples, we planned to go to Chaya Someshwaram Temple on this  particular day. One of our friend misguided us by saying this was the route for Chaya Someshwaram,later realized after crossing Aleru this was not correct route to Panagal, instantly we changed our trip plan and we visited 1000 Pillars Temple & Ramappa temple..We don’t want to cover the places in hustle bustle situations, So I decided to have  more time to explore each place in detail,so we skipped other temples near by.

Temple Timings : 5am-8pm

Date of Journey :  24^th  march 2016 (Thursday)

Photography : allowed with a fee of 25 rupees  

Journey started from Hyderabad!!!!
Whenever we travel in panjagutta –begumpet route we always watchout  Hyderabad ITC Kakatiya Sherton a 5 star hotel earlier called as Grand Kakatiya as a tribute to Kakatiya Grandeur.

Started from the house around 7:30 am and reached by 8:30 am to Padma rao nagar where I should pick my friend  & We Started at around 8:30 am from Padma Rao Nagar and filled petrol for Rupees 1500/- in HP Petrol Bunk, Tarnaka and filled nitrogen air in all four tires. And sooner we  reached outskirts by 9:30 am and in no time we were on National highway. The roads from here are  really good with four lanes, after about 50 Kms drive we took up and down ticket 120/- at Nalgonda Toll gate (Hyderabad-Yadgiri Toll way private limited National highway) which is very costly toll gate ticket in this route.

 It was morning summer , sun was not too hotty!!!! after crossing  aleru we thought we  need a break for our breakfast , As we started very early in the morning we thought of having some typical South Indian breakfast, after vigorous search for hotels on highway we found one (Haritha) Restaurant in Aleru. We had Vada, Puri & Idly. After filling our tummy we headed to our destination. (Here is where we changed our plan of visiting 1000 Pillars Temple & Ramappa Temple instead of Chaya Someshwaram Temple).

Finally we reached Warangal by 11:30 am !!!! Warangal as major people know,  the Kakatiya’s pride once called as orvakallu which means (orva-single,kallu –stone ) single stone city or the city built on single stone or eka sila Nagaram. Warangal city, kazipet & hanumakonda  are called as triplet cities. From here itself the Great King Ganapathi deva ,the legendary queen  Rani Rudramadevi and Prathapudra ruled their kingdom  making Warangal as capital.

1^st halt –1000 pillars temple, dated back 855 years !!!

Kakatiya  Dynasty  began their ruling  from  750 A.D -1325 A.D, Kakatiya Dynasty is the only full-fledged  Telugu dynasty in  the history of  Telangana. The 1000 pillars temple started  construction  in 1163 AD and  took 72 years to complete . 1000 pillars temple in local language called as  “Veyi sthambhala gudi”.

Built by Kakatiya vishwakarma sthapathis, a masterpiece 1000 Pillars Temple with its ruins is situated in the busiest market roads, surrounded with modern buildings in Hanumakonda, Warangal city in chalukyan style of architecture. It was constructed by the  Rudradeva in 1163 AD. Hence lord siva  named  after him as the  Rudreshwara swamy. Major portion  of the temple was destroyed by the Tughlaq Dynasty during their invasion of  the Deccan, hardly some ruins are remained ,the temple  is on the verge of collapse.. The Kakatiya rulers major shrines  are Lord Vishnu, siva & sun built inside temple known as Trikutalayam.   As general saying  hindu people believe bhrama  as one among trimurthis but these kings never use to worship  bhrama.

We parked the vehicle in hot as there was no shaded parking , after stepping inside the 1^st gate,  sprawling gardens welcome us. 

Crossing this entrance we get another gateway , step inside the gateway  of the temple its like an open ground surrounded by grey black coloured stone temple in middle, once it was the pride of Kakathiya rulers now almost in a ruin condition. 

The main entrance of the temple is at back side so we left our footware little far away  adajacent  to  Nandi mandapa  but due to summer it was almost impossible to walk on ground ,the  ground was literally scorching, no other option left for us rather than to run to the temple premises,we ran as if  we were parcipating in a race!!!!!!!!

Here we go---Kakatiyan Rulers  Pride----Rudreshwara Swamy---at 1000 pillars temple

Why the name 1000 pillars !!!!
AS the name 1000 pillars ...the temple was built by kakatiyan rulers installing approximately about 1000 pillars which are beautifully richly carved behind Nandi Mandapa out side the main temple.There were nearly about 1000 pillars in the structures but no pillar abstructs a person in any point of the temple to see the god in the maintemple.Marvelous Construction --- as a hearsay,ASI when ismantled the mandapam for renovation ,they found huge mass of 30feet  of sand which took them to for about 2 weeks to clear it and found three wells below it.

 Kalyana mandapam built with 1000 pillars (old image) before dismantled by ASI in 2004 (pics source is from internet)

Does 1000 pillars still exist ?  !!!! a strong answer yes!!!!

We can see 1000 pillars in different sizes  all  were  in  ruined conditions  scattered all over .. Behind  nandi a  big wall was built,  where 1000 pillars manadapam is being rebuilding  by ASI  where we are not allowed because as you know our people are experts in vandalism ,so to avoid this type of activities by us strictly restricted to enter  into that premises.

Details of Temple!!!!!

Temple is situated on 1 meter high platform. we see beautiful sculptures adorn the walls of the main temple entrance and on rooftop  of temple ceilings with simple designs not  heavy miniature designs as in  Ramappa temple and the temple inside structure is exactly designed  as Ramappa temple .
Temple has 1 main entrance, in centre a big mandapa  surrounded by pillars. Exactly opposite  of the main entrance outside we see a big monolithic Nandi made up of black stone which adds grandeur.

Temple is designed in  star shaped, faces south as the kakatiya rulers wanted early morning sun rays to fall directly on their beloved diety  siva lingam. So  of three shrines  siva is faced east and others are faced south and west & on 4^th  side big Nandi installed outside  facing  siva lingam. 

Between all these four  is Natya Mandapam (dancing floor).entering into temple we see 4  huge pillars richly carved surrounding  natya mandapa, each pillar depicted in miniature carvings of  jewelery  wored by women & kings of that period and kalasam (symbol on flag of Kakatiya Rulers) , flowers & gaps between two flowers  etc are beautifully carved.

Natya Mandapam !!!!!

Roof of natya mandapam  is carved beautifically  depicted with gayathri –goddess of education ,the roof has 3 chatturmukhas   & 12 such faces in all carvings.

Surroundings of temple !!!!!

There is a huge peepal tree  which gives shelter to the devotees in hot summer,at foot of the tree Hanuman & sivalinga & at other side of temple  big step well previously used this water for abhishekam to lord but now it is abode for  turtles.

Nandi is in unique style in Kakatiya era!!!!!!

Nandi here faces east (unlike other nandis  face west )Nandi  does  not directly faces lord siva , here the nandi face is slightly  turned right side and the ear carved  out-- this feature symbolises as always  ready  to hear what  lord siva  orders him . Another unique feature is the left  fore limb of the  nandi  is always lifted up—symbolising  that nandi was always in alert position, to hear the order from lord siva and  ever ready to  getup  anytime. This posture of Nandi --- symbolizes the kakatiyas dynasty as always alert for any time wars. Oops !!!!! Here in this temple  Nandi  is with broken fore limb and  now its resting ,in short i feel its an  indication of the demise of Kakatiyan Dynasty by the invasion of Muslims.....

We had taken some photographs and  wishing a very fast recovery of the temple we headed towards Ramappa temple which is 70kms away from Hanumanakonda.

Quick Info!!!!

Vicinity of warangal :

• ·         Warangal fort (qilla fort)
• ·         Khazipet swetharkha Ganapathi
• ·         Padmakshi temple
• ·         Bhadrakali temple
• ·         Kazipet Dargah
• ·         Warangal zoo park
• ·         1000 pillars temple
• ·         Ramappa temple & lake
• ·         Pakhal lake
• ·         Laknavaram Lake
• ·         Pandavula guttalu
• ·         Mylaram Caves(Which are located in mylaram village,Ghanpur (mulugu mandal).
• ·         Medaram
• ·         Eturunagaram wild life sanctuary

Accomdations!!!!
There are lot of hotels ,here providing you with some best hotels list:

• Ashoka Hotel ( Hanumakonda), Warangal (near Ashoka theater) Ph: +91 8706692220
• City Grand Hotel ,S.V.P road,Rangampet, Ph:+91 8702454587,offers well furnished AC rooms 1450/- 
• Hima Residency near N.I.T (beside Kalinga Restaurant) Ph:+91 8702456522 
• Hotel Landmark residency (near water tank )Warangal Kazipet main road Nakkala Gutta,Hanumakonda ph:+91 8702546111 
• Hotel Suprabha,Hanumakonda ph: + 91 8702578888
• Punnami Hotel (AP tourism) Khazipet ph:+91 8702432312
• Ratna Hotel ,Pochamma Maidan,Warangal ph:+91 8702500096
• Haritha Hotel (Telangana Tourism)