Andhra Adventures II: Kakatiya Temples around Warangal

In ancient India, art and religion were inseparable. It may not be wrong to say the religion was the vehicle through which the art developed, evolved and flourished. Kings and their representatives were the major patrons of art. More often than not they commissioned artists to built temples devoted to their family or state deities. Whenever a region has been ruled long enough by a dynasty, we find a cluster of temples built by the generations of the dynasty. The best temples were built when the rule of the dynasty was at its peak. Every reign also had its typical style of art, which reflected in the temple architecture and sculpture. Kakatiya's of Warangal also left their imprint in form of temples. While most temples have been destroyed, there are a few that have survived the tide of time and give us a glimpse of the times of Kakatiya's. Two most important temples that are still practicing are Thousand-pillar temple at Hanamkonda and Ramappa temple at Palampet, some 70 kms from Warangal.

All the temples of Kakatiya's are dedicated to Lord Shiva and have a prominent presence of Nandi who has an independent mandapa for himself in all the temples. The characteristics of the temples are a typical Dravidian Vimana or superstructure, a star shaped base that is inspired from neighboring Chalukyan architecture, perforated screens with a typical diamond shaped design and the most distinct pillars. The mandapa outside the Garbhgriha is rangamandap or the dancing space, with a circular stage in stone supported by 4 pillars that are the best-carved pillars in the temple. The pillars carved in black granite in 6 different pieces but are so well joined that they look like one. You also see the miniature version of these pillars in the doorjambs. An interesting thing about Nandi carved in Kakatiya style is that they are not sitting, but they have a front leg raised as if they are ready to get up and run the moment they get a signal from their master with their eyes intensely focused on the Shiva. They are also huge like most other South Indian Shiva temples. Most Kakatiyan temples are located along a lake that was also made along with the temple. I assume that this was a part of town planning, building the town around a temple and a water body. Warangal and around are frequently dotted with man-made water bodies, most of which are created along side a temple. You cannot but admire the water management skills of our forefathers. We need to understand their wisdom and apply it to our current times and conserve water. 

Thousand-pillar temple is located in the Hanamkonda town, in a small alley from the main road. This temple was built in mid 12th century by the then Kakatiyan king Rudra I. It is supposed to be dedicated to the trinity of Shiva, Vishnu and Surya, but as of now you can see only the Shivalinga. The subsidiary shrines now act as the storage space. This is probably the best-known place of Warangal, but once you reach there you may be disappointed not to find the 1000 pillars. It looks like a small usual temple from the Kakatiyan times, with a mid-sized water tank by its side. The temple walls have also been made to look like as if pillars have been joined to make them. There are usual features in this temple like a sanctum Sanctorum, a round dancing area with four carved pillars and the subsidiary shrines on the other two sides. The shape of the temple platform is start like. There is another part of temple where the archeology work was going on and is not open to public. This temple definitely needs some maintenance, the scaffoldings seem to have been made a part of the temple and take away the beauty of the temple. The Nandi mandap is covered with green asbestos sheet, and you really wish they taught aesthetics also to archeology department. 

Ramappa temple is located in Palampet, behind an absolutely green hillock and besides a lake that was built along with the temple. The temple seems to be standing alone in silent wilderness, and the only people you see are the ones visiting the temple. It is a typical Kakatiyan style temple that has probably faced the least destruction. A general of the king built it in early 13th century. The main temple has a Dravidian style vimana, a rangamandap with black granite carved pillars and is surrounded by a Nandi mandap and a smaller Shiva temple. The sides of the doorjamb have diamond shaped perforations carved that give the impression of a Jaali. On both sides of the Doorjamb, there are panels depicting musicians and dancers in small roundels. There are smaller pillars embedded in the doorjambs like a miniature version of the bigger ones in rangamandap. Gajakesari or Lions and elephants, associated with the dynasty are carved along with other auspicious signs like Purana Ghatak or the overflowing pot symbolizing prosperity. One of the pillars here is a little flawed, the carvings are misplaced and it is said that it done to avoid the evil eye that may hit the beautiful temple. And I wonder if the abode of God also needs protection from evil eye. The ceiling and bracket panels of the roof on top of pillars have stories from various puranas carved out, but most of them have a poor visibility. Guide told us that the lower square part of the pillars have been polished and kept blank so that sunlight from all four directions falls and reflects back from them and keeps the temple lighted. Here again the permanent scaffolding in and around the temple is an eye sore and comes between you and the artist who carved these stones.

The black stone brackets displaying Madanikas around the temple are often mentioned in the temple literature, but to be fair they are quite average. They have the same themes that you see in other temples like Khajuraho, but the quality of craftsmanship is quite ordinary. The body proportions are not ideal, the carving is pretty limited and the expressions could have been better, but one has to admire the fine polishing. The Nizams of Hyderabad removed some of these brackets for decorating their homes, some of them have been restored here and the cementing is visually jarring. The color of the brackets also stands out from the rest of the temple. There are images of Ganapati, Shiva-Parvati and Shalbhanjikas that are places randomly in the temple and are probably excavated from around the temple and kept here. Sabha mandap and the temple kitchen building have completely fallen apart and a notice forbids visitors to go there. The panels around the temple depict various Devi Devatas along with few erotic figurines. There is a panel running around the temple with 528 different poses of the elephants one after the other. This temple belongs to Lord Shiva and its actual name is Ramlingeshwar temple but it is known by the name of it’s architect, Ramappa, who built this temple and came from neighboring Karnataka. He was also associated with the Belur and Halebidu temples. But the carvings here do not match that of Belur and Halebidu. 

An earthquake hit this temple, though no one could tell when. This has made the pillars of the temple go down and the stone in between them have come out in a very symmetric way, making the floor of the temple look very interesting as if these are inclined beds. I guess the rest of the buildings might have been destroyed during the same earthquake. There is a small pavilion with an inscription stone written in Kannada / Telugu script. It tells the history of the temple. 

On the narrow road that leads to the temple, there were many bullock carts that are fast becoming endangered specie. There were small hut with just a blue tarpaulin as the roof but covering a huge area in front of the hut with net making it a small poultry farm. The fields in front of a lush green hill dotted with water bodies here and there make pleasant scenery for the used-to-concrete eyes. 

Another temple we saw was Bhadrakali temple, located on the bank of another man made lake. It has a beautiful image of the Goddess and is located in between massive rocks. Though the lake needs cleaning, you can still admire the numerous lotus flowers in it. 

I wish I could see some more temples of this period, may be some other time.

Andhra Adventures I: Warangal Fort

Only 150 odd kms from Hyderabad city, Warangal should be a busy weekend getaway from the city. But it is not so. In fact not many people knew about Warangal except the thousand-pillar temple. There is hardly any searchable information available about its hotels. I wonder why AP tourism is not developing it as a weekend getaway from the city. Anyway last weekend we drove down to the capital of Kakatiya's to see the wonders that they left behind for us. Like most ancient heritage in this country, even Warangal is in dire need of preservation and promotion. 

On the way to Warangal is Bhongir fort, situated on a huge single rock with its ramparts visible from a distance. I believe this is a famous place for trekkers who regularly climb this fort. A little ahead is Yadgiri gutta and in interest of time, we kept our visit to these places for some other time. The reason I mention them here is because after this point the rocky terrain of the region suddenly turns green and you would see fields, dotted with small hillocks, water bodies and various plantations. This makes your journey from this point onwards very pleasing. 

Warangal is a part of tri-city cluster: Warangal-Kazipet-Hanamkonda. Hanamkonda was the first capital of Kakatiyas, which was later, shifted to Warangal where lies the Fort Warangal, a huge 12th century fort spread across 19 kms. Built by King Ganapati Deva, this fort was supposed to have 45 or so intricately carved pillars and towers within the three fortifications of the fort. Today there are a few places within this fort area that give you the glimpse of the bygone era. 

The most important of them is the site of Swayambhu temple. Here the archeology department has tried to recreate the temple from whatever they discovered from this site and the surrounding area. And this discovery was made less than 10 years back. On the 4 sides of this site are giant temple arches that are the signature piece of the Kakatiyan architecture and you can see replica of them across the city. There are heavy and intricately carved doorjambs that are a characteristic of this Kakatiyan architecture. Temple pillars here again have a typical style with 5-6 pieces inter-joined to create massive pillars but give the appearance of being carved out of a single stone. The roundel at the top of the pillars reminded me of the Tantya Tope cap, which may have been influenced by these pillars. The massive stones carved as the ceilings and the brackets humble you by their sheer size. The carvings in stone here are really intricate and delicate when depicting human bodies, their shapes and Jewellery, but can still depict the power in the animals carved and in the emotions of the deities depicted. There is a row of stones dotted with 9 holes and these were the platforms for Shivalingas. All of these were broken to take out the precious gems that are embedded beneath a Shivalinga. Uprooted lingas lie elsewhere. There is a beautiful round stone carved with Navagrahas. Then there are images of females performing Perini Shiva Tandava, a form of tandava nritya or dance that was actually performed by the soldiers before leaving for war. There are beautiful Makara dwajas, who are supposed to have been born with the sweat of Hanuman. There are many carvings of them at this temple. You can only imagine the beauty of the pieces when it would have been a part of the overall structure, when even as a ruin it looks so beautiful. 

Story of Swayambhu temple goes like this: Sometime in 12th century, farmers carrying their crops to Hanamkonda, which was the grain market, used to pass by this place. One day, wheel of a bullock cart got stuck in the mud and when people tried to pull out the wheel, a Shivalinga was revealed and hence the name Swayambhu, which literally means born on its own, or something that is not created but reveals on its own. Our guide told us that there were 365 Shiva temples in the fort, one for each day of the year and each with unique name denoting different aspects of Shiva. Today nothing but some broken pieces of those temples survive. We could see only one temple around this area that was practicing and gave an impression of being a Tantrik one. 

In this huge enclosure flanked by four arches in four cardinal directions are lying thousands of pieces excavated from the Fort Warangal. An attempt to recreate the temple, or at least give a sense of the same has been done. But like Rahim said “Rahiman dhaga prem ka Mat todo chhitkay Toote se fir naa jurre Jurre gaanth padi jaaye.”. The broken things can never be restored to their once complete glory. 

Bang opposite the Swayambhu temple is Ekshila, a massive single rock, by the side of a beautiful lake, with an artificially installed waterfall on it and a Shiva temple on top along with a small fortress like structure. There are about 100 small steps, carved into the big rock that you have to take to reach the top and get a 360deg view of the fort area. You get a top view of the Swayambhu temple with its ruins shining through the trees. The panoramic lakeside view makes it worth the effort to climb the rock. The temple is a typical Shiva temple with a Nandi pavilion and carved pillars. An interesting modern art piece stands in the center of the lake. The name of Warangal also comes from this single rock, called “Orugulla” in local language. There is an attempt to make gardens around the lake and the rock and some artificial bridges that are indeed not required. I think the AP tourism guys love adding artificially to even a naturally beautiful place. 

Khush mahal or Sitabh Khan Mahal is another structure in the fort. It is a huge hall that houses some of the idols excavated from the surrounding area. Most of the idols are just lying around and there is no documentation on them. The huge recessed arched gateways are typical if the early Indo-Islamic architecture. The arches also support the inner walls of this hall. Ground has a rectangular dip that I could not understand. The legend is that Sitabh khan built it. He was a Hindu, named Sitapati and was the gatekeeper of Kakatiyas. He converted to Islam after Zauna Khan’s invasion and ruled on his behalf from here. Between the Ekshila and Khush Mahal, stop by to look at the hand embroiders who are doing needlework on the sarees, mostly salma-sitara work typical of mughal times. 

As you walk around the roads within the fort limits you can see the fort ramparts popping out from here and there. Somewhere there is a small gateway, somewhere a piece of wall and somewhere just some small building. There is a mud fort on top of another hill that we could not go to. Before the Kakatiya's, the Jains dominated this area and you do see their influence here and there.

Our guide told us an interesting thing about the Warangal fort. There are primarily three types of forts: Giri Durg or the forts built on the hills that provide a distant view for protection, Vana Durg or the forts built in the dense forests with protection provided by the wild animals, Jal Durga or Water forts where the fort is surrounded by the water either as natural body or through dug out moats that are filled with water and a passage through a wooden plank that is thrown over the moat for passage. Warangal fort has none of these protections; it is not on a Hill, does not have water around it and is not situated inside a forest. Hence the builders of this fort made the three layers of fortifications by building mud forts and moats around them with 4 entrances in 4 cardinal directions. 

Zauna Khan or more popularly known as Mohamed bin Tughlaq, son of Ghiasuddin Tuglaq, the then ruler of Delhi Sultnate attacked the fort in mid 14th century and destroyed all the temples. He captured the Kakatiya king and took him to Delhi, but king died on the way. Some believe that the king was murdered and some believe that he committed suicide. Whatever it was, it meant the end of glorious period of the Kakatiya's.

Hyderabad Hues VII: Aza Khana-e-Zehra to Sardar Mahal via Purani Haveli

This one is not a usual walk that you would take in the old city, but then if you are looking for real surprises, you need to walk the lanes without knowing where they would lead you. In this walk, I got to see an Ashur khana and a Doodh khana and this is something I had never seen. I got to see some old but very interesting buildings including the famous purani haveli and the Sardar Mahal. I got to see smaller structures like Hathi gate, an old post office and some typical asal Hyderabadi structures. Some buildings had an old interior with a shining new exterior, sometimes complimenting it and sometimes hiding it. This being a Ramzan month, the ‘Raunaq’ at the old city market was at its peak. The streets around Charminar were literally lined with new shining and shimmering clothes, with hawkers making every effort to sell it. Women in Burqas were in their true element while shopping. There were many shops selling the famous Haleem, including the vegetarian variety. Unfortunately, Veg Haleem was only available after evening, so I could not taste it. I hope I would be able to make another trip to the Old city before the Id.

We started walking from Salarjung museum towards the Aza Khana-e-Zehra and then to the lane at the back of Salarjung museum in an area called Darush-Shifa. At the corner of the road you can see a white building with many green domes and latticed yellow windows. The building has been recently renovated so it stands out in its surroundings. As you enter the building through its main door, you would suddenly see a huge hall, almost 400 X 200 ft, in sheer green color, standing only on the pillars on the periphery. Ground floor is for the use of men and the upper storey, which has a latticed wooden veil, is meant for women. The Chandeliers on the roof stand out for the shine that the colored cut glass emits. The caretaker of the place told us that these chandeliers had costed about Rs 6 crores when they were installed. Now what is an Ashurkhana – It is a place where the Shia Muslims go and mourn during the month of Muharram. It is also used for the other congregations during the rest of the year. Flagstaffs or battle standards called Alams are a part of Ashurkhana but they are displayed only during Muharram. Standards here are said to be studded with gold and diamonds. The story of this structure is simple, 7th Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan built this Azar khana-e-Zehra in memory of his mother Amtul Zehra Begum. It has been recently restored by the funds provided by his grand daughter.

Opposite Aza Khana-e-Zehra is Niaz Khane Mubaraq, which is a crumbling structure and was locked. Move ahead on this road and on the left you would see an old corridored building in white. A little ahead of it is 150-year-old post office of Darush-shifa. The post office has a very interesting window in the form of an arch. Walk a little ahead and on the right you see the Jama Masjid of Darush-Shifa. Now the interesting part about this Masjid is that it is an old mosque and you can make that out from the two minarets coming out at the back that resemble the style of Charminar. In the front a huge hall with a cylindrical dome has been built about 17-18 years back, funded by an Arab based family. To see the old minarets properly you have to walk around the new structure and reach the back of it, and you would wonder why the new structure should hide the beautiful minarets. 

Besides the Jama Masjid is a green colored Dava Khana. Entrance gate has a typical Islamic arch and the lining on the arch is similar to that on Charminar indicating that it probably hails from the same period. It was a place built as a medical facility for people to come and stay while they recuperate. You can see the line of rooms all around a central courtyard. At the entrance there are rooms for the gatekeepers. There were a lot of families inside the dava khana though the place is no longer operational. Little further on the right is another pista colored building with a small board telling that it is the Urban Health Post of the area. We entered the buildings and saw nurses administering vaccination doses to the children and the central oval shaped room being used by the doctor, who told us that the building was a part of the Purani Haveli complex. It was donated to be a place for free distribution of milk and other eatables funded by WHO, and hence came to be known as Doodhkhana. We went on top of this single storey structure and discovered an unusual shape of the building, a central oval hall with a corridor around it and three square rooms protruding out of three sides of it. There is a beautiful old Pipal tree in its backyard with a small tree temple at its base. It somehow created the whole character for this building, which can definitely be better preserved. Even if all the torned down posters on the façade can be removed the building would wear a beautiful look.

Little ahead on the left is a big Yellow colored gate called Hathi gate as this was used for the entrance of the elephants into the Purani Haveli. Further down on the left a lane leads to the school in the premises of Purani Haveli, which was the residence of Nizam family, primarily used by the VIth Nizam – Mir Mehboob Ali, though it was built almost 200 years back for the IIIrd Nizam by his father. As it lied empty for a considerable time, it was called Haveli Kadeem or the Purani Haveli. The Haveli is built on three sides of a huge courtyard in a classic European style in white color. The two long sides have provisions for the stay of visiting guests and their accompanying animals. The upper storey of the left wing now houses the Nizam’s museum that showcases the personal collection of the Nizams. The most interesting part of the museum is world’s largest wardrobe that is on two floors and there is a manual lift to take the user up and down. You would be amazed at seeing this huge longitudinal room with doors on each side. The clothes kept here are primarily cotton clothes with Lakhnavi style embroidery. Other noticeable things in the museum are a painting on the Nizam with portraits of both his son in his eyeballs and that of his 5 forefathers in on his headgear. You would need a magnifying glass to see them. There are huge silver models of various structures in the city that were presented to the Nizam. It seem it was a custom to present the silver model. Then of course there are his magnificent chairs and other collected items. There are lion figures, drums and a fish style fountain in the courtyard that you can see. The Third side is the actual palace where the Nizam family lived and is built in a typical European style with high ceilings and decorated doorways. Now the whole place is managed by Mukarram Jah trust that runs a school and a nursing institute in the premises. A portion of the Haveli houses the Nursing institute including a hostel for the girls to stay. It looks this structure might have been a later addition, though the architecture is not very different. This part of the Haveli is pretty well maintained with lot of plants, flowers and cleanliness. This premises is more or less out of bound for the general public and you would need special permission to enter. 

From here I walked to the Kotla Alijah Street also known as Telephone exchange road, which houses the Sardar Mahal. This was a palace built by the VIth Nizam for his wife Sardar Begum, who apparently did not like it and hence this was never inhabited. Now this palace acts as the building for GHMC. Built in yellow walls and blue doors and windows, this is a typical British era building. If you have lived in cantonments, you would feel at home in this building. Today, it is a typical govt office, crowded and filthy. Newspaper reports tell me that a museum is being planned in the premises. There is a huge arched gateway diagonally opposite the Sardar Mahal and this was the Rath Mahal or the place to park the chariots. As you walk towards Charminar from here, you would see lot of dental clinics that offer you all kinds of solutions for your dental problems. From here if you want you can walk to Charminar and enjoy the eternal festivity that the place carries. 

This was a long 2 Km walk. Post this I walked the bazaars of Charminar and got a feel of Raunak-e-Ramzan minus the much-awaited Haleem though. This walk does not have many star attractions apart from Purani Haveli but then the real character of a space lies as much in its ordinariness as it lies in its grandeur. 

Thanks Madhu for taking me on this walk.

Hyderabad Hues VI: TEDx Deccan

TED has become a phenomenon. Those who have seen the TED videos online would vouch for it. They are good, they are fresh, they are not political and most of the times they do not come with an agenda to either sell you something or to influence your thoughts. They are simple stories from people who had an idea and they did something about it. The quantum of success is not important, what is important is that you tried something new and it is something that is worth sharing with others. It can be as simple as sharing a simple process to improve your everyday life that worked for you to sharing path breaking work in a field that requires expertise. Somewhere these stories touch us all and leave us with a feeling that we can also do something about the problems or opportunities around us. So when I got an opportunity to attend a TEDx event in Hyderabad, I was all excited to attend it and listen to the stories of people around. 

The venue of the event was beautiful. Taramati Baradari, a pavilion on top of the hill, in direct view of the majestic Golconda fort and with a manicured view all around it, including a lake and the snake like roads below. Legend is that Taramati was a talented singer and she used to sing from this pavilion and the king could hear it in Golconda fort on another hill. Now you have to imagine the amount of silence that the area would have had for that to happen. Below the hill, surrounding the original structure, AP tourism has built its resort with an auditorium, which was the venue for this event. It is a well-maintained property with a hotel to stay in, well laid lawns, an open-air auditorium and an AP tourism souvenir shop, which unfortunately was closed on the day of the event. 

Well places signboards directed the visitors to the auditorium, most of who were taken by the beauty of the Baradari and wandered around the monument while they waited for the classic Hyderabadi delay to be over. There was a bit of confusion at the registration desk, there was no schedule available with them that they could share with the participants and neither did their welcome kit have one. Infact it was not even put up anywhere on the venue, I found that a bit strange. The snacks and food was good, typically Hyderabadi – Biryani, Khubani ka Meetha, Irani Chai and Osmania Biscuits, all by Four seasons catering. 

Event started with a curtain raising on Hyderabad’s heritage, done by Madhu Vottery and author on the subject, she also took some of the participants around for a walk to the monument. Then there were scheduled speakers, each of whom shared their stories. Some were inspiring for the sheer human spirit, a fighter’s spirit that they displayed in their lives. Some were doing some interesting work in the field of healthcare, environment, politics, public office, design thinking, some were in classic creative films like music and films and while others were successful experimenters whose ideas are blooming at the moment. My favorite speaker was Robert Fernandes who had converted a landfill into a beautiful garden in Mumbai, now these are the kind of ideas that really need to be spread. Pradeep Kashyap of MART talked about his organization that is run on family based values. Jayawant Naidu, a musician played music from single instrument that gave an impression of having come from multiple ones, an absolute innovation in designing a new instrument. Some of them I thought came to promote their ventures and ideas and though their work was commendable, they did not come across as people who were sharing stories, they put the audience on the guard and may be lost them for sometime. Anchor of the event, Anuj, showcased the essence of Hyderabad wearing a Sherwani with an iPad in hand, equally at ease with English and Urdu. 

Main event was followed by a cultural evening, a much-awaited Sufiana Qawwali from city’s very own Warsi Brothers. The performers reached the venue more than hour after the program was scheduled. The venue being far for everyone in the city, most people had left by then and Warsi brothers had to perform to a very think audience in the auditorium. But for those of us who stayed back, it was worth it. I particularly enjoyed listening to not so popular ones and the ones in Deccani. 

Overall, a well packaged and interesting day.

The Untold Charminar edited by Syeda Imam

This review has been moved here....To buy this book click:

Hyderabad Hues V: Lotus Pond, MLA Colony

Lotus pond is a small pond located in MLA colony not too far from Road no 12 Banjara hills and pretty close to KBR National Park. As the name tells it all, there are lots of lotuses in the pond, but what you may not expect is a well maintained periphery with a walkway that goes up and down with the natural terrain. There are natural rocks peeping out of the water and the walls of the pond. There are parts around the pond where you can momentarily have the feeling of being in the jungle unless you look up and see the backside of buildings surrounding the pond.

There are small bridges that help you cross across the water and benches at strategic points for you to sit and enjoy the wonderful view of this nature island in the midst of absolute concrete. There is a Gazebo as well situated at a height where you can sit and be at peace, of course for that you have to go there all by yourself.

The pond is surrounded by lush green flora and is home to many species of birds. We could spot some colorful birds.

See how delicately they balance them on the lotus leaves and can even walk on them as if they are walking on the ground.

After walking on the water some rope balancing...

Mushroom growing out of the tree trunk...now that is not a very usual site

Look out mushrooms coming out here and there.

This is mini lotus, less than a cm in size and you can see thousands on them in this pond.

Unless you are going there on a Sunday, look for the Idliwala outside the walls of the pond, and you may be having some of the best Idlis served in the city.

We did this walk with Great Hyderabad Adventure Club. Thank you guys for this wonderful experience.