Ramappa Temple — temple
Ms Sarah Welch · CC0

Ramappa Temple

  • 2 min read
  • 18.259° N 79.942° E
  • UNESCO World Heritage

Interesting facts

  • The light bricks of the tower weigh only about three-quarters as much as ordinary bricks, thanks to husk and fibre burned out in firing.
  • The temple took roughly 40 years to complete, during the reign of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva.
  • Its roughly 600 dance figures range in size from about 15 centimetres to nearly two metres tall.
  • Iron dowels were used to lock the stone blocks of the temple together.
  • The ceiling panels include the churning of the ocean of milk and the marriage of Shiva and Parvati.
  • Carvings record several medieval dance forms besides Perini, among them Prekhana and Gavundali.
  • When Malik Kafur's army invaded Warangal in 1310, the temple escaped with only minor damage.
  • Formal conservation began in 1914 under the Nizam of Hyderabad, and archaeologist Ghulam Yazdani restored missing decorations in 1931.
  • Ramappa Lake nearby is an artificial reservoir dug by the Kakatiyas in the 13th century to store rainwater.
  • Two smaller shrines, the Kateswara and Kameshwara temples, flank the main temple to the north and south.

Why it is worth it

Ramappa is a temple named after the man who built it, not the god it honours, and the sculptor has earned the tribute. Raised in 1213 in the village of Palampet in Telangana by Recherla Rudra, a general of the Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva, the temple is dedicated to Shiva as Rudreshwara, but it is known everywhere by the name of its designer. It is often said to be the only temple in India named after its craftsman. In 2021 UNESCO added it to the World Heritage list.

The temple faces east and stands on a star-shaped base set on a platform about two metres high. Beyond the entrance porches lies a large pillared hall with a raised platform for dance, then an antechamber and the sanctum, crowned by a tower. The builders used pink sandstone for the main structure, granite for columns, beams and ceilings, and hard black dolerite for the carving. Two technical details stand out. The foundations rest on a sandbox, a bed of sand meant to cushion the building against earthquakes, and the tower was built of bricks so porous that they float on water, made from clay mixed with plant gum, jute and rice husk that burned away in firing, leaving them light enough to spare the stone roof.

The carving is the glory of Ramappa. Bracket figures under the eaves show slender dancers, musicians, a huntress with bow and arrow and a snake-bearing yogini, alongside fierce mythical beasts standing on elephants' heads, all cut in dolerite that still has a polished sheen after 800 years. The central pillars of the dance hall are worked like filigree, and the ceiling carries scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas. There are some 600 dance-related sculptures in all, a stone record of medieval dance; the dancer Nataraja Ramakrishna used them to revive the Perini dance. Near the antechamber, a carved stone branch held by a figure is said to produce the notes of the scale when struck.

Around the main temple stand a Nandi pavilion with its carved bull, subsidiary shrines and a pillar bearing a 201-line inscription recording Recherla Rudra's works. The temple is cared for by the Archaeological Survey of India, and Ramappa Lake lies close by.

Getting there

The temple is in Palampet, Mulugu district, about 15 to 19 km by road from the town of Mulugu and about 70 km from Warangal, where the nearest railway station is. The nearest major airport is Rajiv Gandhi International at Hyderabad (HYD), about 200 km away.

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in India 90The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Temples in India 5The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Sacred Places in India 7The Most Beautiful Temples in India 14The Most Beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India 26The Most Beautiful Sacred Places in India 32The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Temples 35The Most Beautiful Temples 95The Most Beautiful UNESCO-Listed Sacred Places 179The Most Beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Sites 557The Most Beautiful Sacred Places 623

From the encyclopaedia

Ramappa Temple, also known as the Rudreshwara Temple, is a Kakatiya style Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, located in Palampet village, Mulugu district, Telangana, India. It is 15 km (9.3 mi) from Mulugu, 66 km (41 mi) from Warangal, 209 km (130 mi) from Hyderabad. An inscription in the temple says it was constructed in the year 1213 CE by Recherla Rudra Reddy of Recherla Reddis family a Regent of Kakatiya Dynasty and a Mahasamanta of Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva. Located in the vicinity of Ramappa Lake, the Ramappa Temple complex which consists of three temples was constructed between 1212 and 1234. It was designed by Ramappa — after whom the temple complex is named. Marco Polo, during his visit to the Kakatiya empire, supposedly called the temple "the brightest star in the galaxy of temples". In July 2021, Ramappa Temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

18.25944, 79.94250per Wikidata