Description11th century Kurmanatha Swamy Temple, Srikurmam Andhra Pradesh 02.jpg
English: Officially called the Sri Kurmanatha Swamy temple, this is a large Vaishnava temple near the coastline of the historic Kalinga region (northeast Andhra Pradesh, Odisha). Now a part of the Srikakulam district, the Srikurmam village is named after this temple.
The temple can be dated to the 11th-century, with some additions in 12th to 13th-century. It was originally built for Vishnu and Kurma based on these inscriptions and an abundance of dedicatory iconography in the temple such as the lalitabimba. It depicts primarily Vaishnava iconography. However, like large Hindu temple complexes, it reverentially includes Shaiva icons (Ganesha, Shiva) and Shakti icons (Lakshmi, Durga).
The temple includes many mandapas as pilgrims' choultry. A major temple water tank is to the east of the temple.
The temple features a Dravida architecture. Its pillars have numerous inscriptions. Within the temple corridors, some walls have murals with Hindu legends. They are in the Vijayanagara style. The temple historic records state that it was attacked and desecrated by Deccan Sultanate troops. Some evidence of defacement and chopped limbs of reliefs and statues can be seen within the temple premises. Parts of the temple have been restored.
The temple has live tortoises in a dedicated part of its premises, in reverence for the Kurma – the tortoise avatar of Vishnu.
The temple has noticeboards created in recent years with implausible and absurd claims such as "this temple was built one million years ago, rebuilt many times", and similar fabricated mythistory in Telugu and English.
Photographs created by G.N. Subrahmanyam, India uploaded by User:Ms Sarah Welch are released as CC-0.
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