Thousand Pillar Temple

Thousand Pillar Temple
1000 pillar temple
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
Location
Location	Hanamakonda/Warangal
State	Andhra Pradesh
Country	India
Architecture
Type	Kakatiya, Chalukya
Creator	Rudra Deva

The Thousand Pillar Temple (Template:Lang-te) is a historic Hindu temple located in the city of Hanamakonda, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya.

History

One of the Kirti toranas of Kakatiya Dynasty

The Thousand Pillar Temple is one of the very old temples of south India built by the Kakatiyas of Chalukya dynasty and this stands out to be a master piece and achevied major hieights in terms of architectural skills by the ancient kakathiya vishwakarma sthapathis. It is believed that the marvelous thousand pillared temple was built by King Rudra Deva in 1163 AD.

The Thousand Pillar Temple is a specimen of the Kakatiyan style of architecture of the 12th century.

It was destroyed by the Mughal Empires during their invasion of South India. It comprises one temple and other building. There are one thousand pillars in the building and the temple, but one pillar will not obstruct another from any point of the temple to see the god in the other temple.

The present day engineers have taken out all the pillars from the building to make it in to a perfect shape. After they lifted all the pillars they encountered a huge mass of sand. It took nearly two weeks for them to take away all the sand. It was wet sand, it is always wet because there is pipe connection directly from the nearby water body named Bhadrakali Cheruvu. It was one of the master piece in Civil Engineering. The Kakatiyans have used the well foundations 900 years ago.

==What to see==

For more images, see Thousand Pillar Temple Images.

The Thousand Pillar Temple with its ruins lies in the near the Hanamkonda-Warangal highway, about 150 kilometers from Hyderabad city. This temple is a beautiful star shaped with several shrines and lingams. There are three shrines inside the temple called the Trikutalayam. The three shrines of the Thousand Pillar Temple are dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya. The Thousand Pillar Temple is surrounded by a big garden in which many small lingam shrines can be seen. Further there are 1000 richly carved pillars with an impressive Nandi bull in the temple. Nandi bull was carved out of a black basalt monolith polished carefully to give it a brilliant look. The Thousand Pillar Temple is constructed on a platform that is raised to 1 meter height from the ground level. The temple is provided with a number of pillars which are beautifully carved and adorned. Delicate stone work which definitely adds charm and beauty to this Thousand Pillar Temple. Rock cut elephants and perforated screens in the temple which are the characteristic of the then prevailing dynasty. The Thousand Pillar Temple is famous for its beautifully carved pillars, screens and detailed sculpture. ==What to see==

For more images, see Thousand Pillar Temple Images.

The Thousand Pillar Temple with its ruins lies in the near the Hanamkonda-Warangal highway, about 150 kilometers from Hyderabad city. This temple is a beautiful star shaped with several shrines and lingams. There are three shrines inside the temple called the Trikutalayam. The three shrines of the Thousand Pillar Temple are dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya. The Thousand Pillar Temple is surrounded by a big garden in which many small lingam shrines can be seen. Further there are 1000 richly carved pillars with an impressive Nandi bull in the temple. Nandi bull was carved out of a black basalt monolith polished carefully to give it a brilliant look. The Thousand Pillar Temple is constructed on a platform that is raised to 1 meter height from the ground level. The temple is provided with a number of pillars which are beautifully carved and adorned. Delicate stone work which definitely adds charm and beauty to this Thousand Pillar Temple. Rock cut elephants and perforated screens in the temple which are the characteristic of the then prevailing dynasty. The Thousand Pillar Temple is famous for its beautifully carved pillars, screens and detailed sculpture.

Image gallery

• 
  Pilgrims at the temple
• 
  A view of the outer pillars as seen from inside of the Thousand pillar temple.
• 
  Intricate carvings on the roof of the large central Natya Mantapam
• 
  A view of the roof in the inner sanctum of the temple
• 
  One of the beautifully carved large pillars at the Natya Mantapam
• 
  The tour guide inserts a straw which passes through the fine holes in the intricate stone filigree
• 
  Nandi Statue
• 
  A view of the front entrance of the temple
• 
  Front view at main entrance inside the temple.
• 
  Pilgrims Entering Temple, after going inside left hand side, we can find Siva lingam
• 
  Side view of the temple.
• 
  A depiction of Narasimha avatar
• 
  Lord Ganesh on the walls of the temple
• 
  Siva Lingam on the walls of the temple
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  Dog image in 11th century
• 
• 
  Right hand side of main entrance.

Renovation works

• 
  The wall behind nandi is built after demolition of Natya Mandapam by archaeology department
• 
  An image of the site after demolition of Natya Mandapam.

External links

• Pictures of Thousand pillar temple.