Thousand Pillar Temple, Warangal, Telangana

3505

The Thousand Pillar Temple (also known as Rudreswara Swamy Temple) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya. It is located close to the Hanmakonda-Warangal Highway at Hanamakonda in Warangal in the Telangana State. This temple along with Warangal Fort, Kakatiya Kala Thoranam and Ramappa Temple are in the list of World Heritage sites recognised by UNESCO.

Thousand Pillar Temple History

According to the history, the temple was constructed during the period between 1175–1324 CE by the Kakatiya King Rudra Deva. The Kakatiya dynasty ruled the Warangal region for a long time. During the time Kakatiya kings Ganapati Deva, Rudrama Devi and Prataparudra several Hindu temples were built.

The temple shows marvelous architectural skills by the Kakatiya Vishwakarma Sthapathis. The temple was desecrated by the rulers of Tughlaq dynasty during their attack of the Deccan region. But the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan donated a grant of 1 Lakh INR towards the reconstruction of this temple.

Thousand Pillar Temple Architecture

The Rudreswara Temple is also known as Veyisthambala Gudi (In Telugu) which means Thousand Pillar Temple. Since this temple was built by Rudra Deva, it has been after him as ‘Sri Rudreswara swamy temple’ with the presiding deity as Rudreswara. The temple has three shrines (known as Trikutalayam) dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Surya each. The visual representation looks like a star-shaped.

The temple is carried out one of the fine architectural style of the Kakatiya art, including intricately carved pillars, exquisite engravings and rock cut elephants. Another attraction of this place is the beautifully giant statue of Nandi, carved out of a single rock. The using of sand box technique, strengthen foundations of the temple.

In the year 2004, the Archaeological Survey of India started renovation for the temple.