Warangal was the capital of the 12 th century Kakatiya Dynasty and the second biggest city now in Telangana . Lots of temples , lakes and the forts are the main attraction of the city . But don’t visit this city in the Summar as temperature regularly goes above 40 degree celcious and it is almost unbearable . The world renowned Ramappa temple was build during the Kakatiya Dynasty . Hanamkonda , Warangal and Kazipet combines makes this city .
Govindarajula Temple :
Govindarajula temple is situated just near to the central bus station and the railway station and can be seen when you are in train . The temple is situated in a Hillock and you have to climb quiet a stairs to reach there . From this place you have a bird’s eye view of the city .
The main deity in this temple is Lord Vishnu . In the night time it looks like a gem of the city
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Bhadrakali Temple :
. Bhadrakali temple was older than the Warangal city and was build in the year 620 AD by Chalukya. Later Kakatiya rulers made this devi to their Kuldevata. (this the god of a clan which was worshiped by later generations .)
The famous kohinoor diamond was associated with this temple , It is belived that kohinoor diamond was installed to the left eye of the godess by Kakatiya king and Allauddin Khilji looted this from here .
This temple has been greatly respected by the local people here .
Kakatiya Rudreswar temple (Ramappa Temple ):
Kakatiya Rudreswar Temple is one of the latest addition in the UNESCO’s World Heritage sites in India’s crown . This temple is situated 70 km from the warrangal city in the mulugu district of Telengana state . The temple is situated inside a farm field . Some tribal villages were situated nearby . In july 2021 this monument has been inscribed into world heritage list .
This temple was build in the 13 th century by the kakatiya rulers and dedicated to lord shiva . The intricate curving on the black basalt rock n the celing were just mesmerizing and outside of the temple there is a big nandi made of basalt and some beautiful dancing apsaras . Pillars inside the temple and the door frames were made of basalt and intricately curved the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata . During the visit of Marco Polo , he described it as “Brightest stars in the galaxy of temple “.
Some factors of this temple are just unique in india’s temple history . This are
- It was named by the sculpture of the temple “Ramappa” but not the king or the deity .
- The brick used to shed the roof floats on water and is very light weight .
- Some of the black rock sculpture produce musical nodes when tap gentle .
- This structure survives two major earth quake because of the sand box technique used to build this temple .
I reached this temple from Warangal . There is no direct bus from warangal to this temple so you have to change two times . First you have to take a bus from the warangal bus stand to the Hambonkonda bus station . From there you can get another bus toward Mulugu bus stop . From here you can book either a shared jeep or bus toward Palampet . The bus will drop you at the gate . From here you have to walk 1.5 km to reach the exact temple .
There is no entry fees to this temple but if you want to make video then you need permission from the archiological depertment of Hyderabad . Mobile photography is allowed . The temple is opened everyday from morning 6 am to 6 pm .
Thousand Pillar Temple :
Thousand pillar Temple is one of the most visited temple in Warangal and build in the 12 th century by the kakatiya kings . The temple has two parts . In one part there is a deity of Shiva , vishnu and Surya . In another part there is jungle of smaller pillars which are intricately decorated and described the stories of Mythology .
Though the temple is named thousend pillar temple but it has all togeather 300 pillars and the whole temple is constructed on a star shaped plot .
Warangal Fort :
Warangal fort was constructed by the kakatiya kings in the 12 th century . This fort is made by three concentric circular walls . In the walls there is big towers to watch inside and outside of the walled city . Now most of the fort is like ruins , there is only some ruins of city wall left .
Inside the central area where the parts of the ruins are stored . Here you can see four gates in the four corners of the field . This gates are really impressive . You can also see the art works on the different dolorite pillars . You can see in a rectangular stone block a relief of elephants ,camels , horses and different animals , humans in different form . Every art work in the dolorite stone are astonishing .
This fort is opened from 10 am to 7 pm everyday and the entry fees for Indian citizen is 20 INR if booked online or 25 INR for offline booking .
Padmakshi Temple :
Padmakshi temple was build in the 12 th century by the kakatiya rulers and dedicated to Shiva . Later , for a certain time , it has been the worship place of the jains but later regained controlled by hindus .
It is a small temple build above a small hillock . The temple is surrounded by huge granite bolders . The temple is also made by joining some big bolders . There is a pradikshina path (in hindu custom people circle the temple before entering . This is that type of a way ) inside the gap of the boulders . This is very interesting of this temple
Kush Mahal :
Kush Mahal is a 14 th century audience Hall build in Indo islamic architecture . Specially the arches are really impressive .
Now it is like a museum storing Hindu , Buddhist and jains artifacts . This place is situated near to the open museum of warangal Fort .
Kolanupaka Swatember Jain Mandir :
Kolanupaka Swatember Jain Mandir is one of the oldest jain temple inside the state of Telengana and has more than 2000 years of history . Inside the temple there is different idols of jain Tirthankars .
Here you can see most of the jains wearing white cloths and a small cloth to cover their noses and mouth like a mask .
For reaching to this jain temple from warangal first you have to reach Aler by either train or bus . From aler bus station you will get buses or autos to reach kolanupaka Setambar Jain Temple .
Summary :
Warangal is one of the oldest city in Telengana and was the capital of the Kakatiya Dynasty . Bhadrakali temple of warangal was associated with the Famous Kohinoor diamond . World famous Ramappa temple is situated just 70 km from this city . You can see lots of age old temples in this place . For the cultural influence of this city in the state of telengana it is called the Cultural capital of Telengana .
