Land of Kakatiyas - waranagal. Review on Tirupati

Some thousand years ago, Kakatiya dynasty held sway over a vast region in South India – the region that we now know as Warangal.

Warangal is one of the major districts of Andhra Pradesh – a state located in Southern India.

I along with my family trooped in our Ford Ikon for a day’s visit to the land of Kakatiyas.

I left around noon – touched Uppal and went straight – cutting Pembarti (famous for metal ware), Bhongir (you can see a nice fort perched on the hills from quite a distance), Kolunapaka (famous for a Jain temple having a 2000 year old statue).

You will Hanamakonda around two in the afternoon. It is around 150 kms from Hyderabad. The road is good with fewer potholes and you can cruise at an average speed of 80 –100 km/hr. I touched 120 –140 km/hr in quite a few stretches. It was interesting to note that unlike many other highways in Southern India – this route has quite a few dhabas for refreshments.

The APTDC hotel – Punnami is located opposite REC, Warangal. The rooms (Non A/c 400 / day and AC 600 / day) are basic with clean toilets. The food is staple south Indian stuff – do not expect great cuisine or great room service though.

Since it was already late afternoon, I spoke to the front desk person for some guidance. He explained in a mixture of Hindi and English words that you can cover the city in a couple of hours. So off I went – my boys aged 5 (Nilabha) and 3 (Shagnik) were in top gear, having being told that we would visiting a palace of the kings!

Drive down straight from Hanamakonda to the city centre and keep going straight. You will cross a crowded market place. Keep your eyes on the right; your first stop – the Thousand Pillar Temple – has a narrow innocuous entrance. Parking at owners risk is a reality here since a narrow road leads to the temple. No entrance fees, but a rusted board states that for video you need to pay Rs.25 – who and where is the question since you will not find any one located nearby. Be patient look around and in the left hand side is ASI’s office – please pay the sum to the rather bemused (?) fellow and happy shooting.

As you look around you will see that the temple is being rebuilt and only 500 pillars comprise the present temple. The temple houses Shiva, Surya and Vishnu. Unfortunately Lord Shiva is the present presiding deity. The other sanctums are empty.

Further around 4 kms, you will find a road on your right. Go straight around 2kms and you will find Bhadrakali temple situated next to a lake. The temple is dedicated to Bhadrakali - a form of Mother Kali. It seems to be frequented with lot of visitors – since the infrastructure and crowd management facilities was impressive. The statue is fixed to the wall and there is one more statue that is kept on floor level. I was informed by the purohit that the temple is around 800 years old. On one side of the temple is a massive rock formation and other side is a big lake.

Once I was back on the main road I enquired about the route to the fort. Some had not heard about the Quilla (Hindi for fort) and at last after driving some two kms on the wrong direction, reached the last destination for the day.

Touch the main road after you visit Bhadrakali temple, take right and go down further till you reach Venkataramana Theatre. Take left and go straight, turn right at the first big crossing that you come across. Cross a manned railway crossing and around a kilometer down, you will understand why people looked askance when you had enquired about the directions.

As far as you can see, there are only fields. In between is the last remnant of the fort wall and giving company is an ASI map which proclaims the existence of this fort. The fort was built in 1163 A.D by the Kakatiya king and completed by his daughter Rudramma Devi. (There is a golden color statute of the lady riding a horse in one city crossing) There was a 22 feet wide moat that protected the fort, which had 43 approach doors. A mud fort made from muck, mud and stones that stood as a frontier to the marauding Mughals, protecting in the inner bastion made from rocks. Whatever remains are strewn all around has been gathered in one place. The only protection this place has is an iron fence on three sides! So people walk in – I did not notice this and the person in the ticket counter (ticket Rs. 5 per head) was genuinely happy in seeing me and more so when I paid Rs 25 extra for video photography. The four Sanchi type entrances stand mute spectator to the glories of the Kakatiya rule. The remains of a Shiva temple have been reconstructed. You walk around broken statues, figurines of humans and elephants. Intricate panels with carvings bear testimony to the rich heritage of that period. Apart from the main park housing these sculptures, there is a conference hall that seems to reconstructed in the recent times. Show the tickets that you had purchased earlier and the guard will let you inside the dark building. The kings used to have conferences in the room with a very ceiling and a fountain in the center. Presently you find concrete and sand in place of the fountain. Broken busts of Krishna, dancing couples, Nandi are kept in stools. It seems ASI is making proper arrangements to keep these artifacts.

It was darkness that gave me company when I drove back to the hotel.

Early next morning I listed out the remaining places to be visited – Ramappa Temple and Pakhal lake. The receptionist told me that I should visit only Ramappa Temple because there is nothing but a lake at the second one.

So I went driving 70 kms (one way) to see the temple. Follow the same route you took yesterday to see the Thousand Pillar temple, but do not turn right – go ahead till you find a Hero Honda showroom on your left. Take left from here and drive a further 45 kms to Mulug and further 5 kms to Jagalapally. Take immediate left and around 10 kms from the crossing you reach Ramappa temple. A big sprawling area with ASI doing a commendable job in reconstructing the temple. The main temple has a massive Nandi bull at the entrance flanked by two smaller temples. One of the temples has Lord Shiva as the deity while the other is in ruins. Once you enter the temple look around and you will be astounded to see the sculptures. Apart from the panels showing dancing ladies, you would also find a lady wearing high heels. So we did not invent ladies footwear with heels – it was prevalent many many years ago. Panels depicting Ramayana cover the ceiling. The temple is named after the head sculptor Ramappa. Unfortunately the available local guide could speak only Telegu – so no help in updating my knowledge base. A huge man made lake known as Ramappa Lake is next to the temple. Water for irrigation is sourced from this lake.

I left for Hyderabad early morning the next day.