Showing posts with label Thousand Pillar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thousand Pillar. Show all posts

Jan 16, 2009

WHISPERING STONES AT WARANGAL

Published in Namaskar December 2006

When explorer Marco Polo was on his deathbed, a priest came into his room to ask him if he'd like to admit that his travelogues and cross-country stories were false. Marco answered, "I did not tell half of what I saw". Those were his last words.

Marco must’ve meant these words because his book Travels of Marco Polo has a mention of the architectural beauties of Warangal, a placid district in Andhra Pradesh, but only in half measure. Now what would a one-liner description by Marco – ‘Brightest stars in the galaxy of medieval Deccan temples’ – suffice for the awesome historic places - thousand pillar temple and the next door black beauty Ramappa temple? Mysterious, alluring and soulful, these temples are stones that whisper untold tales.

For long, the Andhra Pradesh tourism had dissuaded me from visiting these lovely temples by making them sound like, well, regular religious temples in its hard sell brochures that boggle you with dates and years (12th Century, 1139 AD etc) to give prosaic historic touristy information about the shrines there. A default trip actually put things in perspective. Warangal, I realized, is an out-and-out mine house of architectural marvels. Temples all right, but more a work of art, an exercise in aesthetics.

Strictly speaking, the Thousand pillar temple is exactly 150 km away on a straight line drawn between Hyderabad and Warangal. This stretch has its own attractions.
The lure of the country liquor (known as kallu and extracted from the Tati tree) on the highway is irresistible. “Take to your city and do party madam,” the young boy tried palming it off to us. The disheveled hair and crumpled cotton kurtas may have made us look like party animals that lost its way and ended on the highway. For Rs 40 a litre, it wasn’t a bad deal. But strike one deal and the entire battery of liquor boys will descend upon you in a swarm giving you one deal better than the other.

We had a deadline to meet before the temple doors shut so we shooed them all and zoomed off. The temple is about 20 minutes after you enter the heart of Hanumakonda, a dusty and noisy town. A quiet lane leads to the temple. Until you actually enter the lane, you wouldn’t believe there could be such a magnificent temple standing tall in black granite. There is not much of a wall, but pillars and more of it. The play of light and shadow makes it all the more alluring.

Warangal is one of the hottest districts of the state, yet the black granite feels like ice on a hot afternoon. Magical! “That’s nothing compared to the bricks that float in water,” informs our guide Reddy. “Even today, we are not able to replicate this marvel. Some secret formula that died with the architects,” he sighs. Indeed, the bricks float.

The temple has pillars in every form, shape and size. Apparently there are exactly one thousand pillars till date, though most of them are undergoing some or the other form of chemical treatment as part of the Heritage Conservation project. Even the half pillars are part of the thousand count.

The legend goes that Kind Rudradeva had dreamt of Lord Shiva who asked him to build a shrine based on 1,000 pillars. The Nandi here, the vehicle of Shiva, is not just magnificent in its size at six feet in black basalt, it has some of the funkiest accessories that a bull could ever sport! My guide informs me that the anklets, bells and other random tags around the Nandi’s neck is a sign of the prevalent fashion in those times. Beads, ghungroos, chiseled ornaments, belts that resemble leather (made of stone of course). The figurines there, at least 500 in number, have handsome looking men and gorgeous women. The features are distinct – expressive kohl lined eyes, shining nose rings, long bindis and elegant chokers. Beauty must have been the primary preoccupation in those days. It’s hard to believe the kind footwear in vogue those days. Yes, platform heels in its full form under elegantly made soles with dainty straps! From 12th century to 2005, fashion has come a full circle.

The thousand pillar temple is also an exercise in geometry. The main shrine of Lord Shiva has been built at such an angle that through the day, never does the sun’s shadow fall on it. “Some believe that it adapts the design of the Konark temple which also is a masterminded plan against the sun’s rays.

The city-bred folks were found huffing, puffing and panting trying to transcend the dozen steps. “The average height of each step is an indication of the height of the people in those days. Obviously, people thronged to the temple,” our guide gave us a little archeological gyan. Looks like our ancestors were nothing less than eight feet if they had to climb these stairs in flourish.

The temple had a rather low profile until a flamboyant Telugu movie director chose to shoot a sensational and sensuous rain dance in the temple precincts. The Nandi bull at the entrance plays a significant role in the movie that went on to become a blockbuster last year. Ever since, young moony-eyed lovers in Warangal gave the coffee pubs and lakeside benches a skip in favour of the big, black Nandi’s shade. How lucky of the Nandi to be able to overhear sweet nothings of lovesick couples!