01Three shrines and a Nandi
Rudradeva, first of the independent Kakatiya kings, recorded his victories on a long inscription set up here in 1163, and dedicated the temple to Rudreshwara, a name that carries his own. It is a trikutalaya, three sanctums opening onto one hall, for Shiva, Vishnu and Surya. A polished black monolith Nandi faces the Shiva shrine. The pillars are not quite a thousand, but there are so many, in the hall, the porches and the walls, that the people of Hanamkonda gave the temple its name long ago.
02Taken apart to stand again
The temple was damaged when the armies of the Delhi Sultanate overran the Kakatiya country in the early 14th century, and its separate kalyana mandapa sank and cracked over the centuries. The Archaeological Survey of India dismantled that mandapa stone by stone in the 2000s, numbered every piece and laid a new foundation to set it up again. Worship goes on in the main shrine throughout.
The life of this place
- 1163 CERudradeva builds the temple and sets up his Hanamkonda inscription.
- 1323The Kakatiya kingdom falls to the Tughlaq army and the temple is damaged.
In Hanamkonda town, a short drive from Warangal fort; combine both with Ramappa in a day.
