The temple gopuram is a speck of white in the iridescent canvas on the left side of the Mulugu-Palampet road. A narrow road with paddy fields on either side leads to the 800-year-old Ramappa temple built during the Kakatiya rule. The road that branches off from the two-lane road is set to be the main pathway for entrance to the temple. As district and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials race to prepare the site for a visit by the Unesco team, the surrounding areas of the temple have been turned into a beehive of activity.
The Unesco team’s visit is part of the programme that might lead up to inscription of ‘The Glorious Kakatiya Temples and Gateways’ on the list of World Heritage Sites.
As Jaipur has already been inscribed as a World Heritage City, the path is clear for Ramappa temple to get the coveted inscription if it meets the criteria.
“It is an east-facing temple, but currently the entrance is from the west. We are returning to the old entrance. Pilgrims will enter from the east, visit the temple and then exit from the western side where a parking facility is being created,” says Milan Kumar Chauley, Superintending Archaeologist of the ASI. Officials are also planning to create tourist facilities that would be on a par with other world heritage sites, including roads, restaurants, toilets, and other amenities. The wrecked northern wall outside the temple is also being rebuilt as per the plan.
On the western side, a number of shops have been bulldozed to create a flat ground. One of the shopkeepers grumbles as he sells flowers and coconut to the pilgrims from a small kiosk. “It is government land and they can do whatever they want. But my income has been affected. They are saying visitors will come from across the world, let’s see,” he says.
Built by Racherla Senapati Rudrayya in the early part of the 13th century, the main temple is flanked by the collapsed structures of Kateshwarayya and Kameshwarayya temples. The temple is a savvy blend of technological know-how and materials. The foundation is built on sandbox technology, the flooring is granite, the pillars and brackets are black basalt, the lower part of the temple is red sandstone, the white gopuram is built with light bricks that reportedly float in water. Though each pillar appears like one, it consists of five finely machined segments.
Encroachments
“Earlier, the temple land was up to that palm tree. People have encroached and occupied the land, and the fencing is the best protection for this,” says an Endowments Department official. According to the temple priest, some of the iconography on the temple was damaged when Malik Kafur invaded the region in 1310. Treasure hunters did the rest. But the biggest test for the temple was an earthquake in the 17th century (one of the temblor was recorded at 7.7-8.2-magnitude on June 16, 1819). The flooring was rocked by the waves, while the pillars and the vertical structure stayed intact due to sandbox technology.
“We can make out that the pillars have sunk between 1 ft and 1.5 feet due from the state of the sculptures,” says Kumaraswamy, an ASI official at the site pointing to the uneven flooring.
As district officials zip around busily near the temple site, giving orders and executing assigned tasks, there is a ripple of excitement in the village. “On weekdays about 300-400 visitors come. On weekends and holidays the number goes up to 4,000. If this place becomes a World Heritage Site, I am sure the numbers will double,” says a tourist guide who uses a torchlight to spotlight and explain the sculptures which are sublime poetry in stone.
