06a - Musical Pillars and Main Unfinished Gopuram

Bugga Ramalingeswara Swamy temple is a Siva shrine situated on the southern bank of the

Penna river Penna (also known as Pinakini, Penneru, Penner, Pennar, Pennai) is a river of southern India. After originating from Nandi hills, it flows as two different streams, one in North and South directions. The Penna rises in the Nandi Hills, India, ...

Tadipatri Tadipatri is a city in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh at the border of Nandyala district and Kadapa district. It is a Selection Grade Municipality City Council. Tadipatri is a headquarters of Tadipatri mandal in An ...

Anantapur district Anantapur district, officially Ananthapuramu district, is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located in Anantapur city. It is one of the driest places in South ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It was built between 1490 and 1509 by

Pemmasani Ramalinga Nayudu I Pemmasani Ramalinga Nayudu I was a member of the Pemmasani Nayaks, Pemmasani Nayak clan in the 15th century Vijayanagara Empire in southern India. He developed the hamlet of Tallapalle, renaming it to Tadipatri upon orders of the Vijayanagara e ...

, a chieftain of the Gutti- Gandikota region during the reign of the

Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...

. The presiding deity is a

linga A lingam ( , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. The word ''lingam'' is found in the Upanishads and epic literature, wher ...

, considered to be ‘

swayambhu Svayambhu () is a Sanskrit word that means "self-born", "self-manifested", "self-existing", or "that that is created by its own accord". Various deities and entities featured in Hindu literature and tradition are regarded to be svayambhu, such as ...

’ (naturally occurring or self originated). The temple has seven small independent pillars in front of the

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

shrine and when struck they produce ' saptaswara' (the seven musical notes).Bhaskar, V. S. "District Census Handbook, Anantapur, Part XII-A & B, Series-29". p. 21. ''The seven small independent pillars in the temple when touched produce 'Saptaswara' (the seven musical notes).

/q> The gopurams of the temple are unfinished and were described by architectural historian James Anderson as ‘wonders’.

Description

Bugga Ramalingeswara Swamy temple is from

railway station. It was likely built between 1490 and 1509 during the reign of the

. As per the Tadipatri '' kaifiyat'' collected by

Colin Mackenzie Colonel Colin Mackenzie (1754–8 May 1821) was a Scottish army officer in the British East India Company who later became the first Surveyor General of India. He was a collector of antiquities and an orientalist and an indologist. He sur ...

in 1802, the temple was built by Ramalinga Nayudu, a chieftain of the Gutti- Gandikota region in Vijayanagara Empire. The temple consists of a sanctum, ''ardhmandapa'', and ''mukhamandapa'' in an axial line. The temple contains bas relief structures illustrating episodes from ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

'' and ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

''. The presiding deity (linga) being a ‘

’ (naturally occurring or self originated). Unlike other Hindu temples where the deities are east-facing, in this temple the Shiva linga faces west. When struck, the seven pillars in front of the Vishnu shrine produce ' saptaswara' (a musical scale). The architectural historian James Anderson described the gopurams of this temple as ‘wonders’.

Gallery

File:01 - Sri Bugga Ramalingeswara Temple.JPG, Entrance to Garbhagudi File:04 - On the Banks of River Pennar.JPG, Unfinished gopuram File:05 - Unfinished Temple Gopuram.JPG, Unfinished gopuram File:06 - Musical Pillars - Vijayanagar Style.JPG, Musical pillars File:07 - Rocks used for Construction - Vijayanagar Era.JPG, Rocks used for construction File:Bugga Ramalingeswara temple.jpg, Inside the temple File:Panoramic view of Sri Rameswara Temple in Tadipatri.jpg, Panoramic view of the temple File:Rameswaraswamy temple-Dr. Murali Mohan Gurram (2).jpg, Temple carvings

References

External links

*https://www.inrootz.in/historic-places/religious-spiritual-temples/pl60/Bugga-Ramalingeswara-Temple-Tadipatri-Anantapur * * * {{Hindu Temples in Andhra Pradesh Hindu temples in Anantapur district 15th-century architecture 16th-century architecture