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Katakshapur Temples

The Katakshapur Temples are two ruined triple shrines near the Warangal–Mulug road, one Saiva and one Vaishnava. Gopalakrishna Murthy counts their standing Vishnu among the most beautiful works of Kakatiya sculpture.

Period
Kakatiya
Materials
Large stone blocks
Location
18.0998° N, 79.8164° EWarning: approximate

Source of the position: OpenStreetMap node/5295732212 (a point for the village, because the monument itself is not mapped)

Condition
Ruined (1966).
A ruined granite temple on a high base, overgrown with plants. A flight of stone steps leads up to a pillared porch. Displaced roof slabs and beams lie tilted on each side of the steps.

Commons describes this ruined temple at Katakshapur as a Shiva temple with three shrines. Stone steps lead up to its porch on a high base. Fallen and tilted blocks lie on each side of the steps.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

A carved stone shrine doorway between two pierced stone screens with small square openings. Small carved sculptures stand at the base of each door frame. A stone linga is visible in the dark shrine beyond.

A carved doorway leads into one of the shrines. Pierced stone screens stand on each side of the doorway. Small sculptures are carved at the base of the door frame, and a linga stands inside the shrine.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Detail

  • The temples stand outside Katachpur village, about a mile from the Warangal–Mulug road on the way to Palampet.Rama Rao 1966
  • One temple faces east and the other faces south. Both are 54 feet square, alike in plan and construction, and ruined.Rama Rao 1966
  • Each temple has a mandapa with a porch and three shrines on a high base. The walls are plain, built of large stone blocks, and the flat roofs have no vimanas. Gajalakshmi appears on the doorway lintels.Rama Rao 1966
  • Two of the shrines hold lingas. The eastern shrine of the second temple holds a standing four-armed Vishnu, probably Chennakesava, with mutilated arms.Rama Rao 1966Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
  • Gopalakrishna Murthy attributes the pair to an unnamed general, who built one temple for Saivism and one for Vaishnavism. He considers them smaller temples of the Rudresvara type.Gopalakrishna Murthy 1964
  • Rama Rao notes that the Hyderabad Archaeological Department's report for 1935–36 wrongly identified the temples as Chalukyan.Rama Rao 1966
  • The Hyderabad Archaeological Department's report for 1935–36 places the two temples on the Hanumakonda–Palampet road, between the 17th and 18th milestones.Rama Rao 1966Nizam’s Archaeological Reports 1920–31

Also recorded as

  • Katachpur
  • Kataksapura
  • Katakshapuram
  • Katakshpur

Sources