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Kakatiya · https://kakatiya.info/sites/khammampalli-temples

Khammampalli Siva Temples

Khammampalli, a village of the old Manthani taluk, has the ruins of Kakatiya-period Siva temples. Two inscriptions of the reign of Ganapati Deva there name Visvesvara Sivacharya, the royal preceptor who initiated the king.

Period
Kakatiya. Inscriptions of the reign of Ganapati Deva stand at the site
Location
18.5385° N, 79.7031° EWarning: approximate

Source of the position: Geotags on Wikimedia Commons photographs of the temple (P. Madhusudan, 2021)

Condition
In ruins. Photographs of 2021 show a large pillared temple with a tree growing from its roof, and a second, smaller pillared temple nearby.
A ruined stone temple with a flat roof on rows of carved pillars stands in a green field. A large tree grows out of the roof, and fallen blocks lie in front.

Photographed 2021

The larger of the two temples at Khammampalli, photographed in 2021. A tree grows from its roof, and parts of the walls and roof have fallen.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Rows of heavy stone pillars with turned and carved sections hold up flat stone beams. Daylight comes in between them, and broken stones lie on the floor.

Photographed 2021

Inside the larger temple, rows of pillars with turned and faceted sections carry the stone beams of the roof.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Looking straight up at a stone ceiling made of stepped octagonal frames, with a round carved lotus at the centre.

Photographed 2021

A ceiling built of stepped octagonal frames of stone, with a carved lotus at its centre.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

A weathered red stone panel carved with a standing female sculpture under an arch of curling foliage.

Photographed 2021

A weathered panel from the temple, carved with a standing female sculpture under an arch of foliage.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

A small open temple hall of carved stone pillars under a flat stone roof, with grass and plants growing on top.

Photographed 2021

A second, smaller temple at Khammampalli, an open pillared hall, photographed in 2021.

Photo: P. Madhusudan, via Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Detail

  • An inscription of the reign of Ganapati Deva is cut on a pillar lying in front of the small Siva temple. The inscription is partly damaged, and it was copied in 1968. The record states that the rajaguru, the royal preceptor, Visvesvara Sivacharya gave land to the god Visvesvara of Khammampalli. Further lands were granted for feeding ascetics and brahmins.Parabrahma Sastry (ed.) 1974Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • A second inscription of the reign of Ganapati Deva was copied in 1958-59. Epigraphia Telanganica describes its stone in two ways: as a pillar in the ruined Siva temple near the village, and as a damaged slab near Bollalavagu, to the south of the village.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59
  • According to the Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy for 1958-59, this inscription states that Visvesvara Sivacharya built a temple for the god Visvanatha at Chandravelli and endowed it with money for its upkeep and worship. The inscription adds that he founded a matha in the name of the god. The report notes that the Malkapuram inscription of Visvesvara Sambhu confirms these facts.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • Visvesvara Sivacharya, also called Visvesvara Sambhu, was the teacher who initiated Ganapati Deva. Rudrama Devi later gave him the village of Mandaram, where he founded the Golaki matha.Epigraphia Telanganica 2023
  • The same report describes an inscription from Kalesvaram, also of the reign of Ganapati Deva, in which a royal preceptor consecrated the god Vimalesvara. The name of the preceptor is lost from the stone, but the report identifies him as Visvesvara Sambhu.Annual Report on Indian Epigraphy 1958-59

Also recorded as

  • Khammampalli
  • Khammampalle
  • Khammampally
  • Kammampalli

Sources