The temple ruins recognized at Pushpagiri Kshetram in Kadapa district. Photo: Special Arrangement
13 th-century Hindu temple ruins have been just lately unearthed amidst a shrub jungle northeast of the Durga temple, atop a hillock in the Pushpagiri Kshetram of Vallur mandal in Kadapa district.
Chain of temples
The hillock, also referred to as Pushpachala, is known for the chain of temples devoted to the pantheon of Hindu gods similar to Chennakesava, Umamaheswara, Rudrapada, Vishnupada, Trikooteswara, Vaidyanatha, Subrahmanya, Vighneswara and Durga Devi.
With the river Penna flowing southwest, this hilly area has over 100 small and massive temples in its neighborhood. Pushpagiri is known as Hari-Hara Kshetra, as there are a selection of temples devoted to each Shiva and Vishnu.
“The Pushpeswara Swamy shrine is revered as a self-manifested idol, which can be found from Mackenzie local record No. 1211,” says historian and author Tavva Obul Reddy.
Built by the Kayasthas
The architectural options of the ruins reveal a method which is modern to a temple at Vallur, constructed by the Kayastha rulers in the 13 th Century AD. The Kayasthas, together with the nice Ambadeva, had been subordinates to the rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty. They dominated the area with Vallur because the capital.
A stone panel discovered at the temple in ruins at Pushpagiri Kshetram in Kadapa district, which depicts the arrival of the king and his two queens.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The construction in ruins got here to mild when a staff guided by Sri Vidyasankara Bharathi, the pontiff of Pushpagiri Peetham, visited the world forward of launching a ‘Giri Pradakshina’, a sacred trek perambulating the hill, as a type of fulfilment of a vow.
Noted historian and archaeologist Emani Sivanagi Reddy factors to an inscription at the temple and says, “The images on the stone panel depicting the king and his two queens could also be identified with Kayastha Ambadeva”.
The temple was broken over time by treasure hunters, as indicated by the pulling out of the consecrated idols. Heritage fans need the shrub jungle cleared and the dilapidated construction revived, Mr. Reddy says.
