Hindu temples in India dating from the 7th and 9th centuries
Alampuram Navabrahma Temples are a group of nine early Badami Chalukyan Hindu temples dated between the 7th and 9th centuries that are located at Alampuram (Hemalapuram) in Telangana, India, near the meeting point of Tungabhadra River and Krishna River at the border of Andhra Pradesh. They are called Nava-Brahma temples though they are dedicated to Shiva. They exemplify early North Indian Nagara style architecture with cut rock as the building block. The temples of Alampur resemble the style of Pattadakal, Aihole style as they were Karnata Dravida, Vesara style native to Karnataka.
The temples are significant for their east-facing simple square plans, intricate carvings of themes of Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism. They also contain early examples of friezes that narrate legends from Hindu texts such as the "Panchatantra" fables. The temples were a significant influence on the later era Kakatiya Hindu temples.
These temples were built by the Badami Chalukyas rulers, and early 8th-century inscriptions found at the site suggest that the site also had a Shaiva "matha" (Hindu monastery) which has not survived. Their ruins have been restored by the Archaeological Survey of India after 1980.
The Alampuram Navabrahma temples were badly damaged and defaced during the Islamic invasion of this region in and after the 14th century. A series of religious wars and conquest led to the construction of an Islamic fort, a mosque and a graveyard called Shah Ali Pedda Dargah being built midst the Navabrahma temples over the 15th to 17th centuries. This construction was completed in part using the temple walls and ruined masonry from the temples, according to Ghulam Yazdani – an archaeologist who surveyed these temples and the Islamic monuments among them in 1926–27 for the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Hindus abandoned worship in temples in immediate vicinity of these Sultanate-era additions.
Location.
The Alampuram Navabrahma temples are located in the Telangana town of Alampuram, close to the Tungabhadra river. It is south of Hyderabad, connected by the four-lane National Highway 44 (Asian Highway 43), and about northeast of Hampi monuments and east of Badami, the capital of the kings who are credited with building it in the 7th century.
History.
Sangameswara Temple.
The Sangameswara Temple was originally built at Kudavelly, by the confluence (sangam) of two major sacred rivers of ancient importance, the Tungabhadra and Krishna. Sangameswara comes from the word Sangam meaning confluence of two or more rivers. The Sangameswara Temple was constructed by Pulakesi I ( 540 CE to 566 CE), in a similar style to the Navabrahma Temples. Based on inscriptional evidence such as the Tummayaneru grant, Sarma dates the temple to pre-Chalukya era when Navabrahma temples were built. Odile Divakaran states that the Sangameswara temple at Kudaveli was not an earlier monument, but was built along with the nine Navabrahma temples, likely in the middle of the 7th century. According to Sarma, new inscriptions found in the 1980s at the Arka Brahma and Bala Brahma temples mention a pre-existing "mahadevayatana" or main temple with linga, the Sangameswara Temple.
The Sangameswara Temple has been moved to near the Navabrahma temples, as its original site built at Kudavelly, some 20 km away, is now flooded by the Srisailam Dam hydroelectric project. The Sangameswara temple transplantation was completed by January 1990.
Navabrahma temples.
As the Badami Chalukyan kingdom became well established, its rulers sponsored the distinct Badami Chalukya architecture style of Hindu temple architecture in Aihole, Badami, Alampur and later Pattadakal. The nine temples at this site reflect some of the early Nagara style of Hindu temples that have partially survived for scholarly studies. The uniqueness of this group of temples lies in their plan and design in the northern architectural style introduced by the Chalukyas of Badami in the 7th century.
Description.
The temples are emblematic of the Northern Indian Nagara style of architecture. The Navabrahma temples are present on the left bank of the Tungabhadra River, enclosed in a courtyard.
The temples have a square plan that follow the "vastupurushamandala" architecture. A square sanctum is surrounded by a covered circumambulation path and a Rekha-nagara style curvilinear square shikara towers above the sanctum of each temple. The tower is capped by an amla and a kalasha, though in some cases this has not survived. In front of each sanctum is a mandapa.
There is an ASI museum near this group of temples. It shows ruins recovered at the site, with remnants of a Durga in Mhishasura-mardini form, a Lajja-Gauri, a Nataraja Shiva which George Michell calls a "masterpiece of refined sculpture", a polished Nandi statue with Shiva and Parvati riding it. The museum also has ruins of reliefs that narrate Hindu epics and other texts such as the "Panchatantra".
ASI protection and relocation.
The Alampuram temples are listed as an archaeological and architectural treasure on the official "List of Monuments" prepared by the Archaeological Survey of India under The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. Some temples at the Alampur site came under submergence due to the building of Sri Sailam Hydro-electric Project, the threatened ancient and medieval era monuments along with the Sangameswara temple were relocated to a higher place, west and southwest of the Navabrahma temples. The latter was transplanted near the Alampur Papanasi Temples.
Nearby temples.
Alampur was an important pilgrimage site for the Hindus well after the 8th century as evidenced by the inscriptions and nearby major complex of temples. The Papanasam group of Hindu temples built in the 9th and 10th centuries are about southwest from the Navabrahma temple site. There are other temples like Suryanarayana temple dating back to 9th century. The Narasimha temple has inscriptions from the Sri Krishna Devaraya (Vijayanagar Empire) era.
References.
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