Thousand Pillar Temple

The Thousand Pillar Temple or Rudreshwara Swamy Temple is a historic Hindu temple located in the town of Hanamakonda, Telangana State, India. It is dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Surya.Thousand Pillar Temple, along with "Warangal Fort" and "Ramappa Temple" are added to the tentative list of World Heritage sites recognised by UNESCO.HistoryMany Hindu temples were developed under the patronage of Ganapati Deva, Rudrama Devi and Prataparudra who were of Kakatiya dynasty. The Thousand Pillar Temple was believed to be constructed during the period between 1175–1324 CE by order of the king, Rudra Deva. It stands out to be a masterpiece and achieved major heights in terms of architectural skills by the ancient Kakatiya vishwakarma sthapathis.It was desecrated by the Tughlaq dynasty during their invasion of the Deccan.ArchitectureThe Thousand Pillar Temple with its ruins lies near the Hanamkonda-Warangal Highway in Telangana State, about 150km from the city of Hyderabad.The temple is star-shaped with several shrines and lingams. There are three shrines inside the temple called the Trikutalayam, dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Surya. There are 1,000 pillars in the structure, but no pillar obstructs a person in any point of the temple to see the God. The temple is surrounded by a big garden in which many small lingam shrines can be seen. There is a carving of a Nandi bull in the form of a highly polished black basalt monolith.