The visit to this Chintala
Venkataramana Swamy Temple was a part of the “Shiva and Vishnu Temples/Rock cut
Cave temples of Andhra Pradesh Visit”, on 24th and 25th
June 2023. Had been to this Vishnu Temple after visiting the Sri Bugga
Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple in the same place.
Moolavar : Sri Chintala Venkatramana Swamy
Consort : Sri Amirthavalli Thayar
Some
of the salient features of this temple are...
The
temple faces east with a 5-tier Rajagopuram. A Deepa Sthambam, a Pillar, and
a Thulabaram are in front of the temple. Balipeedam, Dwajasthambam, and Garudan
are in front of the temple. Moolavar Sri Chintala Venkatrama Swamy in the
sanctum sanctorum is in a standing posture. Utsavar is along with Sridevi and
Bhudevi. In koshtam, images of Maha Vishnu’s various forms and avatars.
In
the praharam of Ramanujar & Vedanta Desikar’s Shrine, Sri Lakshmi Chennakesava
Perumal, Thulasi madam, Ekantha mandapam, Lakshmi Narayana with Alwars and
Bhuvaraha Swami. Thayar is in a separate temple facing east, similar to
Moolavar. Thayar is in a standing posture with abhaya varada hastam.
ARCHITECTURE
The
Main temple consists of the sanctum sanctorum, ardha mandapam, maha mandapam, and
mukha mandapam. The sanctum sanctorum is on a kapota bandha adhsitanam with
silambu kumudam. The Pilasters are Brahma kantha pilasters with a square base
and naga varkatham. The pilasters are with malai thonga, kalasam, kudam, mandi,
palakai, and poomottu pothyals. The prastaram valapi has the relief of birds, and the kapotam keerthi mukhas has the reliefs of demons and deities. Two tier stucco
Vesara Vimana is on the prastaram. The Vimana has stucco images of Maha Vishnu’s
various avatars. The Bhitti, sanctum sanctorum walls have bas reliefs
depicting the epic Ramayan. The Upanam has bas reliefs of kinnaras, Ayyanar, and various deities. Exquisitely carved
pillars support the mukha mandapam.
Thayar
Sri Amirthavalli is in a separate temple, with sanctum sanctorum, ardha mandapam, and mukha mandapam. The Kodungai of the mukha mandapam has sculptures of
Monkeys with their various actions. The construction is very similar to the
Moolavar temple. The
Garuda’s shrine is in the form of a Ratha, similar to Hampi.
The
temples of both Sri Venkatramana Swamy and Amirthavalli Thayar are perhaps the
finest architectural works executed during the Vijayanagara Dynasty. The
sculpture carved on the lower part and
up to the cornices is cut and carved with exquisite sharpness and precision.
Pilasters, Koshtam, Kumbhapanjaram, and sculptures
Monkeys on the Kodungai
HISTORY AND
INSCRIPTIONS
As
per the experts, the temple was constructed during the 16th Century,
most probably by Pemmasani Timmanaidu-II (Pemmasani is a sect in the Nayakas
group), a local governor of the Vijayanagara Dynasty. The Rajagopuram was built during the Tuluva Dynasty.
Neither of the Tadipatri temple contain of foundation inscription, but the fact that they are of Vijayanagara times is a fact that leaps to the eye, but a more precise date has to be deduced from the inscription they contain. Among the manuscripts that Colonel Colin Mackenzie, the Collector of historical artefacts, gathered there is a “Tadpatri Kafiat”. Documents of this kind are not always historical. They are apt to be a mixture of fact and fancy. But they are valuable as preserving the beliefs and Notions of the times, the end of the Eighteenth century and the beginning of the Nineteenth.
In 1812 -13 CE, Colonel Mackenzie deputed a person named Ananda Rao to gather information on Tadpatri. He gathered information from the local people. According to local information, Tadpatri was established in the Vijayanagara times. Its Vijayanagara name was Tadpatri. Its first settler was a Brahmin named Narayana Battu, after Vidyaranya had established the city of Vijayanagara. Narayana, who was “from the east, sought the assistance of him. Vidyaranya, giving him some money, told him of a Bhaskara Kshetra on the bank of the pinakini are the pennar, where there was a tract of palm trees in which some hunters lived. Narayana was to go there and build a house for himself, “then the village will develop. Narayana came to “Tallapalli” and built a temple to Adhinarayanamurthi. South of this temple, at a distance of “Four feet’s” he also erected a mandapa in which he enshrined an image of Hanuman. Harihara and Bukka, the first Vijayanagara emperors, gave Tadipatri to him as an “Agrahara”.
The region was under the political control of Gillella Chalapathi Raju, who was deputed by Bukka for the purpose. Chalapathi Raju built a fort of Gandikota, about twenty-five Miles east of Tadpatri. It was the headquarters of the region in Vijayanagara time, and later it became a prominent fortress and was frequently besieged by invaders. Under Harihara II (1377-1404) CE. Nandala Viraraghava Raju displaced Chalapathi Raju, who went to Penukonda. Gooty, another important place in the area along with Yadiki, came under Viraraghava’s change.
The Pemmasani family, two members of which built the two temples, appears first in Tadipatri history in the reign of Praudha Devaraya (1422-1446) CE. This family was one of the many that provided generals and governors to the empire for many generations. The emperor sent Pemmasani Timmanaidu as governor of this region. His headquarters were Yadiki.
Ramalinga Timma’s son built the Bugga Ramalingeswara temple. The Chintala Venkataramana Temple came into being in the next generation. It was built by Timma, a son of Ramalinga. It too owed its origin to an unusual incident in the “South East” direction of the village. There was a cluster of tamarind trees. One particular tree broke into pieces one day and disclosed a Vishnu image inside. Timma, then living in Gandikota, was informed of this by Uddanda Naidu, a relative of his, who was governing Tadipatri under him. When Timma arrived in Tadipatri, he heard a big crackling sound, and he saw the Vishnu image clearly. That night, he had a dream in which he was told that he should build a temple. This was made known in the village by public outcry. Timma sent the news to Vijayanagara and obtained permission to build the temple. The “Kafiat” mentions many of the structures that were built: garbhagraha, suhana sika, soodile, madhyarangam, asthanam, sowdhanthrala, gopura prahara, stupile panchanalaya, yagasala, kalyana mandapa, Ashwaradhi mandapa, seshalaya, Garuda mandapa, varahamandapa, and a vahanamandapa. Also mentioned are sculptures and damaged paintings of Bharata, Ranganatha and Asthadikpalas, Tirumalayaganini and Ramayavaram Ramacharlu were appointed “archakas”, Golla abaladasni, the storekeeper.
In 1708 CE, Zulfikar Khan, a general of Aurangzeb, destroyed the Rangaswami temple and mosque on the site. It was handed over to Mir Mohammed, a ‘pahelwan’. The Venkataramana temple was also damaged. Its mandapa was blasted, many sculptures defaced, and walls built against doors so that worship ceased.
It was, however, restored presently. “Tundra Mallu, a Dewan of Daud Khan, renewed it. He also constructed “forts” and an office in the temples. Sivirisetti, who is from Mysore, lived in one of the forts. He built a shrine in the Venkataramana temple and installed an image of ChennAkesava, providing for worship. Thammaji Timmappa, a deputy Daud Khan and an amaldar, Tadipatri fell to Hyder Ali in 1775 CE, and in 1793 CE to the Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1800, Rayalaseema was handed over to the East India Company. The British took two or three years to restore order in the region. Sir Thomas Munro, the principal collector, took considerable interest in its temple. He ordered that “all the temple” and the kalyana mandapas in the Venkataramana temple. He also ordered that the temple be properly maintained.
There are two other epigraphs in Tadpatri which seem to indicate that the two temples are older than the reign of Vira Narasimha (1505-1509), during which the Ramalinga temple, the earlier of the two, was erected. But their evidence is far from conclusive. The two inscriptions, adjudged to be in "15th-century characters", are fragments and are to be found in the Saiva temple. One records an agreement or a "sthira sasanam" entered into by an assembly, including representatives of "ayyavali", who were assembled in a "maha-mukhamandapa". The second "seems" to mention a gift of levies such as the "kaddayam, "kanika, and "vidhi viralam. It mentions "panivojulu" probably as the benefactors of the gift. The other details are lost.
The first relevant dated inscription is of Vira Narasimha's reign. Dated 1507 CE, it occurs in the north-west corner of the prakara of the Ramalinga temple. It mentions Saluva Timma, the minister. Adjoining it is another epigraph dated two years later, the last year of Vira Narasimha's reign. It also mentions Saluva Timma.
There is an inscription of 1513, when Krishnadevaraya had been on the throne for four years. There is no one else in this reign. The next in time is of 1540, in Achutharaya's rule. Occurring in the Saiva temple, it records the remission of "jodi oppalu" payable by the people of the "sarva-manya agraharas" of Bhogasamudram and Kaverisamudram in Jagati-Gutti-sima. The next year, another epigraph in the same temple records, there was a royal gift of the income from a levy called "maharaja guttalu" given to Sala-karaju Achutharaju to celebrate certain festivals to the Lord ("Gurunatha")in the temples of Hampi Virupaksha, Tadpatri, and two other places.
The first inscription of Sadasiva's reign, appearing in the Ramalinga temple, is dated 1544 and records a gift by many of the "mahajanas" of Tadipatri to Ramesvaradeva for the "Kartika dipa". The epigraph next in date occurs in front of the Anjaneya temple in the village of Enumula-chintala, in Jammalamadugu taluk, in Cuddapah district. Dated 1551, it records the gift of that village then called Yanamala Chintala, by Chinna Timma Nayudu to Chintala Tiru-Vengalanatha of Tadpatri for the merit of Aliya Ramap-payya.
The earliest of the inscriptions in the Venkataramana temple is dated 1563. Engraved on the gopura, it mentions a gift of land by purchase to meet the expenses of twenty-seven specified festivals during the year to Tiruvengalanatha of Tamdiparti. When, twenty-five years later, Pamma-sani Nayudu made a gift of allowances for Tiruvengala-natha, Rakshas-Tangadi had been fought, and the Tadpatri temples were about to encounter trouble. As yet, however, the stream of piety continued to flow. To the same year, 1588, belongs another inscription which mentions an allotment to Lord Hanumantha of the "sannidhividhi" out of a provision made for offerings to Chintala Tiruvengala-natha on the occasion of a lunar eclipse.
These inscriptions testify to the unassailable faith of the people despite the hostility of the current rulers. A donor, Lingamma, made in 1594 a gift of land to provide "tulasi" and "chattupadi" services to Tiruvengalanatha and Raghu-natha. The last dated epigraph is of 1663. It records a gift of one "dharanum" for every hundred pagodas by the inhabitants of Tadpatri to Tiruvengalanatha.
There are a few undated inscriptions. In the characters of the seventeenth century is one in the Vaishnava temple recording the homage paid by some persons to Tiruvengala-natha. In the same temple, there is another epigraph that registers a monetary transaction. An inscription on a boundary stone south-east of the village of Timmapuram, in Tadpatri taluk, states that the stone marks the boundary of the village, the name of which is lost, belonging to Tadipaka Ramesvara. Another epigraph in the Anjaneya temple in Ellanuru, another village in the same taluk, "seems" to record a gift of land to Lord Chintala of Tadipatri. It is in "late characters". The Amman shrine in the Saiva temple contains an inscription, also in "late characters", recording obeisance to Ramesvara and Kamakshi Amman by Basavappa and his wife Naganikamma. Basavappa was the son of Kesavayyanalu. In the Vaishnava temple, there are two inscriptions, one recording obeisance to Chintala-raya by Gundara пррата оण and the other, in "late characters", mentioning the cancellation of certain dues because they had been tampered with.
It now remains to arrive at the probable dates when the two temples were built from the three areas of evidence available, traditional, epigraphical, and artistic. The "kafiat" states that Ramalinga, the builder of the Saiva temple, was a son of Timma, who was the governor of the region under Praudha Devaraya, emperor from 1422 to 1446. The earliest dated inscription relevant to the history of this temple is of 1507. How long before this year the temple came into being, there is no determining. But, following the principle of assigning a quarter of a century to a generation, it may be deduced that the temple was built in the last quarter of the fifteenth century.
This hypothesis, for it is nothing more in the present state of our knowledge, seems to be strengthened by the statement in the "kafiat" that Yeratima, a supporter of Aliya Rama in the disputes following Achutharaya's death, made improvements to the Vaishnava temple, adding paintings. It was in 1543 that Aliya Rama celebrated the coronation of Sadasiva after having overcome Salakaraju Timma, or Tirumala. It was only then that he could have felt secure and in a position to reward his supporters in the late conflicts. All these facts suggest that the Chintala Venkataramana temple must have been built in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. This date agrees with the statement in the "kafiat" that the later temple was built by a son of the builder of the earlier one.
That neither could have been built in the second half of the sixteenth century may be deduced from the fact that this period was full of troubles. Rakshas-Tangadi was fought in 1565. There is an inscription in the Venkata-ramana temple recording a gift of land by Pammasani Timma Nayudu in 1578, in the reign of Sriranga I. But the times were such that no big temple could possibly have been built. The people's instinctive devotion could be fulfilled only by making gifts to existing temples. All the best-known temples in the northern provinces were built in the reigns of Krishnadevaraya and Achutharaya, the Hazara Rama and the Vittala by the former, the Achutharaya by the latter.
Two artistic points of comparison are available: the paintings in the Venkataramana temple and the sculptural style in both. The "kafiat" states that paintings were added to the Ramalinga temple, but nothing has survived. Those in the Vaishnava temple bear a close stylistic affinity with those at Lepakshi, the celebrated temple in the same district, which was built in Achutharaya's reign. A comparative study of the mandapas in Lepakshi and Tadpatri also suggests that the two could not have been built at any great interval of time between the one and the other. The general impression that the art of the mandapas creates may be described as peaceful exuberance, as distinct from the martial exuberance of the Vittala temple mandapa, a war manifesto in stone, as it were.
The few inscriptions believed to be of a date earlier than the last quarter of the fifteenth century need present no difficulties. That of 1196 is a strayed epigraph from an earlier building, very probably at Tadpatri. A few others are stated to be in the characters of the fifteenth century. But palaeography is not such an exact science that it is possible to mistakenly assign an earlier period to what really belongs to a later.
It is a reasonable hypothesis, then, that the Bugga Ramalingesvara temple was built in the last quarter of the fifteenth century and the Chintala Venkataramana temple in the first half of the next.
REFERENCES:
1. Ramaswami. N.S (1976). “Temples of Tadipatri”, (A.P Archaeological series No.45) (pp.6-12). A.P Govt, Hyderabad, HYD: Text-Book Press.
2. V. Jayaprada (1998). “Vijayanagara Temples”. Bharatiya Kala Parakashan, Delhi. (pp.84-86). Chapters in Books:
3. V. Kamesvara Rao (1976). “Vijayanagara Temple of Rayalaseema” (A.P Archaeological series No.47), (pp.5). A.P Govt, Hyderabad, HYD: Text-Book Press.
The
temple is being maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
LEGENDS
Since
Venkatrama Swami was found under the Chintrala Tree (Tamarind Tree is called Chintrala in Telugu). Hence, Maha
Vishnu of this temple is called Chintala Venkatramana Swamy.
It
was further told that Maha Vishnu asked Timmanaidu to construct a temple for
him, which was under the Tamarind tree.
POOJAS AND
CELEBRATIONS
Apart from Regular poojas, special
poojas are conducted on all important Vaishnava festival days.
TEMPLE TIMINGS
The temple will be kept open
from 6.00 hrs -13.00 hrs and from 16.00 hrs - 20.00 hrs.
CONTACT DETAILS
The
Mobile number +9195814 52866 may be contacted for further details.
HOW TO REACH
The
temple is on the banks of the Penna River, 900 meters from the Bus stand, about 3.7 km from Tadipatri
railway station, 112 km from Kadapa, 249 km from Nellore, and 382 km from
Chennai.
The nearest Railway Station is Tadipatri.
LOCATION OF THE
TEMPLE: CLICK HERE
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OM SHIVAYA NAMA ---
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