Kakatiya Rudreswara Temple: India’s 39th ‘World Heritage Site’

• 26 Jul 2021

Telangana’s Kakatiya Rudreswara Temple (popularly known as Ramappa temple), located at Palampet village in the newly formed Mulugu District has been inscribed by UNESCO as World Heritage Site.

• It was declared at the World Heritage Committee’s 44th session being organized at Fuzhou (China) from 16 to 31 July.
• After this, India has 39 (31 are cultural, 7 are natural, and 1 is mixed) World Heritage Sites.

About Kakatiya Rudreswara Temple

• The Rudreswara temple was constructed in 1213 AD during the reign of the Kakatiya Empire by Recharla Rudra, a general of Kakatiya king Ganapati Deva.
• The presiding deity here is Ramalingeswara Swamy.
• It is also known as the Ramappa temple, after the sculptor who executed the work in the temple for 40 years and probably the only temple in the country to be known by the name of its sculptor.
• The temple is built with bricks that are so light that they can float on water. The bricks were believed to be made spongy using something like saw-dust.
• The temple stands on a 6-feet high star-shaped platform with walls, pillars and ceilings adorned with intricate carvings which are the hallmarks of the Kakatiya sculptors.
• The carvings -- mythical animals, female dancers - are considered as masterpieces of Kakatiya art.
• Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo had remarked that the Ramappa temple was the “brightest star in the galaxy of medieval temples of the Deccan.”