Trip to Warangal, charminar and Statue of Equality

It's another year comes to an end and after hectic year end release work we finally got freed up and we have decided to finally visit the long pending trip to Warangal and few places in Hyderabad. Here is the quick recap of how our trip went on.

Warangal Trip:

Places covered:

Laknavaram Bridge, Boating, Ramappa Temple, Warangal Fort/Khilla, Bhadrakali Temple and Thousand pillar Temple.

Total Distance covered: 600Kms

Days: 1day

Places you can also cover by extending the trip by one more day:

Madaram Sammakkam saralamma temple, Yeturu nagaram, Bogatha Waterfall

As ours is a one day trip we couldn't cover all the places. We planned to start early in the morning but as this was a hectic trip and we were continuously travelling for every day we couldn't wake up at 4:30 and we woke up at 5AM and by the time we got ready and roar to go, the weather forced us to slow down as that is extremely foggy and we can't have the visibility and finally we started at 6:45 from home and by the time we hit the Outer ring road, there is absolutely no visibility around 7:30 and we just couldn't see any thing which is more than 50mtrs away from the car, with foggy lights on and we almost crawled through out the drive on the ORR around 20KMPH. Finally with lot of thrill and excitement even before the trip started we have the great kick and it's a fantastic and exciting way to start with.

There are hardly any breakfast stops on the way, we finally pulled our car on some road side tuck shop and grabbed some breakfast as we are already running late and we need to cover lot of places and as this is December and getting early sunset we don't want to waste time. After a long drive through some rough patches or roads as there was some road are not that great and we also need to swift through some villages where the roads suddenly becomes narrow and crowded. Finally we reached the first stop Laknavaram Bridge and it was very picturesque. It have beautiful view and the best part of the trip is speed boat, it cost Rs.350 per boat it hardly takes 5 minutes but the driver of the boat makes it exciting by taking some sharp turns and bumpy ride. Though it's a short time it's all worth of money. They have stay options in that area and they also have some glass room options to stay in the middle of the islands in that area. May be it's worth staying there if we have a good gang of close gang.

After spending some good amount of time there we started our next stop that is Ramppa temple, the only UNESCO world heritage site in Telangana. Ramappa Temple, also known as the Rudreswara temple, is a Kakatiya style Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. An inscription in the temple says it was constructed in the year 1213 CE by Recherla Rudra—a general of Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva. The Ramappa Temple complex which consist of three temples was constructed between 1212 and 1234, designed and architect by Ramappa—after whom the temple complex is named.Ramappa Temple stands on a 6-foot high star-shaped platform. The hall in front of the sanctum has numerous carved pillars that have been positioned to create an effect that combines light and space wonderfully.

The main structure is in a reddish sandstone, but the columns round the outside have large brackets of black basalt which is rich in iron, magnesium and silica. The roof (garbhalayam) of the temple is built with bricks, which are so light that they are able to float on water. There are two small Shiva shrines on either side of the main temple. The enormous Nandi within, facing the shrine of Shiva, remains in good condition. The temple remained intact even after repeated wars, plunder and destruction during wars and natural disasters. There was a major earthquake during the 17th century which caused some damage. It survived the earthquake due to its 'sandbox technique' of laying foundation.

We quickly grabbed lunch and raced to our next stop warngal Fort/Khilla. It's more than 1.5 hours drive as we need to go to Warangal from beyond Mulugu. When we reach the stop as per google, there is a huge Fort wall in either side of the road and they are all ruins and there is nothing else. There is some construction is going on and we were not allowed to get in. The plan of us visiting that place is to visit Kakatiya Kalatoranam which is part of the Telangana official emblem as we have already visited the other part of the same i.e Charminar. Later we some how caught the security guard and we got to know that there is another park where all these ruins are kept which is around a 1-2Kms from that place. We have visited that and also there is another place called King's meeting room next to that and we vistied that too.

Post that we have headed to Bhadrakali temple, the very famous temple in Warangal. Bhadrakali Temple is one of the oldest temples for Goddess Bhadrakali, situated on a hilltop between the two cities of Hanamkonda and Warangal. The temple is believed to be built in 625 A.D by the King Pulakeshin II of Chalukya dynasty to commemorate his victory over Vengi region of Andhra Desham, as per the writings on the temple wall. Kakatiya kings later have adopted the temple and considered Goddess Bhadrakali as their kuladevata. A lake was also built by Ganapati-deva adjacent to the temple. In this temple, the main deity is Goddess Bhadrakali who is shown in sitting position. She is shown with eight hands, each carrying one weapon and is wearing an alluring crown. The idol is 2.7 meters and is made out of stone. There is enough parking space around the temple.

Next to that we have visited our last leap of the trip is Thousand pillar temple. The Thousand Pillar Temple or Rudreswara Swamy Temple[1] is a historical Hindu temple located in the town of Hanamakonda. Many 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 (Architect). It was desecrated by the Tughlaq dynasty during their invasion of the Deccan.‘Sri Rudreswara Swamy temple with the presiding deity as Rudreswara, in 1163 AD in the style of later Chalukyan and early Kakatiyan Architecture, star-shaped and triple shrined (Trikutalaya). The temple is a fine specimen of architecture and sculpture with One thousand pillars. There are richly carved pillars, perforated screens, exquisite icons, rock cut elephants and the monolithic dolerite Nandi as components of the temple. The temple is still under renovation and by the time we reached there it's already sunset and we couldn't exactly visited the temple in sunlight but even otherwise we have seen the moon in Red color on that day, not sure why. The temple looks beautiful in moonlight.

Then we had dinner and we started our return and we have reached hyderabad around 10:30PM.

It was another day and we want to visit our one of the favourite spot that is Salarjung museum, so we some how tuned our 6year old that it is beautiful place and worth visiting and somehow convinced him to visit the museum by luring him about the famous musical clock. It has a collection of sculptures, paintings, carvings, textiles, manuscripts, ceramics, metallic artefacts, carpets, clocks, and furniture from Japan, China, Burma, Nepal, India, Persia, Egypt, Europe, and North America.

Then we also visited the famous charminar the poster place for Hyderabad. The Charminar is constructed in 1591, the landmark is a symbol of Hyderabad and officially incorporated in the emblem of Telangana. The Charminar's long history includes the existence of a mosque on its top floor for more than 425 years. While both historically and religiously significant, it is also known for its popular and busy local markets surrounding the structure, and has become one of the most frequented tourist attractions in Hyderabad. The fifth ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, built the Charminar in 1591 after shifting his capital from Golconda to the newly formed city of Hyderabad. The Charminar was constructed at the intersection of the historical trade route that connects the city to international markets through the port city of Machilipatnam. The Old City of Hyderabad was designed with Charminar as its centrepiece. The city was spread around the Charminar in four different quadrants and chambers, segregated according to the established settlements. Towards the north of Charminar is the Char Kaman, or four gateways, constructed in the cardinal direction. The structure is made of granite, limestone, mortar, and pulverised marble, weighing approximately 14,000 tones apiece. Initially the monument was so proportionately planned that when the fort first opened, one could see all four corners of the bustling city of Hyderabad through each of its four grand arches, as each arch faced one of the most active royal ancestral streets. We couldn't do any shopping near charminar as it's already very late and kids are very tired and became cranky. So we returned home.

The next day we have planned for a half day trip to visit the statue of equality and the lotus temple near the same. The Statue of Equality is a statue of the 11th-century Indian philosopher Ramanuja, located on the premises of the Chinna Jeeyar Trust. It is the second tallest sitting statue in the world. The project of building the statue was conceptualised by the trust to commemorate 1,000 year birth anniversary of Ramanuja, costing an estimated ₹1,000 crore, the project was paid for through the donations of devotees in a major part. The ground floor will be 6,000 square metres and will depict Ramanuja's life and philosophy. The temple, meant for daily worship, will be located on the 27,870 square metre second floor. The 1,365 square metre third floor will include a Vedic digital library and research centre.

We also have another Lotus Temple, also known as Kamaldham Mandir, is a white structure surrounded by a huge pink lotus base. Standing atop a pond, this Hindu temple is home to six deities. With intricate carvings that resemble the Indian culture.

That's the end of our year end trip and with loads of memories and refreshed mindes we are back to Bengaluru. With rejuvenated minds we are all relaxed and roar to start the next year with full of enthusiasm. Bring it on 2024, we are ready.

Here are few more random pics of the trip. See you with another trip and till then keep happy healthy and stay safe.