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800-year-old Ramappa temple’s unique sandbox technology and ‘floating bricks’ helped it get the UNESCO tag
On 25 July 2021, UNESCO inscribed the 13th-century Ramappa temple in Palampet, Telangana as a World Heritage Site.
A World Heritage Site is a location with an “outstanding universal value”. This signifies “cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity”. To be included, sites must meet at least one of the ten selection criteria, such as representing a masterpiece of human creative genius, or exhibiting an important interchange of human values over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world.
The decision to inscribe the Ramappa temple was taken at the 44th session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO held on 25 July 2021 in China.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “Excellent! Congratulations to everyone, especially the people of Telangana. The iconic Ramappa Temple showcases the outstanding craftsmanship of great Kakatiya dynasty. I would urge you all to visit this majestic Temple complex and get a first-hand experience of it’s grandness.”
The Rudreswara (Ramappa) Temple is situated near Warangal. An inscription dates it to 1213 and says it was built by a Kakatiya General Recherla Rudra Reddy, during the period of the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva. “Ramappa is the main Shiva temple in a larger walled temple complex, which includes several smaller temples and structures,” Raghvendra Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Culture (under which the ASI functions), said.
It is built of sandstone with decorated beams and pillars of carved granite and dolerite. The inner sanctum is made of lightweight porous bricks. The sculptures, especially bracket figures, have their lustre intact.
The temple dedicated to Shiva is often described as the brightest star in the galaxy of the medieval temples of the Deccan. It reflects a repository of Kakatiyan creative genius, with its intricate carvings adorning the walls, pillars and ceilings of the marvelous edifice. It was built in 1213 AD by Recharla Rudra, the general of King Ganapathi Deva. Though the presiding deity here is Ramalingeswara Swamy, the temple was named after the sculptor Ramappa, who completed the task in 14 years. Built with sandstone and a sandbox foundation, the temple has decorated beams and columns made of granite stone.
Significantly, the temple sits on a six-foot-high star-shaped platform, endowed with a 10 feet wide pradakshina patha (corridor) with walls, pillars and ceilings adorned with intricate carvings. There is a hall in front of the sanctum sanctorum with four black polished pillars which are placed with mathematical precision.
The three-storied shikhara or vimana of the temple is completely brick-built so as not to burden the structure below. The lightweight porous floating bricks used in the temple’s construction were never heard of before. “It is the culmination of the experiments with different types of bricks, starting from the Satavahana times in Telangana. These floating bricks are made of clay mixed with acacia wood, chaff, myrobalan and ushira, also known as vatti verlu, making the brick very light, and enabling it to float on water.
Pillars reflect light onto sanctorum: “The presiding deity in the temple is Lord Shiva. In a significant architectural feat, daylight is reflected by the four granite pillars in the sanctorum which is diverted towards the inner sanctum, keeping it illuminated the whole day,” explained BV Papa Rao, a retired IAS officer, who along with the professor floated the heritage trust.
Musical pillars: A pillar has the sculpture of Lord Krishna. He can be seen sitting on a tree playing his flute denoting the mythological tale of Gopika Vastrapaharanam. Saptaswaras (Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Da Ni Sa) can be heard by tapping the sculpture of the lord.
Warding off the evil eye: A portion of the main pillar inside the sanctorum is a little flawed. The carvings are misplaced. In fact, the portion also has a slight dent to it. Sculptor Ramappa intentionally left the space blank to ward off the evil eye, according to locals.
13 needle holes: There is a fine carving on one of the pillars which is shaped like a bangle. It has 13 holes which, according to legend, indicate Lord Shiva’s Trayodashi (13 in Sanskrit). “According to Hindu mythology, Lord Shiva defeated demons on Trayodashi to save other sages. The 13 thin-threaded holes between the stone pillars reflect the richness of the architecture of Kakatiya kings. Only a small thread or a needle can pass through the holes of the sculpture. It is unclear as to how there were specific tools in the 13th century to carve this out,” said Papa Rao.
Optical illusion: There is one carving where there are three dancers in the middle but there are only four legs. If you close the body of the middle dancer, you can see two girls dancing. But when you close the bodies of the girls on either side, the middle legs become the legs of the dancer in between.
Thank you, elephants!: “There are 526 elephants (adding up to 13, the significance of which is explained above), carved on the outer walls of the temple. The startling fact is that each elephant is chipped differently. This was done to acknowledge the contribution of elephants in building the temple and transporting the granite stone. Also, the elephants face clockwise, indicating the ritual of Hindus walking in that direction around a shrine,” said Prof Panduranga Rao.
Egyptian and Persian carvings: The figurines carved in sandstone all around the temple feature Persian men, Egyptian Pharaohs, among others, pointing to the trade relations the Kakatiyas had with these countries during the 13th century. There are also some sculptures of Jains and Buddhists.
Mandakinis: There are 12 black stone statues of mandakinis (dancing figures) perched atop pillars of the temple. Each figure has a distinct feature with the one named, Ragini, wearing high heels. “The work is so intricate that on one mandakini, there is a shadow of a necklace worn by her which looks natural but is actually carved out. Irrespective of the angle of the sun, we can see the shade on her body,” explained Papa Rao.
Kakatiya emblem: “You can also find carvings and statues of elephants and lions on the walls and pillars here. The foot is shaped like an elephant trunk, in the middle is a human shoulder and the top is a lion’s face. That is called Gaja Kesari which is the Kakatiya dynasty’s emblem. It is symbolic of their valour,” Papa Rao said.
The temple is built with three different coloured stones (red, white and brown), with the colours merged on a single stone.
The temple was proposed by the government as its only nomination for the UNESCO World Heritage site tag for 2019. It has been in UNESCO’s tentative list since 2014.
The World Heritage Convention’s operational guidelines say that a tentative list is like an inventory of properties a country thinks should be on the World Heritage Site. After UNESCO includes a property in the tentative list, the country prepares a nomination document that will be considered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
In this case, the nomination was under Criterion I (Masterpiece of human creative genius) and Criterion III (bearing a unique or at least an exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition, which is living or which has disappeared). Earlier, the International Council of Historic Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) had evaluated Ramappa’s heritage status.
On 25 July 2021, 17 of the 21 member nations supported the inscription. With this, India now has 39 sites on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and the Archaeological Survey of India is now the custodian of 23 world heritage sites.
Sandbox Technique
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- The technique involved filling the pit — dug up for laying the foundation — with a mixture of sand-lime, jaggery (for binding) and karakkaya (black myrobalan fruit) before the buildings were constructed on these ‘sandboxes’.
- The sandbox in the foundation acts as a cushion in case of earthquakes.
- Most of the vibrations caused by earthquakes lose their strength while passing through the sand by the time they reach the actual foundation of the building.
POSTED ON 14-08-2021 BY ADMIN
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