Temples of Alampur - Alampur Temple

Alampur, called the southern Kashi, stands on the left bank of the Tungabhadra river, in Mahbubnagar district. It is close to Kurnool town. A few kilometers away the Tungabhadra and the Krishna are in junction, of the type of confluences which Hindus hold sacred. The name might derive from that of a local deity, Ellamma. The main Godess of the place Jogulamba, is one of the eighteen Shaktis of India. There are no less than nine temples, of about the seventh century A.D, close to each other within an enclosed area in Alampur.

The nine temples are dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva. But each of them is named after Brahma; the Taraka Brahma, the Svarga Brahma, the Padma Brahma, the Bala Brahma, the Garuda Brahma, the Kumara Brahma, the Arka Brahma, the Vira Brahma and the Visva Brahma. There are temples of Narsimha and Suryanarayana in the vicinity.

Temple History

The Nava Brahma temples, as the group is called, were built by the Chalukyas of Badami. This was a gifted dynasty which ruled for some two centuries from about the middle of the sixth. Its capitals were in Karnataka. Alampur is the only site in Andhra Pradesh where they built temples. All their other sites are in Karnataka.

The temples all stand within an enclosed area, on the banks of the river. On either side of the main entrance are temples of Goddess Kamakshi and Goddess Ekamresvari, the former was built in the fourteenth century.

Other Temples

The Suryanarayana temple, which is at a distance of some metres away from the Nava Brahma, but still within the enclosed area, could have been built in the ninth or tenth century. It has three sancta. On the ceiling of the mandapa are reliefs of nine of Lord Vishnu’s incarnations. The tenth is absent, and in the middle is the Buddha.

The Narsimha temple has three sancta. It appears to be a reconstructed one. It carries an inscription, among others, of Krishnadeva recording a gift of land.

Some distance from Alampur is Papanasanam, where there is a cluster of over twenty temples. This is another pilgrim centre. The main temple is of Papanasesvara, and around it stand the smaller temples, in many sizes and of many orders, suggesting experiments in temple construction. The main fane contains some fine sculptural relief.