Architecture and Sculpture of the Pushpagiri Temples

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About the Book This book is devoted to a study of the architectural, sculptural and iconographical wealth of the temples at Pushpagiri in the Cuddapah District of Andhra Pradesh. Dr. V.V.S. Kumar has given exhaustive descriptions of the temples of Pushpagiri (ranging from eleventh to sixteenth centuries A.D.) like Indranadhesvara, Rudra pada, Bhimesvara, Sakshimallesvara, Uma mahesvara, Santanamallesvara and Chennakesava temples. The temples of Pushpagiri abound in narrative sculptures of the Vijayanagara period dealing with episodes from the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Bhagavata, besides some interesting episodes relating to saivite mythology. A sincere attempt has been made to give exhaustive descriptions of as many narrative sculptures as possible.

This book makes a highly informative and useful contribution to our knowledge of the architectural, sculptural and iconographical achievements of the Vijayanagara artists.

Illustrated with one hundred and twenty seven photographs and three ground plans, this is a very useful book to Museums, Archaeologists, Historians, Research students and others interested in the subject.

About the Author Dr. Vemuru Venkata Subrahmanya Kumar (b. 1963) obtained his Masters degree in 1986 from Sri Venkateswara University. He earned the M.Phil degree in History in 1989 from the same University. Dr. Kumar was awarded the Ph.D., degree in 1998 by the Potti Sriramulu Telugu University, Hyderabad. He is presently a Senior Lecturer in History, Government Degree College Koduru (RS) Cuddapah (District) Andhra Pradesh, India.

Dr. Kumar has contributed several research papers to leading scholarly Journals, Seminars and annual sessions of History Congresses. He specialises in Temple Architecture, Sculpture and Iconography.

Introduction Pushpagiri is a village in the Cuddapalı district of Andhra Pradesh and is situated at of twenty place can be reached by a motorable road from Cuddapah. The village is connected by a branch road about 11 k.m., from the Cuddapah town on the Cuddapah-Kurnol highway. It is a hamlet of Kottur in the Cuddapah Taluk and lies on the latitude 14.36' N and longitude 78.46 B. The nearest railway station is Gangayapalle on the Madras-Bombay broad gauge section of the South-Central Railway.

The village is situated on the right bank of the river Pennar and the Pushpagiri hill on its left bank derives its name from the hill Pushpagiri lying on the other side of the river Pennar. Pushpagiri is also called Sumagiri. A rivulet flowing towards south joins Pennar at Pushpagiri. An inscription of 12th Century A.D. mentions this place as 'Panchanaditirtha'.' It may be surmised that Kusumalayam mentioned in the Pinakini Mahatmya as one of the holy tirthas is probably Pushpagiri. The hill Pushpagiri is mentioned in the Brahmanda Purana' and Vayu Purana. The second apsidal temple inscription of Nagarjunakonda mentions the Prakrit form of Pushpagiri as Pushpagiri. A Rashtrakuta inscription of Krishna Kannihadeva (Krishna III) mentions the place as Pushpagiri and that it is the south gateway of Sriparvata. The "Pushpagiri agrahara" is mentioned in an inscription dated S. 1442 (A.D. 1520) found at Pushpagiri. records that certain Dommaras gifted dommaripannu received by them from kapus f rearing flower garden and for dipärädhana (lighting lamp) in the Chennakesava temp at Pushpagiri on Kartika Suddha Paurnami in the cyclic year pramadi.' Pushpagir the seat of the matha which is said to have been established by Sri Sankaracharya advocate his philosophy of Advaita.

As many as twenty eight temples were noted at Pushpagiri in the first qua of the twentieth century. Some of them were in ruins.

**Contents and Sample Pages**