File:15th century Yaganti Umamahesvara temple, Andhra Pradesh India - 117.jpg

Original file(4,608 × 3,456 pixels, file size: 4.76 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: Also referred to as Uma Maheswara, Yagantesvara, Umamahesvara or just Yaganti temple, this is a Vijayanagara era temple in South Indian style.
  • The Yaganti valley is a part of the crescent shaped Kadapa (Cuddapah) supergroup of valleys of the Proterozoic age. This supergroup includes the Yaganti valley, Jurreru River valley and Katavani Kunta valley. Well over 75 archaeologically significant quartzite rock art sites – painted in red, black, white – and important Hindu pilgrimage centers are located in these valleys. It is likely that the region with many natural limestones caves was a part of the spiritual geography for the Hindus and local tribes for centuries prior to the construction of this temple. This is evidenced by significantly older engravings and rock art in distant caves featuring Shiva lingas, Nandi, anthropomorphic reliefs with Shaiva and Vaishnava icons. Additionally, in some caves the rock art includes ancient therianthropes, skectches quadriped animal species such as cow, elephant, snake, boars, deers, geometric drawings and concentric circles that have been dated to the prehistoric era.
  • The Yaganti temple is actually a complex of monuments with a natural spring, one incorporated into the temple water tank for ritual wash or dip. Some of the natural caves in this valley have been incorporated into the temple complex.
  • The Yaganti temple complex has gopurams (landmark entrance towers visible from distance along the pilgrim hiking trail) Vijayanagara style pilgrim mandapas (choultries, traveler resting places), water tank with secular artwork and shrines, a colossal monolithic Nandi, a network of caves with Shiva linga and smaller Nandi carved from the natural rock, stone stairs and man-made bridges that connected the monuments and caves.
  • The main temple's mandapa has intricately carved pillars. The reliefs show legends from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and secular scenes such as Yogi, Yogini, acrobats, preaching rishis (saints), farmers, merchants, soldiers, dancers, musicians and others.
  • The temple complex has several important inscriptions that help date and understand the history of the temple.
  • It is a pilgrimage site for regional Hindus, with pilgrims preferring a hike on foot through the Yaganti and Katavani Kunta valleys, passing through the Sri Maddileti Narasimha Swamy Temple in Rangapuram village (Bethamcherla), a Vaisnavite temple. They then arrive at the Shaivite Yaganti temple complex, where both Vaishnavite and Saivite iconography is reverentially integrated within the same complex. A modern road connects the temple and the valley caves to India's national highways network, while dharmasalas and hotels surround the temple complex.
Date
Source P. Madhusudan (ticket:2021040310000527)
Author P. Madhusudan
Camera location15° 21′ 03.29″ N, 78° 08′ 17.64″ E  Heading=0° Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

Licensing

Photographs created by P. Madhusudan, Telangaana, India uploaded by User:Ms Sarah Welch are released as CC-0.

This license & permission applies only to the photographs and not to any protected works that might be depicted in the media itself. Unless stated otherwise, the content depicted in the media is in the public domain due to its age.

Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

VRT Wikimedia

This work is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose. If you wish to use this content, you do not need to request permission as long as you follow any licensing requirements mentioned on this page.

The Wikimedia Foundation has received an e-mail confirming that the copyright holder has approved publication under the terms mentioned on this page. This correspondence has been reviewed by a Volunteer Response Team (VRT) member and stored in our permission archive. The correspondence is available to trusted volunteers as ticket #2021020910004089.

If you have questions about the archived correspondence, please use the VRT noticeboard. Ticket link: https://ticket.wikimedia.org/otrs/index.pl?Action=AgentTicketZoom&TicketNumber=2021020910004089
Find other files from the same ticket: SDC query (SPARQL)

Captions

A Shiva Hindu temple of the Vijayanagara Empire era located in the Yaganti valley

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

24 March 2021

15°21'3.290"N, 78°8'17.639"E

heading: 0.0 degree

image/jpeg

2e40a457653a9c85860cdc31a9b698080ebe16f9

4,986,861 byte

3,456 pixel

4,608 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current11:37, 16 April 2021Thumbnail for version as of 11:37, 16 April 20214,608 × 3,456 (4.76 MB)Ms Sarah WelchUploaded a work by P. Madhusudan from P. Madhusudan (OTRS 2021040310000527) with UploadWizard
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):

Metadata