English: Dharmapuri is a pilgrimage and archaeological site in Telangana (not to be confused with many other villages and towns in India that are named as Dharmapuri).
Dharmapuri of Telangana is a large village (small town) located on the west bank of Godavari river in the Jagtial district at its border with the Mancherial district.
It is home to several historic Hindu temples. These temples were damaged and a few destroyed in the 14th and 15th-centuries conquest of Deccan region, with one temple converted into a mosque by Rustumdikhan in the mid 15th-century during the Islamic rule of this region from Hyderabad. A new main temple was rebuilt by the Hindus after the 15th-century and re-dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy. It serves as the primary pilgrimage attraction of Dharmapuri.
The temple finds mention in the 10th-century Puranic tourist guide Dharmapuri Kshetra Mahatmya, as well as in the Padma Purana and Brahmanda Purana. The site's significance and temple fame is mentioned in a Kurikyala inscription by Chalukyas of Vemulavada. Believed to be a major Vedic studies and manuscripts preservation center in antiquity and called one of the Dakshina Kashi, it has been a major Vaishnava pilgrimage site, considered as one of nine Narasimha pilgrimage centers (devasthanam) in the Deccan region. Narasimha is one of the major avatars of Vishnu, one particularly popular in Deccan (Telangana, Andhra, east Maharashtra), in Karnataka and in northern Tamil speaking regions of India.
The Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple has two major gopurams, the Pedda Gopuram being the primary and the tallest (above). After the entrance is the damaged four pillared pavilion (kalyanamandapam) , which is from the Kakatiya era. The pillars are intricately carved with Hindu legends about Vishnu, as well those of Shaiva and Shakti traditions of Hinduism. There are bands of cultural scenes, Hindu festivals, kama and artha scenes as well.
The temple architecture is Dravidian, and illustrates the Hindu temple architecture found in vastu sastra texts. It includes a square temple water tank, called the Brahma pushkarini (Brahma koneru).
The temple hosta a major 13-day festival every March-April. It is called the Brahmotsavalu. This attracts numerous regional Hindus to the pilgrimage site.
Photographs created by P. Madhusudan, Telangaana, India uploaded by User:Ms Sarah Welch are released as CC-0.
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