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{{short description|Hindu temple in Telangana, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Devunigutta Temple
| image = Devunigutta Temple In Telangana State 02.jpg
| caption = Devunigutta Temple, north and west sides, c. 2017
| location = [[Jayashankar Bhupalpally district]], [[Telangana]], [[India]]
| built = 6th century CE<ref name="TOI"/>
| coordinates = {{Coord|18|6|54.6|N|80|02|13.3|E|display=it}}
| locmapin = India#India Telangana
| map_relief = 1
| architecture = [[Hindu temple architecture]]
| native_name = దేవునిగుట్ట దేవాలయం
| native_language = te
}}
[[File:Devunigutta Temple In Telangana State 03.jpg|thumb|[[Relief]] sculptures on the outside west wall of the temple; [[Ardhanarishvara]] (with a single breast) and other figures]]
The '''Devunigutta Temple''' ("God’s hill" in [[Telugu language|Telugu]]<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265">Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265</ref>) or '''Shiva Temple, Kothur''' is a [[Hindu temple]] near Kothur village in the [[Mulugu district|Mulugu District]], [[Telangana]], India, some 60 km east of [[Warangal]].<ref name="TOI">{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/cardiff-expert-says-no-resemblance-of-devunigutta-architecture-with-angkor-wat/articleshow/67721331.cms |title=Cardiff expert says no resemblance of Devunigutta architecture with Angkor Wat|date=28 January 2019|first=U. Sudhakar|last=Reddy|newspaper=The Times of India|language=en|access-date=2020-01-05}}</ref><ref name="Greaves">Greaves</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/040917/telangana-ancient-mulugu-temple-soon-to-become-tourist-attraction.html|title=Telangana: Ancient Mulugu temple soon to become tourist attraction|date=2017-09-04|website=Deccan Chronicle|language=en|access-date=2020-01-05}}</ref> Located in a remote forested plateau, it was probably built c. 6th century CE by the [[Vakataka dynasty|Vakatakas]].<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265"/> It was first recorded in 2012, in an abandoned state, by the [[Archaeological Survey of India]] (ASI);<ref name="Greaves"/> however, it did not come to wider attention until images were posted on [[social media]] in 2017.

The temple now consists of a square sanctuary with a [[shikhara]] or [[vimana]] tower,<ref>"shikhara" to Greaves, "vimana" to Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy. At this locality and date, the northern and southern forms of tower over a sanctuary were just beginning to emerge</ref> with the sanctuary open to the interior of the tower, and a low wall enclosing an entrance court. An unusual profusion of relief sculptures, though very worn, are located both inside and outside.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265"/><ref>Greaves; Telangana Tourism</ref> Visiting international scholars, as well as local people, have expressed concern about the condition of the building. Local voluntary groups cleared the vegetation growing on the actual structure,<ref>Telangana Tourism has photos before, during and after.</ref> although by 2020 much had regrown. In late 2019 the Archaeological Survey of India was ready to restore the temple, but was awaiting permission from the local authorities.<ref>[https://newsmeter.in/devuni-gutta-temple-in-mulugu-lies-in-state-of-neglect/ Newsmeter, "Devuni Gutta temple in Mulugu lies in state of neglect"], by Dasari Sreenivasa Rao, 16 December 2019</ref>

An image of [[Narashima]] was installed after 2012, and the temple is in informal worship.<ref name="Greaves"/>

== Rediscovery ==
Although apparently reported to the ASI in 2012,<ref name="Greaves"/> the temple attracted little attention until photographs were posted on social media in 2017.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265"/> An Assistant Director of Archaeology and Museums for Telangana state visited the temple in August 2017, and "submitted a report stressing the need to conserve the temple", but as of early 2019 no action had been taken.<ref name="TT">{{Cite web|url=https://telanganatoday.com/need-to-conserve-devunigutta-temple-archaeologists|title=Need to conserve Devunigutta temple: Archaeologists|last=Reddy|first=P Laxma|date=24 Jan 2019|website=Telangana Today|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-05|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A German art historian, Corinna Wessels-Mevissen, who saw the temple in 2018, said “The temple is a unique blend of styles visible in [[Udayagiri, Odisha|Udayagiri]] and Scandagiri in Odisha and also a bit of [[Amaravati Stupa|Amaravati]] like (Andhra Pradesh) architecture.”<ref name="TT"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://telanganatoday.com/art-historian-from-germany-visits-devunigutta-temple|title=Art historian from Germany visits Devunigutta temple|last=Reddy|first=AuthorP Laxma|website=Telangana Today|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-05}}</ref>
[[File:Devunigutta Temple In Telangana State.jpg|thumb|The tower from behind (west face), showing the "cleft" in the wall.]]

A British expert, [[Adam Hardy (architectural historian)|Adam Hardy]], who visited the temple in 2019, described it as "a unique temple with a rare architecture full of imagery and a depiction of a heavenly vision in sculpture", though he dismissed claims of resemblance to [[Angkor Wat]], saying Devunigutta was in any case older, probably from the 6th century.<ref>[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/cardiff-expert-says-no-resemblance-of-devunigutta-architecture-with-angkor-wat/articleshow/67721331.cms "Cardiff expert says no resemblance of Devunigutta architecture with Angkor Wat"], ''[[Times of India]]'', U Sudhakar Reddy, Jan 28, 2019</ref> He was reported as saying "It’s high time the Archaeological Department take the necessary steps to protect the temple which is beginning to collapse."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/Sunday-Hans/2019-01-27/Devuni-Gutta-A-researchers-paradise/482912|title=Devuni Gutta: A researcher's paradise|last=Mahender|first=Adepu|date=2019-01-27|website=www.thehansindia.com|language=en|access-date=2020-01-05}}</ref>

Corinna Wessels-Mevissen gave a brief report on the temple to a conference in Naples in 2018, and she and Adam Hardy published a paper on it in 2019.<ref>Greaves; Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy is the paper, which is based on the conference report</ref> Laxshmi Greaves, a colleague of Hardy at [[Cardiff University]], visited the temple separately in 2018, and published an account.<ref name="Greaves"/>

==Architecture==
The temple has a single enclosed space, about 6 metres square, and now 7 metres high; it is missing the [[kalasha]] urn or [[amalaka]] that would once have topped it. It is built of blocks of [[sandstone]] that have eroded considerably. The blocks are closely fitted, but there are traces of [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]], and a few of reddish [[stucco]], which probably originally covered all the reliefs, and may have been painted.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267">Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267</ref> Apart from erosion of the stone, the temple seems generally well-preserved, apart from damage above the entrance and a "long vertical cleft" running down the west wall, which has disrupted the left side of the exterior relief panel with Ardhanarishvara (illustrated).<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 277</ref> The low wall marking an enclosure in front of the temple is probably not original,<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 268">Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 268</ref> and is rather crudely constructed of similar blocks, perhaps originally used for another structure.

A very unusual feature in [[Hindu temple architecture]] is that the sanctuary has no ceiling, and visitors can look straight up inside the [[corbel]]led shikara/vimana. This is a feature shared with the [[Gop Temple]] of about 550 on the other side of India in [[Gujarat]].<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267–268</ref> Usually the flat and unornamented ceiling of the sanctuary is an essential part of the "cave and mountain" architectural metaphor of a Hindu temple. This may relate to apparently wooden temples with octagonal towers seen in some Buddhist reliefs.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 269</ref> Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy conclude the temple's "unique architecture provides a missing link between early timber structures and the [[Dravidian architecture|Dråvida tradition]]".<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 265"/>
[[File:Devunigutta Temple In Telangana State 01.jpg|thumb|The external [[Ardhanarishvara]] group in 2019]]

The tower has four tiers, "defined by relief-encrusted [[string course]]s", which on the upper tiers are "divided rather haphazardly into bays by plain pilasters". The tower is topped by a low corbelled dome. There is a central projection or bhadra extending across most of each face of the tower. At the lowest level each side except for the east entrance has "a spectacular mythological panel" above a simple moulding.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 268"/> [[Pilaster]]s make a number of small [[aedicule]]s, and there are [[gavaksha]]s at many places, often with faces inside them.<ref name="Greaves"/>

Inside there is now a modern plinth holding an image of Narashima, but no sign of a [[lingam]], nor of a drainage channel for offerings.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267"/> Local people say a lingam was stolen some time ago.<ref name="Greaves"/>

Leaning against the wall of the enclosed courtyard are three white [[limestone]] fragments, one of which appears to be a post from a carved railing typical of Buddhist [[stupa]]s (e.g., [[Amaravati Stupa]], though these are much larger), although no stupas are known to have existed within 100 km of the temple. They may have been brought to the site as a source of lime for the mortar, or to decorate it.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 269; there are photos in Telangana Tourism.</ref>

==Reliefs==
Reliefs carved into the structural blocks cover "almost every available surface", both inside and out.<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267"/> Though early press reports dwelled on Buddhist-like aspects of the temple, it is clearly a Hindu temple dedicated to [[Shiva]], who appears prominently in the composite form of [[Ardhanarishvara]], divided between his male form and the female one of [[Parvati]], his consort. Ardhanarishvara appears centrally on the [[relief]]s on both the inside and outside of the rear (west) wall of the sanctuary, a feature not known elsewhere.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 275; Greaves</ref>
[[File:Devunigutta Temple In Telangana State 02 (cropped).jpg|thumb| [[Balarama]] group on the north exterior wall]]

The large relief groups "exhibit a homogenous sculptural style essentially reminiscent of [[Gupta art]] and other sculptural idioms present in this early period"<ref name="Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 267"/> although the site is a long way from areas controlled by the [[Gupta Empire]] by the 460s. They are crowded with figures, above all the very large group occupying the back wall of the sanctuary. The reliefs have many unusual [[iconography|iconographic]] features, and not all the subjects are yet clear.<ref name="Greaves"/> Together they suggest "the spread of a pre-Tantric form of ascetic Saivism to the South of India".<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 276</ref>

===The three large exterior groups===
The Ardhanarishvara group on the outside rear (east) wall has unusual features. Ardhanarishvara, though in a composite male/female form and much the largest figure, has a relatively large female figure on the viewer's left, perhaps a consort. A small elephant-headed [[Ganesha]], child of Shiva and Parvati, is being patted on the head by the figure representing his parents. Both of these features are very unusual; that the figure has four arms is typical. Two other hands hold a lotus flower and a square mirror, and the last is over the head of what may be [[Kartikeya|Skanda]], another son of Shiva and Parvati, as a child.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 269–271</ref> The group includes several other rather smaller figures. A bovine head representing Shiva's [[vahana]] or "vehicle", the bull [[Nandi (mythology)|Nandi]], is seen at the left of his head; the same feature appears on the large south wall relief.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 270; Greaves (also for photos)</ref>

The large group on the exterior north wall probably shows [[Balarama]] defeating the evil [[asura]] Pralambasura, with his right arm raised to strike the fatal blow to the figure below him, whose head he holds, while his knee presses into his back. To the left of the panel two male worshippers are squatting. Around Balarama's head are four [[ayudhapurusha]] figures, [[personification|personified]] divine weapons normally associated with [[Vishnu]], a very unusual feature.<ref name="ReferenceA">Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 272; Greaves (also for photos)</ref>

The large group on the exterior south wall is "difficult to interpret". It probably shows Shiva in [[lalitasana|the "royal ease" position]], flanked by a male and female figure, and with a dwarf kneeling below him. The male figure appears to touch Shiva's raised foot in a gesture of respect. Next to Shiva's head is another bovine head, and there are a number of other figures, including small flying attendants.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 272–274, 272 quoted; Greaves (also for photos)</ref> Greaves interprets this scene as "Śiva trampling on the demon of ignorance".<ref name="Greaves"/>

===Reliefs on the interior walls===
Almost the whole of the inside west (rear) wall is occupied with a large relief, crowded with figures in three registers, but with "no apparent visual narrative [that] connects all these images". A large standing two-armed Ardhanarishvara is placed centrally at a low level, with Shiva and Parvati seated above, probably shown in their mountain home on [[Mount Kailasa]], with Nandi. Other figures appear to represent devotees, ascetics, [[yogi]]s and penitents, perhaps including the temple donors. The side walls show similar scenes.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 273–276; Greaves (also for photos)</ref>

===Other reliefs===
The very many smaller reliefs on the exterior walls include, on the first upper level of the west wall, a group of [[Lakulisha]], seated and holding his large mace, with his four disciples, as well as a sixth head at the far right edge, "probably as a kind of 'witness'". There is a comparable group in Cave Temple No. 2 at the [[Badami Caves]] in [[Karnataka]], Early Chalukya dynasty, from around 550–570, though there Lakulisha is four-armed and [[ithyphallic]] (the latter usual for him at this period); at Devunigutta he is neither.<ref>Wessels-Mevissen and Hardy, 272; Greaves (also for photos); [[:File:Lakulisha Badami.jpg|photo of the Badami group]].</ref>

Other scenes and figures include loving couples ([[mithuna]]s) and detailed small-scale battle scenes on the horizontal string course blocks separating the upper levels, with infantry, chariots and war-elephants.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="170px">
File:DEVUDIGUTTA 10.jpg|The worn relief on the inside back (west) wall
File:DEVUDI GUTTA.jpg|Outside south wall group, probably [[Shiva]] and companions
File:CORINNA WESSELS.jpg|Corinna Wessels-Mevissen examining the temple
File:DEVUDIGUTTA 3.jpg|The probable post from a carved railing of a Buddhist [[stupa]], in the courtyard
File:Devunigutta Temple 16.jpg|Small heads on a higher level
File:DEVUDIGUTTA 6.jpg|From the front, 2020
</gallery>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
All these have many good photos.
*Greaves, Laxshmi Rose, [https://theartofsouthasia.com/2019/01/14/devni-gutta-a-recently-found-6th-century-temple-in-telangana/ "Devunigutta: A Recently Discovered 6th Century Temple in Telangana"], ''Art of South Asia'', 2019
*"Telangana Tourism": [https://heritage.telangana.gov.in/field-updates/reconstruction-of-devuni-gutta-temple-kothur-village/ "Reconstruction of Devuni Gutta Temple, Kothur village"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221112081742/https://heritage.telangana.gov.in/field-updates/reconstruction-of-devuni-gutta-temple-kothur-village/ |date=12 November 2022 }}, Feature on Telangana Tourism website
*Wessels-Mevissen, Corinna, and [[Adam Hardy (architectural historian)|Hardy, Adam]], "Note on a Recently Reported Early Śiva Temple near Kothur (Telangana State)", ''Berlin Indological Studies'', 24 (2019): 265–278

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Devunigutta Temple}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OnxY48Oln0 Useful amateur YouTube video with several minutes on the temple]

{{Hindu Temples in Telangana}}
[[Category:Hindu temples in Telangana]]
[[Category:6th-century Hindu temples]]
[[Category:Shiva temples in Telangana]]

Devunigutta Temple - Revision history

BharatpediaContributor at 21:57, 22 August 2025