KalvaKuntla Chandrasekhar- Visionary Temple Builder Chief Minister

History is made by Visionaries. Raja Raja Chola built Brihadeeswara Swamy Temple and cemented his place in history as a great state patron of culture. It takes a relaxed period of peace to focus on culture propagation. The best works of art across the globe have evolved in such peaceful times. Telangana witnessed that peace after decades of fighting for their own state. That peace reflects in the great temple of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple built at YadagiriGutta under the state patronage of Telangana Government headed by Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar of Telangana Rashtra Samithi. 

Hindu Cultural Renaissance is underway. It has been 600 years since the last big temple in India was built. So it is good to see state governments themselves taking up temple construction in a big way. The UP Govt has allocated 300 crores for Ram Mandir Construction in Ayodhya. ISKCON is building the 700 ft tall Vrindavan Chandrodaya Mandir at an estimated cost of 500 cr+. The Vrindavan temple is being built on 62 acres of land.  PM Modi& Yogi Adityanath personally got involved in rejuvenating the 900 crore Kashi Vishwanath Dham. The government spent 450 crores in purchasing the house & expanding the Kashi Dham to 5 Lakh Sq.Ft from earlier 3000 sq.ft. It spent 339 crores on building the Kashi Dham Temple Complex Corridor. 

Viraat Ramayan Temple being built in Kesaria, Bihar is expected to be the largest religious monument, bigger than Angkor Wat temple complex and has a budget of 500 crores. Temple Tourism is the biggest driver of domestic tourism. Pilgrimages are the lifeline of not just temple towns, but also the spillover spreads to other industries serving the entire route. State derives more revenue from increased traffic.

The Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Yadadri is not just a temple being constructed but an entire temple town is being constructed around the temple at a cost of 1800 crores. The temple is 1000 years old and the entire township is being planned on the model of Tirumala temple. State partition did not leave Telangana with any major temple like Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Hence KCR is developing this temple on a grand scale. Among the new temples being built, the Yadadri temple is the costliest temple in India. 

The uniqueness of the temple is that it is the only temple after Brihadeeswara Temple to be built with black granite stone (Krishna Sila) without any cement. The stone has been procured from Prakasam and Guntur District. 500 Sculptors have been working under the direction of S.Sundara Rajan, the Engineer in Chief of the project. Stapathi Sundara Rajan has experience of building around 4000+ temples across the country. The temple is set in 14.5 acres but the temple complex entirely is being designed in 1400 acres. The temple has infused the Dravidian and Kakatiyan style into the architecture. The Main Vimana Gopuram above the Garbagriha weighs 1500 tonnes. Brihadeeswara Swamy temple Vimana Gopuram has single stone weighing 80 tonnes. 

Engineer in Chief Stapathi Sundara Rajan                        Chief Architect- Anand Sai

The seven storeyed Rajagopuram is made up of stones weighing 13000 tonnes.Work has been completed in over 250 Acres and work has to be taken up in the remaining 1750 acres. Initial footfall has been calculated at 10000 visitors/day with weekends estimation of four times that number. 

Yadagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple Mukhamandapam. Photo Courtesy: Anand Sai, Chief Architect

The murals were chiselled by sculptors based on Indian mythology. The Mukhamandapam has 12 Alwar Pillars. The Prakharas have been adorned with these murals.  The temple design was finalised after chief Architect Anand Sai visited several temples in South India. The seven gopurams in Yadagiri Narasimha Swamy temple were inspired by Srirangam temple. 

Telangana government set up the Yadagirigutta Temple Development Authority (YTDA) headed by CM K Chandrasekhar Rao in 2015. YTDA has also built a 2.7 km road around the hillock for pilgrims who want to circumambulate the temple. The temple town complex being built at the foot of the hill will have food courts, shopping complexes, rooms, bus depot and even lake. VVIP quarters are being built on a hillock adjoining the main temple hillock. YTDA expects footfalls to go up to 20000 visitors per day once all facilities are provided. The temple is also targeting a revenue of 200 crores per year. 

Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao along with his wife Shobha Rao participated in the  'Mahakumbha Samprokshanam'. KCR has immortalised his place in history through this temple construction. Even during the Telangana movement, KCR family has always focused on Telangana Culture. It is entirely the efforts of his daughter, Kavitha that Batukamma has become a household festival now spreading itself to other states too. 

CM Chandrasekhar Rao at Maha Kumbha Samprokshanam at Yadadri Temple

Kakateeyas built the Ramappa Temple & the 1000 Pillar Temple in Warangal. Raja Raja Chola built the Brihadeeswara Swamy temple. Srirangam temple was developed by Cholas,Pandyas & Vijayanagar kings. Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar will add his name in history books for having rebuilt the magnificent Yadagiri temple with State Funds especially in a country where secularism is harped on. Many of the other big temples are being built through donations but this is the only large temple being built with government money. It takes real faith and guts for a State Chief Minister to be spending so much on a Hindu Temple. He has raised the bar very high for other chief ministers. He has also sent a very strong message to all states that the majority’s aspirations need to be given highest priority. Many of the current temple developments are happening in BJP ruled states. Hope all these temple developments inspire other state chief ministers to enter history books by becoming Temple Builders. KCR has no doubt chalked his name into History. 

Author: Uma Desu, CEO, IntelliIndia holds a Masters degree in History. www.intelliindia.biz