Islamic destruction of Indian temples in Morena -Mandapika Shrine

The ancient Hindu temples of Morena do not date back to any one era. One can find temples from the earliest period of Hindu temple architecture in Morena till the 14th century—that is a period spanning around seven centuries.

It shows that Morena had a deep seated tradition of temple building which sustained over centuries, despite many odds. The seventh century mandapika shrines of Paroli and Indra ki Khiravali show that even in the earliest times, Morena was a great centre of temple architecture.

During the medieval ages, much of north India was laid to waste by Islamic invaders. The Hindu temple was the first casualty whenever an Islamic army attacked. Many ancient temples of Morena survived due to their remote location and due to the fact that no Islamic king could rule long enough to sponsor repeated waves of destruction.

Islamic Attacks against the Hindu Temple as an Institution

This did not mean that the attacks did not affect the institution of the Hindu temple at all. Hindus, like most other deity worshippers did not worship a desecrated murti. Therefore, the first focus of all Islamic attackers was to deface the idols by chipping away a nose, a leg, or a hand. More comprehensive destruction happened in cases where the Islamic rulers stayed for longer durations. Also, in those days, there was no dynamite to blow up the entire place up in a single shot. In most of the raids in or around Morena, disfiguring and desecrating were the only things the invaders could do.

As a result, even those temples that did survive in most of India were desecrated and hence were abandoned by Hindu worshippers. This is also the reason that most Hindu pilgrimages that survive in modern times do not have ancient buildings. They are comparatively very recent structures, some not older than a hundred years.

This accounts for the dichotomy in Hindu temples in India. The really beautiful and ancient temples are not in worship anymore. They are abandoned, lying in ruins in jungles and obscure places, off the beaten path. The temples that are famous and working are all virtually new.

Nature of an Islamic Invasion

Morena also witnessed this Islamic wave of destruction, desecration and defacing of its murtis and statues. Hence, most of these temples were abandoned by the Hindus over time.

The second reason for abandoning these temples was that they were the primary focus for any Islamic invader. When Muslim invaders attacked, they not only defaced the temples but also destroyed the villages nearby, massacred the Brahmins in the temples, and slaughtered cows inside the garbha-griha. Living near a great temple was as risky as living near a radioactive area would be now. People fled the temples in order to save themselves.

There was another reason for abandoning these temples. Hindus valued art greatly. Religious architecture in the form of the Hindu temple was an idea which not just the rulers of the country, but the populations cherished too.

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WARANGAL TEMPLE RUINS ... ANDHRA PRADESH

Q. WHAT WAS ISLAMIC INVADERS CONTRIBUTION TO HINDU CULTURES ?
A. EVIDENT HERE .... !!!

WARANGAL TEMPLE RUINS ... ANDHRA PRADESH
Gateway & part of temple ruins @ Warangal
Unknown Photographer .....Date: 1875

Photograph of the gateway and temple ruins at Warangal in Andhra Pradesh, from the Lee-Warner Collection: 'Bombay Presidency. William Lee Warner C.S.', taken by an unkown photographer in the 1870s.

Warangal was the capital of the Kakatiya rulers in the 12th-13th centuries and together with Hanamkonda nearby, they were important political and artistic centres of the eastern Deccan. The circular city of Warangal was founded in the 12th century by the Kakatiya ruler Ganapatideva and was occupied by the Muslims in later times. There are two concentric circles of fortifications. The outer circuit is an earthern rampart entered through four arched gateways. The inner circuit is of stone and has four gateways. In the centre of the city there is a ruined temple dedicated to Shiva Svayambhu and another smaller one also dedicated to Shiva which dates from 14th century.

The Thousand Pillar Temple was built during the period of the Kakatiya dynasty, probably in 1163 CE by order of the then king, Rudra Deva. It stands out to be a masterpiece and achieved major heights in terms of architectural skills by the ancient Kakatiya vishwakarma sthapathis.

It was destroyed by the Tughlaq dynasty during their invasion of the Deccan. It consists one temple and other buildings. There were 1,000 pillars in the structures, but no pillar obstructs a person in any point of the temple to see the god in the other temple.

Modern engineers have removed all the pillars. After they lifted all the pillars they encountered a huge mass of sand. It took nearly two weeks for them to take away all the sand. It was wet sand, because of a pipe connection from the nearby water body named Bhadrakali Cheruvu.

The Thousand Pillar Temple with its ruins lies near the Hanamkonda-Warangal Highway in Telangana State, about 150 kilometres (93 mi) from the city of Hyderabad.

The temple is star-shaped with several shrines and lingams. There are three shrines inside the temple called the Trikutalayam, dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu, and Surya. The temple is surrounded by a big garden in which many small lingam shrines can be seen. There is a carving of a Nandi bull in the form of a highly-polished black basalt monolith.

The Thousand Pillar Temple is constructed on a platform that is raised to a height of 1 metre (3.3 ft) from ground level. Rock-cut elephants and perforated screens in the temple are characteristic of the then prevailing dynasty. Many pilgrims visit. It is also a popular location for shooting films. The Kakatiya festival is held here.

The temple was renovated in 2004 by the Government of India.