Home›Sacred Sites of the Deccan›Historic Temples of the Deccan
Long before the Bahmani sultans crossed the Vindhyas, the Deccan plateau was already one of the great temple-building landscapes of the subcontinent. The Chalukyas at Badami and Alampur, the Rashtrakutas who carved Kailasa from a single basalt cliff at Ellora, the Hoysalas of Belur and Halebidu, the Kakatiyas at Warangal and Palampet and the Vijayanagara emperors at Hampi and Lepakshi all left dense networks of stone temples — many of them still living shrines today.
That tradition did not end with the arrival of the sultanates. Hindu pilgrimage temples continued to be patronised, rebuilt and enlarged under the Asaf Jahi state, and the great pilgrimage sites of Telangana — Vemulawada, Bhadrachalam, Yadagirigutta, Srisailam — remained at the heart of Deccan religious life. The temples below trace that long arc, from the rock-cut shrines of the 6th century to the white marble of Naubat Pahad.
Ellora Caves
The thirty-four rock-cut shrines of Ellora include the great Hindu cave-temples of the Rashtrakutas alongside Buddhist and Jain cave shrines. The Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) is the largest monolithic structure in the world — carved top-down out of a single basalt cliff.
Explore → II · Jyotirlinga · VerulGrishneshwar Jyotirlinga
One of the twelve Jyotirlingas of Shaiva pilgrimage and the closing shrine of the Jyotirlinga circuit. The temple's current form is 18th-century, reconstructed by Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore over a much older foundation at the edge of Ellora.
Explore → III · Early Medieval · Central DeccanBhongir & Kondapalli Rock Shrines
A scatter of early medieval rock-cut Hindu shrines tucked into the granite outcrops of the central Deccan, around the great hill-forts of Bhongir and Kondapalli. Modest in scale beside Ellora, they record the local Shaiva tradition in the centuries before the Kakatiyas.
Explore → IV · Badami Chalukya · MahbubnagarAlampur Navabrahma Temples
Nine sandstone temples on the banks of the Tungabhadra, raised by the Badami Chalukyas as the eastern gateway to Srisailam. Among the finest pre-Kakatiya temple ensembles in Telangana, with the Sangameswara temple later moved upslope to escape the Srisailam reservoir.
Explore → V · Chalukyan · NandyalMahanandi Temple
A Chalukyan Shaiva shrine in the Nallamala foothills, famed for its five perennial water tanks fed by underground springs that run clear over the temple floor. One of the nine Nandis (Nava Nandi) of the region.
Explore → VI · Kakatiya · HanamkondaThousand Pillar Temple
A star-shaped Kakatiya temple commissioned by Rudradeva in 1163, dedicated jointly to Shiva, Vishnu and Surya. Its free-standing Nandi mandapa is carved from a single block of black basalt — among the finest pieces of Kakatiya sculpture to survive.
Explore → VII · Kakatiya · PalampetRamappa Temple (Rudreshwara)
Built in 1213 under Ganapati Deva and sculpted by Ramappa — the only temple in India named after its sculptor. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2021, famed for its floating sandstone bricks and the celebrated madanika brackets at the base of its towering shikhara.
Explore → VIII · Kakatiya · WarangalWarangal Fort Toranas
The four monumental free-standing stone gateways — the Kakatiya Kala Thoranam — of the destroyed Swayambhu Shiva temple at the heart of Warangal Fort. Emblem of the State of Telangana, and the most resonant ruin of Kakatiya power.
Explore → IX · Chalukya → modern · KarimnagarVemulawada Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy
A Western Chalukya foundation continuously enlarged across the centuries, today styled "Dakshina Kashi" — the Kashi of the south. Among the most-visited pilgrimage temples of Telangana, with its Shaiva festivals drawing devotees from across the Deccan.
Explore → X · Jyotirlinga / Shakti Peetha · NallamalaMallikarjuna Jyotirlinga, Srisailam
One of the twelve Jyotirlingas and one of the eighteen Shakti Peethas — a uniquely dual pilgrimage, where Shiva as Mallikarjuna and the goddess Bhramaramba are worshipped in the same enclosure. The current complex was substantially expanded under the Reddi kings and the Vijayanagara emperors.
Explore → XI · Vijayanagara · AnantapurLepakshi (Veerabhadra Temple)
A Vijayanagara-era temple of the 1530s built by the brothers Virupanna and Viranna, famous for its hanging pillar, its rock-carved Nandi — one of the largest monoliths in India — and the frescoed ceilings of its mandapa, the finest surviving Vijayanagara murals.
Explore → XII · Vijayanagara · HampiHampi Temple Complex
The great Virupaksha, Vitthala and Hazara Rama temples at the capital of Vijayanagara — the southern empire that for two centuries pressed against the Deccan sultanates across the Krishna-Tungabhadra Doab. A UNESCO World Heritage site.
Explore → XIII · Hoysala · KarnatakaChennakeshava & Hoysaleshwara
The twin Hoysala masterworks at the western edge of the Deccan plateau — the Chennakeshava at Belur and the Hoysaleshwara at Halebidu. Densely sculpted soapstone temples whose figure carving remains a benchmark for medieval Indian sculpture.
Explore → XIV · Kakatiya · MahabubabadSri Veerabhadra Temple, Kuravi
A Kakatiya-era Shaiva foundation in central Telangana, today an important regional pilgrimage centre dedicated to Veerabhadra. Its annual jatara draws devotees from across the surrounding districts.
Explore → XV · Shaiva pilgrimage · PalnaduKotappakonda (Trikutachalam)
A three-peaked Shaiva pilgrimage hill in the Palnadu country of Andhra, sacred as Trikutachalam — the three-peaked mountain. Its Maha Shivaratri jatara, with its towering prabhalu, is one of the largest in coastal Andhra.
Explore → XVI · Qutb Shahi era · KhammamBhadrachalam Sri Sita Ramachandra
Built in the 17th century by Kancherla Gopanna, the Bhakta Ramadasu of Telugu devotional song, who served as revenue officer (tahsildar) of the Qutb Shahi state under Tani Shah. The story of his imprisonment at Golconda for diverting tax revenue to build the temple is part of Telugu folklore.
Explore → XVII · Ancient → modern · YadadriYadagirigutta Lakshmi Narasimha
A temple complex around an ancient cave-shrine of Lakshmi Narasimha set into a granite outcrop east of Hyderabad. Recently rebuilt at huge scale in traditional black granite, it is now one of the most-visited pilgrimage temples in Telangana.
Explore → XVIII · Asaf Jahi era · HyderabadChilkur Balaji Temple
A small Vishnu shrine on the outskirts of Hyderabad, said to have been founded centuries ago and expanded by Asaf Jahi-era nobility. Popularly known today as the "Visa Balaji" for the eleven-circumambulation vow taken by devotees seeking foreign travel.
Explore → XIX · Kakatiya → Asaf Jahi · HyderabadKarmanghat Hanuman Temple
A Hanuman shrine on the southern edge of Hyderabad said to date to the 12th-century Kakatiya period. The temple Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, the sixth Nizam, is recorded as having helped restore — a small but telling moment of Asaf Jahi patronage of a Hindu shrine.
Explore → XX · Vijayanagara · Ranga ReddySita Ramachandra Swamy, Ammapally
A Vijayanagara-era Rama temple at Ammapally, south of Hyderabad and a short drive from the modern Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. Its modest stone shikhara and pillared mandapa preserve the temple-building idiom of the southern empire on the Hyderabadi side of the old frontier.
Explore → XXI · Modern · Naubat PahadBirla Mandir, Hyderabad
Built in 1976 by the Birla Foundation in white Rajasthani marble, dedicated to Vishnu Venkateswara. It stands on Naubat Pahad — the hill traditionally associated with the Naubat, the royal drum of the Asaf Jahi state — and is the most-visited modern temple of the city.
Explore → XXII · Modern · Banjara HillsJagannath Temple, Hyderabad
A twentieth-century Jagannath temple in Banjara Hills, built in the East-Indian Kalinga style by the Odia community of Hyderabad. Its annual Rath Yatra is one of the largest in the city.
Explore → XXIII · Old City · CharminarBhagyalakshmi Temple, Charminar
A small shrine at the foot of the Charminar, of recent construction, included here for its location in the old city's pilgrimage geography. Its presence beside the Mecca Masjid has made it a focal point in modern accounts of the Charminar precinct.
Explore → XXIV · Folk pilgrimage · SuryapetSri Pedda Gattu Lingamantula Swamy
A Shaiva folk-pilgrimage shrine on a hill in Suryapet, host to one of the largest five-yearly jataras of eastern Telangana. Its festival draws lakhs of devotees from the surrounding villages of the Krishna basin.
Explore → XXV · Folk pilgrimage · SiddipetKomuravelli Mallanna Temple
A hilltop shrine of Mallanna — a regional Shaiva folk form linked to the Mallikarjuna and Khandoba traditions — in Siddipet district. Its Sankranti-season jatara is a key festival of north-central Telangana.
Explore → XXVI · Living tree-shrine · MahbubnagarPillalamarri Banyan Shrine
A spreading banyan tree near Mahbubnagar, said to be some seven centuries old, with a small Shaiva shrine and dargah set in its shade. A reminder that in the Deccan countryside, the sacred is often a tree as much as a temple.
Explore →Historic temples of the Deccan in dates
- 6th–10th c.The Rashtrakutas carve thirty-four rock-cut shrines at Ellora — the Kailasa Temple (Cave 16) is the largest monolithic structure in the world, hewn top-down out of a single basalt cliff above the Deccan plain.
- 7th–8th c.The Badami Chalukyas raise the nine Navabrahma sandstone temples at Alampur on the Tungabhadra, and the Chalukyan Mahanandi shrine takes shape in the Nallamala foothills — the earliest surviving temple complexes of the Telangana region.
- 12th c.The Hoysalas build Chennakeshava at Belur and Hoysaleshwara at Halebidu — densely sculpted soapstone temples at the western edge of the Deccan whose figure carving remains a benchmark for medieval Indian sculpture.
- 1163Rudradeva of the Kakatiyas commissions the Thousand Pillar Temple at Hanamkonda — a star-shaped triple shrine dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Surya, with a Nandi mandapa carved from a single block of black basalt.
- 1213The Ramappa Temple (Rudreshwara) is built at Palampet under Kakatiya patronage — sculpted by Ramappa and named after him, the only temple in India named for its sculptor; inscribed UNESCO World Heritage in 2021.
- 14th–16th c.The Vijayanagara empire builds Virupaksha, Vitthala and Hazara Rama temples at Hampi (UNESCO); the Veerabhadra temple at Lepakshi (1530s) adds the finest surviving Vijayanagara murals; Srisailam is substantially expanded.
- 17th c.Kancherla Gopanna (Bhakta Ramadasu) builds the Bhadrachalam Sri Sita Ramachandra temple as a Qutb Shahi revenue officer, diverting state funds and earning imprisonment at Golconda — his story becomes a cornerstone of Telugu devotional tradition.
- 18th c.Ahilyabai Holkar rebuilds the Grishneshwar Jyotirlinga at Verul over its ancient foundation; the Asaf Jahi Nizams continue to patronise and restore some Hindu temples within their state, including the Karmanghat Hanuman shrine in Hyderabad.
- 1976The Birla Foundation builds Birla Mandir in white Rajasthani marble on Naubat Pahad — the most-visited modern temple in Hyderabad, on the hill long associated with the royal drums of the Asaf Jahi court.
- OngoingRamappa inscribed UNESCO 2021; Yadagirigutta rebuilt in traditional black granite; Srisailam, Bhadrachalam, and Vemulawada draw millions of pilgrims annually — temple life on the Deccan plateau runs unbroken for twelve centuries.