Ramaswamy temple is situated within the walls of Penukonda
fort, between Gagan Mahal and Kashi Vishwanatha temple. The temple has a simple
gateway with no Gopura on it. Inside the gateway are two sculptures of Hanuman
and Garuda which have painted colourfully. There is a typical Vijayanagara
style Stambha in front of the temple which looks more like a house. The Mukha
Mantapa has been walled, grilled and covered. The temple's side wall is covered
with sculptures depicting scenes from Hindu legends. Some of the carvings
illustrating the episodes from the legend of Krishna are listed below.
Penukonda also called as Ghanagiri or Ghanadri was the
second capital of Vijayanagara Empire. At the fort's eastern entrance there are
several inscriptions of the walls and the language could be Kannada or Telugu.
As per the inscriptions at the place king-Bukka I of Vijayanagar entrusted the
province of Penukonda to his son Vira Virupanna Udaiyar in whose time the
Penukonda Fort was built. In view of a huge incline, the huge and compelling
fortress offers a breathtaking point of view of the town underneath. The fort
built out of stone, mortar and lime is not in the best of state, but instead
gives its visitors a gander of the grand past.
A good portion of Penukonda town is within the fort. Within
Penukonda fort, which covers a large area on plains and hills, are several
monuments of Vijayanagara period. It is traditionally believed that there were
365 temples at the place. Of these temples Lord Yoga 'Narasimhaswamy', Lord
'Kashi Vishwanatha' and Lord 'Yogarama' temples are important ones. Most of
these seem to have destroyed. The numerous ruins and fragments of carved
stones, which lie scattered both on the hill and on the plane recall the past
glory of the place.
Baby
Krishna is tied to the grinding stone. As he crawls, it struck between the two
trees knocking them down, thus releasing Manigriva and Nalakubera from their
cursed state of wooden imprisonment.
Young Krishna dancing on the ten
headed serpent Kaliya's head, while the serpent's wives pray to Krishna for
sparing their husband.
Krishna thought of
teaching a lesson to the Gopis who always complained against him. One day he
saw where all the Gopis had kept their clothes on the river bank before going
into the river. He bundled up all their clothes, climbed up a tree and sat
there quietly. When the women came out and saw to their horror that their
clothes were missing, they pleaded with him to return in clothes and promised
not to complain to his mother.
Krishna playing the
flute
Aristasura, a wild
rishaba, who terrorised by goring at everyone with his sharp horns, was tackled
and purged of his Asura spirit by Krishna
Kuvalayapida is being killed by
Krishna. Kamsa had instructed the mahout of Kuvalayapida, the elephant, which
was known for its very violent temperament to stamp Krishna and Balarama. He
had selected a narrow street for Krishna and Balarama to pass through.
Krishna
and Balarama wrestling Chanura and Mushtika. The two great wrestlers were
instructed by Kamsa to lure Krishna and Balarama into the ring and kill them
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