It is said that temples dedicated to Lord Brahma, one of the gods—along with Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva—that form the Trinity in Hinduism are rare. There are hardly ten such temples in the country. While the ones in Pushkar, Thirupattur, and Barmer are famous, there is a lesser-known Brahma temple in a small village in Andhra Pradesh.
A quiet town, Chebrolu, in Guntur district, located around 50 km from Vijayawada, is referred to by many, both people here and historians, as a land of temples. A general belief runs in the town that there are more than 100 small and big temples.
“Chebrolu can be passed off as any small town, but on a closer look, one understands the history and culture that it has been carrying for centuries now. Neither Vijayawada nor Guntur may have as many temples as Chebrolu does. The ones that we see today are but the tip of the iceberg. Modernisation has pushed many more into oblivion,” former superintending archaeologist D. Kanna Babu says.
Not all of the temples here have a ‘sikharam’ (tower). Most of them are one-roomed temples found in every corner of the town. Eastern Chalukya, Velanati Choda, Kakatiya, Pota Rajulu, and Paristchedi dynasties have all ruled this place. Some temples, hundreds of years old, must have been built by rulers who were fulfilling a promise they made to God after their wishes came true, says Mr. Kanna Babu.
Of all, a cluster of four ancient temples, sitting in an obscure corner of the town, is the highlight. They are: Chaturmukha Brahmeswara, Bhimeswara, Adikesava and Nageswara. All of them were built between the 9th and 12th century A.D.
Chaturmukha Brahmeswara temple has, as the name suggests, a Sivaling and the four faces of Lord Brahma attached to it. The temple, sitting in the middle of a pond, was remodelled by Zamindar Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu during the 18th century A.D. “It is difficult to point to a year of its construction since much of what we see today must have been the renovated one, not the original,” says Mr. Kanna Babu. The place is frequented by people for meditation, he adds.
“Since the temple has a Sivalinga too, we make puja offerings to the deity, as against the norm in Brahma temples where the presiding deity is not worshipped,” says A. Satyanarayana, the only priest for all the four temples here.
The Bhimeswara temple, built by the Eastern Chalukyan King Chalukya Bhima during the 9th century A.D., has two floors and a staircase. The architecture and design of this temple are peculiar features of the Pancharamalu or the five Siva temples located on the banks of the Godavari and Krishna rivers, says Mr. Kanna Babu. They are Amareswara temple at Amaravathi, Bhimeswara temple in Draksharamam and Bhimavaram, Ksheerarameswara temple in Palakollu and Kumara Bhimeswara temple in Samarlakota.
“All of them were built by Chalukya Bhima around the same time. Some of these, including the Chebrolu one, have a huge Sivalinga measuring around 16 feet. Usually, in temples, the height does not exceed 5 feet. Two-storeyed temples are the telltale feature of Easter Chalukyas’ architecture,” the former archaeologist says. Eastern Chalukyas, related to the Cholas of Tamil Nadu through a matrimonial relationship, ruled the Vengi region of Andhra Pradesh from the 7th to the 12th centuries.
The third temple is dedicated to Nageswara Swamy, again a Siva temple, belonging to the 11th century A.D.. It is this temple that sees most of the activity.
The fourth temple is Adikesava temple, built in the Cholan style of architecture. The temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu, has pillars outside that have standing lions. “Lions are a giveaway feature of Cholan style,” he says.
Some historians believe that there used to be a Mahasena temple earlier, and that the Adikesava temple has been built in its place. Epigraphist Bellamkonda Ramesh Chandra Rao, who visited the temples and studied the scripts, says the temples indicate a influence of Sivaite culture.
Inscriptions in Brahmi script that were found here mention the presence of a Mahasena temple, which we cannot see today. “Like many other temples at Chebrolu, it either has been pushed underground over the years, or it was destroyed to build another temple in its place. If excavations are done, many temples belonging to as early as 2nd century A.D. will come out,” Mr. Kanna Babu says.
“Just as people worship Lord Ganesha before embarking on any new venture, earlier people and rulers used to worship Kumara Swamy, or Mahasena, before stepping into the battlefield,” Mr. Ramesh Chandra Rao says, adding that there is also a Kala Bhairava idol in front of the Brahmeswara temple. It can be said that it is a rare find in South India, he says.
Of the many inscriptions found here, one of them has the word ‘Saktimatruka’, which refers to Goddess Shakti, which again points to the presence of a strong Siva cult here, he says. The inscriptions have Sanskrit language but are written in Brahmi script.
“The fact that we find many references to Siva here indicates that it was the Sivaite culture that dominated Buddhism when the latter was on a decline. Buddhism became prominent here when more women started taking to the concept.
“During the Satavahana times, when Buddhism flourished, many women started taking to Buddhism as it liberated them, while the men stuck to Vedic culture that looked down upon women and did not see them equal to men. At Chebrolu, we found pottery, panel and other Buddhist artefacts belonging to the 2nd century A.D. There could have been a stupa here, but where exactly it stood can be found out only after taking up excavations.” Mr. Ramesh Chandra Rao says.
The town, with all its inscriptions and the temples, gives us a continuity of history and heritage. “Chebrolu is a treasure trove for historians like us because there is a hidden history in every inch of the town. It is a place that has been a witness to different kingdoms and the cultural changes that came along with them,” says Mr. Ramesh Chandra Rao, adding that first, there was Hinduism, then came Buddhism, and it was decimated by Hinduism once again during which period many stupas were destroyed and later came Islam, during which time temples were neglected.
The continuity in history was broken after the Kakatiya rule ended in the 14th century A.D. Until Zamindar Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu came, the temples were lying in a state of neglect.
Inscriptions found here mention the name ‘Tambrapuri’, ‘Tambraparni’, ‘Tambrapa’, translating to ‘City of Copper’.
“Chebrolu could have been a thriving township in earlier days. A coin from Satavahana period was also found here. This tells us that there was life here, a market, a purchasing cost and a lot of financial activity during the period,” says Mr. Kanna Babu, adding that the copper products being made here were exported to other areas in the Krishna and Godavari rivers valley.
Even now, whenever some construction or demolition of a house is going on, people from nearby places throng the town in the hope of finding some valuable item, Mr. Ramesh Chandra Rao says.
However, no study has yet been made on the historical significance of the town. Excavations will lead to more details and discoveries, believe historians. The one during which a few artefacts were found was not a full-fledged excavation. It was only during some other work that they were found, Mr. Kanna Babu says.
There have been criticisms that the Archaeology Department did not take any excavations even after unearthing artefacts belonging to Buddhism in 2018 during construction work here. “If it were a mound or a plain area, discovering these artefacts would have led to another round of excavations. But when there are already ancient temples here, we are bound to find some or other object related to them. There is nothing new in that,” P. Suresh, Deputy Director (Excavations), State Archaeology Department, says.
“All the four ancient temples here are protected monuments. While the conservation of the temples is being taken care of by the Archaeology Department, their maintenance is the State Endowments Department’s responsibility,” he says.
Moreover, excavating anywhere near the temple site will weaken the base of the ancient temples, he says, adding that the one Buddhist artefact that was discovered here does not hold so much importance as to spur action. He says the last time the department took up conservation was in 2012, with the funds from the 13th Finance Commission. Later, they asked for funds from the government and waiting for the same, he says.
The temples, which see a gathering of thousands of devotees from the town during big festivals such as Sivaratri, Dussehra and Deepavali, do not have even one toilet complex on the premises. “Constructing a bathroom or a toilet is not a problem, but maintaining it is. There is no drainage system here, and we have taken the issue up with panchayati members,” says Temple Executive Officer Ram Pothula. He adds that they do not get any funds from the State government.
“Whatever expenses we have, including salaries to the watchman or the sweeper, are paid from the revenue that comes from the temple land,” he says.
