Golingesvara and the temples of Biccavolu

A small square stone shrine with a dark, weathered wall of large blocks and a plain doorway, topped by a stepped pyramidal tower of carved storeys; palm fronds at the left and a tree at the right. · M. Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples of Andhra Desa (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series No. 19, ed. Mohd. Abdul Waheed Khan, Director of Archaeology); photographer not credited (opens in a new tab) · Public domain in India

Biccavolu has six early stone temples of Shiva.¹²³ Three stand in a walled compound in the middle of the village and face east.¹²³ They are the Rajarajesvara temple to the south, the Golingesvara temple in the centre and the Chandrasekhara temple to the north.¹²³ The other three stand outside the village, one on the road to Vilapalli and two in the fields near the high school.¹²³

M. Rama Rao described them in detail.⁴ He surveyed the Eastern Chalukya temples of the Godavari and Guntur districts in 1956–58 and published his account in 1964.⁴

The case for Gunaga Vijayaditya III

Rama Rao’s dating rests on two pieces of evidence.¹ First, he cited two inscriptions of the reign of a king Sarvalokasraya Vishnuvardhana, copied in 1929–30 (Nos. 12 and 13 of that year’s collection).¹ One of them, in the present Golingesvara temple, calls the shrine that of “Bijayisvara mahadeva” and mentions a Padmasiva-pandita.¹ Rama Rao took Bijaya to be a name of the Eastern Chalukya king Gunaga Vijayaditya III.¹ He concluded that the linga (stone emblem of Shiva) had been named after him.¹

Second, the door-jambs of one of the temples outside the village carry figures of the river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna.¹ A Telugu journal had published a grant from Satuluru.¹ It says that Vijayaditya kept Ganga and Yamuna near the gate of his palace.¹ From these two points Rama Rao held that these two temples belonged to that king’s time.¹ He placed the other four, which are similar in architecture, in the same period.¹

In his introduction he states the conclusion more broadly.⁵⁶ There he says that Gunaga Vijayaditya built one temple of the central group.⁵⁶ On grounds of style, he says, all six “ought to be assigned” to his reign.⁵⁶

Where the sources disagree

Other sources point in different directions. Rama Rao derived the village’s name from the title Birudanka-Bhima, which he gave to Gunaga Vijayaditya.¹ F. Kielhorn’s list of 1903 and the epigraphical report for 1930–31 give that title to the later king Vimaladitya, crowned in 1011.⁷⁸⁹ See Biccavolu.

Sewell recorded only one dated inscription at Biccavolu, in 1882.¹⁰ It is a grant of 1123 “in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Vijaya Raja”, on a slab at the door of the Govindesvarasvami shrine.¹⁰ The Godavari gazetteer of 1907 knew only that the village “is said to contain extensive ruins and some deserted temples”.¹¹

The Golingesvara temple

The Golingesvara is the largest of the central group and, in Rama Rao’s words, the richest in sculpture.¹²² It has these parts:¹²²

a sanctum¹²²
a narrow vestibule¹²²
a pillared front hall (mukhamantapa) with perforated stone screens in its side walls¹²²
a hall added in modern times¹²²

Each side wall of the sanctum has five projections with niches, separated by empty recesses.¹²² A frieze of dwarfs (bhutamala) runs above the pilaster capitals, with a wide cornice above it.¹²² The tower is a square Nagara sikhara (tower top) crowned by a double lotus and a finial.¹²²

The niches hold many of the best sculptures of the group:¹²²

on the south wall, Shiva, a seated deity, Indra with his elephant Airavata, Agni with his ram, and a four-armed Vishnu¹²¹³
on the west wall, Ekapada-murti, a goddess beneath serpent hoods, Kumara feeding his peacock, a serpent goddess (nagini) and a three-headed Brahma¹²¹³
on the north wall, Bhikshatana-murti, a buffalo-faced deity, a six-armed Mahishasuramardini, a six-armed Chamunda above a corpse eaten by a dog and a jackal, and another goddess¹²¹³¹⁴
on the front wall, Ardhanarishvara and the sun-god Surya standing in his chariot, which his charioteer Matali drives¹²¹⁵¹⁴

The other temples

The Rajarajesvara temple is a simple sanctum with a two-storeyed tower and an open porch.¹¹²¹⁵ Its niches hold Ganapati, Kumara fondling a cock, and Kubera riding on a man.¹¹²¹⁵ The small Chandrasekhara temple has niches framed by makara arches (arches with sea-monster ends).² Its tower is decorated with couples (mithunas) and a row of geese.²

Of the three temples outside the village, the one on the Vilapalli road was in ruins, its sikhara fallen.²³¹⁴ Its niches hold a Nataraja, a Surya and a Mahishasuramardini.²³¹⁴ The temple west of the high school lies half buried in a mound.³¹⁵¹⁴ It has the Ganga and Yamuna figures at the base of its door-jambs, with Brahma, Surya and Vishnu in its wall niches.³¹⁵¹⁴

Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 3 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 5 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
M. Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples of Andhra Desa (1964), preface (unnumbered) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
F. Kielhorn, “A List of the Inscriptions of Southern India”, appendix to Epigraphia Indica VII (1902–03), p. 96, No. 568 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Kielhorn, “List of the Inscriptions of Southern India” (1903), p. 97 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Annual Report on South-Indian Epigraphy for the Year ending 31st March 1931 (1932), p. 42 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1882), p. 25, s.v. Bikkavōlu (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²
F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari (1907), p. 249 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 8 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 9 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶
Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 7 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

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