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Bhimavaram (West Godavari)

Town in the western Godavari delta, headquarters of the Bhimavaram taluk. The taluk takes in the old village of Gunupudi with its Somesvara temple. M. Rama Rao (1964) counted the temple as Somarama, one of the five Pancharama shrines, and attributed it to the Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya-Bhima I. Not to be confused with Chalukya-Bhimavaram near Samalkot.

The south wall of a stone temple with a projecting doorway, pilasters and a cornice crowded with small roof mouldings and figures.
The south wall of a stone temple with a projecting doorway, pilasters and a cornice crowded with small roof mouldings and figures. · 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

Bhimavaram lies in the delta of the Godavari, west of the river. The Imperial Gazetteer of 1908 described the Bhimavaram taluk as an inland delta taluk of 325 square miles and 134 villages, with Bhimavaram as its headquarters.12 It listed the taluk under Krishna (then Kistna) district,12 but Sewell, in 1882, had listed it under Godavari.3

According to the gazetteer, rice was almost the taluk’s only crop, and coarse woollen blankets were woven at Undi, in its centre.12 It is now in West Godavari district.4 This town is distinct from the Bhimavaram near Samalkot, which its inscriptions call Chalukya-Bhimavaram; see Samalkot.5

Gunupudi and Somarama

Robert Sewell’s list of 1882 entered Gunupudi, half a mile east of Bhimavaram.3 It recorded there “a very old temple of Somesvarasvami” of considerable size.3 Sewell wrote that the place was said to be the “Pancha Rama Kshetra” of the Bhima-khanda of the Skanda Purana.3

M. Rama Rao, writing in 1964, called the temple Somarama, one of the five Pancharama shrines.4 He placed it in Somaram, a part of Bhimavaram behind the railway station.4 In his summary of the legend he names the village as Gunupidi, on the bank of the Godavari.45 He attributed the shrine, with the other four, to the Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya-Bhima I.6 See Somesvara temple, Somarama.

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 318, s.v. Bhimavaram Taluk (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 319 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (1882), p. 39, Bhimavaram taluk, s.v. Gunupudi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples (1964), p. 16 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. M. Rama Rao, Eastern Calukyan Temples of Andhra Desa (1964), preface (unnumbered) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

Monuments

Somesvara temple, Somarama (Bhimavaram)

Two-storeyed Shiva temple at Gunupudi, now Somaram in the town of Bhimavaram in the western Godavari delta. M. Rama Rao (1964) counted it among the five Pancharama shrines and gave it to the Eastern Chalukya king Chalukya-Bhima I. Robert Sewell recorded it in 1882 as a very old temple of Somesvara, said to be one of the five aramas. The Godavari gazetteer of 1907 left it out of its list of the five.

References

Sources (3)
  1. Robert Sewell, Lists of the Antiquarian Remains in the Presidency of Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1882, pp. 39. [Public domain]
  2. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 318–319. [Public domain]
  3. M. Rama Rao (ed. Mohd. Abdul Waheed Khan), Eastern Chalukyan Temples of Andhra Desa (Andhra Pradesh Government Archaeological Series No. 19) (opens in a new tab), Government of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, 1964, preface, 16, 41. Public domain in India; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]

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