{"id":2887,"date":"2016-03-10T11:10:12","date_gmt":"2016-03-10T05:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goheritagerun.com\/?p=2887"},"modified":"2018-07-09T00:51:46","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T19:21:46","slug":"the-buddhist-influence-on-warangals-heritage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goheritagerun.com\/the-buddhist-influence-on-warangals-heritage\/","title":{"rendered":"The Buddhist Influence on Warangal\u2019s Heritage"},"content":{"rendered":"
Religious ideology manifests in architecture and heritage, and Warangal is exemplary of this. Cultural exchange and religious ideology manifest in material cultural output.<\/p>\n
Warangal, situated in Telangana, is inseparably linked to the Vishnukundins, and also to the spread of Buddhism in India. In the earlier parts of the Common Era<\/a>, Warangal was known as Orukal, or Orugallu<\/a>, and served ashe capital for the kingdom of the Kakatiya dynasty. There are records and mentions of the Kakatiya dynasty in foreign accounts of India, namely in those of Hiuen Tsang<\/a>, who calls it the kingdom of the Dankakitya.<\/p>\n It is observed that Warangal\u00a0was a seat of Buddhist culture, since these Chinese pilgrims traversed through sites of religious significance. The main purpose was to \u2018repair Chinese Buddhism\u2019, and India was considered as a land of spiritual evolution during the 7th<\/sup> century CE.<\/p>\n From the beginning of the Common Era, there was a large degree of cultural exchange between India and China leading to the dissemination of Buddhism. India was a hotspot for Buddhism during Hiuen Tsang\u2019s time in and around c. 600.<\/p>\n Warangal has been deeply influenced by the traditions of Buddhism that were practiced in India. The architecture and material heritage within Warangal and around its borders seem to reflect an intrinsically Buddhist style of construction. Gateways and temple complexes built by the Kakatiya sculptors and architects show a deviation from the usual opulent and extravagant Indian form to a more sedate and naturalistic Buddhist aesthetic.<\/p>\n