File:13th century Nandi mandapa, Ramappa temples complex, Palampet Telangana India - 29.jpg

English: The Ramappa temples complex is located about 65 kilometers northeast of Warangal (NH 163) and about 2 kilometers south of Palampet village near the 12th-century man made Ramappa lake for irrigation and drinking water. What is now a small village of Palampet in early 21st century, was Atukuru in 11th to 13th century, one of two major cities of the Reddys of Recerla – a Shudra caste family that had risen to be one of the most powerful governors (feudatories) within the Kakatiya empire. Devout Hindus, they built major and some of the most spectacular Shaiva, Vaishnava and Shakti temples in medieval Telingana. One group of many temples are found within 10 kilometers of Palampet, close to the Ramappa lake (another group is found in Pillalamarri). Their legacy is also recited in major Sanskrit inscriptions they left.

The Ramappa temple complex consists of two temples next to each other, another trikuta temple, a Sanskrit inscription pillar, a Nandi monument (above), and several mandapas.

• The Nandi mandapa stands in front of the large and main temple (Rudresvara, Ramappa), with the Nandi bull vahana of Shiva aligned with the Shiva linga sanctum.
• Made of very dense granite, it shows minor damage such as to its lower neck and survived in its entirety. It is polished and the Nandi is elaborately decorated in central Indian and south Indian Shaiva traditions.
• The Nandi sits on a raised pavilion with its own jagati, gajapatti (dvarapala) and adhisthana similar to those found in the main temple.
• The mandapa kaksasana has three layers of which two are carved with dancers in Indian classical postures accompanied by musicians playing classical instruments.
• The mandapa has broken pillars, which once supported a roof. Temple ruin parts recovered here suggest that the Nandi mandapa also had salabhanjikas (nayika figures) like the main temple.
• Dhaky and Meister call the Nandi with its artwork in this mandapa as "when complete in the 13th-century, it would have been one of the few most impressive such structures in all southern India" (p. 533).

For additional information about this temple along in the Ramappa temples complex context, and those who helped build it, please see:

1. M.A. Dhaky and Michael Meister (1996), Encyclopedia of Indian Temple Architecture, Volume 1, Part 3: Text, American Institute of Indian Studies, pp. 515–536 (particularly pp. 528–536).

2. Ghulam Yazdani (1929), Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Exalted Highness the Nizam's Dominions for 1336 F (1926-1927 AD), Archaeological Department of Hyderabad, pp. 1–3.