Ahobilam is a pilgrimage site in Andhra, that hosts the shrines of 9 swayambhu Lord Narasimhas in different forms. Other than the 9 shrines, there is a Sri Prahalada Varadha Swamy Temple, in the plains, which is a full fledged temple with broad prakarams. The sculptures in this temple were quite a treat to the eyes.
Some remarkable aspects of the temple were the huge network of intricately carved pillars in the main hall and the tiny sculptures all along the length of the raised platform.
There were 6 types of birds carved on one such length, which is a very rare sight. Gives us a glimpse of some yet unknown sculptures or some hitherto unseen creativity. I've managed to stitch together individual pics to give an idea of the sight I saw. I was limited by the length of the canvas. The aspects which i could recognize were (from left to right) a yazhi, a simmam, a patchi, a varaham, (bottom row), a sage and a swan.
The time we went to the temple was in the morning and so sunlight was playing a lot of beautiful tricks on the sculptures. Captured one such lighting.
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| intricacy | |
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| one of the many temple pillars |
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| a broader view |
