Visit to Wonderful City of Warangal in India

The state of Andhra Pradesh in India has been a major tourist's attraction as it has many beautiful temples and forts. Warangal is one of such cities of Andhra Pradesh that has many sightseeing places, both religious and historical in nature. I had an opportunity to visit this city of Warangal recently during March 2010 during my trip to India. I was so impressed with my visit to Warangal that I decided to share my said experience with all my AC friends and readers.

Warangal is the fifth largest city of Andhra Pradesh State in India. It was a capital of Kakatia Kings for around 150 years and was known as one stone city. The Kings of Warangal made so many temples and forts that Warangal attracts thousands of tourists from India as well as from abroad. Warangal is connected by train and buses from all the major cities of South India. I traveled to Warangal by train from the city of Hyderabad. There are many tourist attractions here at Warangal. Warangal fort is the most vital of them. This fort is very artistic with domes in all the four directions. There is a famous temple of Pruthvi Mata here at the fort. This unique temple is known as Swayam Bhudevi Alayam amongst the local people. This temple has a beautiful icon of Pruthvi Mata holding the complete earth in both her hands. This temple conveys the message that the earth, where we stay, is our mother and is equal to god. The next spot is thousands pillars temple. This temple is the best architectural evidence of Kakatia kings. This Shiva temple is situated on the small Mountain of Hanuman Konda. The tourists need to climb around 500 stone steps to climb up to the top of this temple. There are statues of Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Lord Sun in this unique temple. The one Stone Mountain is the next vital place to be visited while you are in the Warangal fort. This large single stone is located near the Swayam Bhoo Devi temple in the fort. This is the largest single stone available in the entire South India. This single stone looks like a small Mountain itself. The name of one stone city was given to the city of Warangal based on this large single stone. The khush Mahal is the next spot to be visited in the fort. This palace shows the ancient historical items like the old weapons, old dresses and the ancient gold ornaments used by the Kakatia Kings. There are many other beautiful temples that are worth visiting in the city. The Bhadrakali Mata temple is one of them. This temple has full size icon of Bhadrakali Mata, made in black marble. Bhadrakali Mata is holding the sword in her hands as a symbol to destroy the evils of the world. The Hanuman Konda temple is also quiet ancient, around 3000 years old. The statue of Hanuman of this temple is really excellent. The Lord Shiva temple of Siddheswar Mahadev is also worth paying visit. This ancient temple is located just near to Hanuman Konda temple.

The city of Warangal is having many hotels available for the tourists in almost all the price ranges, starting from around Rs.200 ($4) per day up to around Rs.10000 ($220) per day for a double room excluding all food items. The South India food delicacies are available in large varieties and one must try these lovely and unique food items. Though these food items are made little spicy but are really very tasty. It will be better to visit the city of Warangal during the winter months from November to March. The local market also is worth visiting. The tourists normally buy the locally made items like wooden handy crafts, silk saris, and stone handi craft items. However, the price negotiations are certainly required up to around 40% while buying such items. The stay of around two to three days is sufficient here to cover most of the site seeing places of Warangal.

If you are interested in the ancient culture of India, you will certainly like to visit this historical city of Warangal during your next visit to India. If any of my readers have any questions or doubts, they all are free to contact me.