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List of Masjids in Andhra Pradesh which was built by destroying Hindu temples

LIST OF HINDU TEMPLES DESTROYED AND CONVERTED TO MOSQUES IN ANDHRA PRADESH BY MUSLIMS

We give below, state-wise and district-wise, the particulars of Muslim monuments which stand on the sites and/or have been built with the materials of Hindu temples, and which we wish to recall as witnesses to the role of Islam as a religion and the character of Muslim rule in medieval India. The list is the result of a preliminary survey. Many more Muslim monuments await examination. Local traditions which have so far been ignored or neglected, have to be tapped on a large scale.
We have tried our best to be exact in respect of locations, names and dates of the monuments mentioned. Even so, some mistakes and confusions may have remained. It is not unoften that different sources provide different dates and names for the same monument. Many Muslim saints are known by several names, which creates confusion in identifying their mazars or dargahs. Some districts have been renamed or newly, created and a place which was earlier under one district may have been included in another. We shall be grateful to readers who point out these mistakes so that they can be corrected in our major study. This is only a brief summary.
Sita Ram Goel
It should be kept in mind that the list below doesn’t include all the temples destroyed by Muslims and which were converted to mosques. The below is the list of mosques and Dargahs where evidences exists of having been made after destroying the temples at these locations. In many mosques, Muslim rulers were able to eradicate all signs of temples, and hence not given in below list.
Anyone is free to visit the below list of mosques and see the remnants and materials of Hindu temples used in their construction. Archaeological Survey of India should conduct an excavation of below mosques to find out more about the ancient temples in these locations and possible mass graves around the mosque sites.

I. ADILABAD DISTRICT
Mahur
1. Masjid in the Fort on the hill. Temple site.
II. ANANTPUR DISTRICT
Gooty
2. Gateway to the Hill Fort. Temple materials used.
Kadiri
3. Jami Masjid. Temple site.

Konakondla
4. Masjid in the bazar. Temple materials used.
Penukonda
5. Fort. Temple materials used.
6. Masjid in the Fort. Converted Temple.
7. Sher Khans Masjid (1546) Converted Temple.
8. Dargah of Babayya. Converted Azvara Temple.
9. Jami Masjid (1664-65). Temple site.
10. Dargah of Shah Fakbrud-din (1293-94). Temple site.
Tadpatri
11. Jami Masjid (1695-96). Temple site.
12. Idgah completed in 1725-26. Temple site.
Thummala
13. Masjid (1674-75). Temple site.

III. CUDDAPAH DISTRICT                                                                          

Cuddapah
14. Bhap Sahib-ki-Masjid (1692). Temple site.
15. Idgah (1717-18). Temple site.
16. Bahadur Khan-ki-Masjid (1722-23). Temple site.
17. Dargah of Shah Aminud-Din Gesu Daraz (1736-37). Temple site.
Duvvuru
18. Masjid. Temple site.
Gandikot
19. Jami Masjid (1690-91). Temple site.
Gangapuru
20. Masjid. Temple site.
Gundlakunta
21. Dastgiri Dargah. Temple site.
Gurrumkonda
22. Fort and several other Muslim buildings. Temple materials used.
Jammalmaduguu
23. Jami Masjid (1794-95). Temple site.

Jangalapalle
24. Dargah of Dastgir Swami. Converted Jangam temple.
Siddhavatam
25. Qutb Shahi Masjid (restored in 1808). Temple materials used.
26. Jami Masjid (1701). Temple materials used.
27. Dargah of Bismillah Khan Qadiri. Temple materials used.
28. Fort and Gateways. Temple materials used.
29. Chowk-ki-Masjid. Temple site.
Vutukuru
30. Masjid at Naligoto. Temple site.
31. Masjid at Puttumiyyapeta. Temple site.
IV. EAST GODAVARI DISTRICT
Bikkavolu
32. Masjid. Temple materials used.
V. GUNTUR DISTRICT
Nizampatnam
33. Dargah of Shah Haidri (1609). Temple site
Vinukonda
34. Jami Masjid (1640-41). Temple site.
VI. HYDERABAD DISTRICT
Chikalgoda
35. Masjid (1610). Temple site.
Dargah
36. Dargah of Shah Wali (1601-02). Temple site.
Golconda
37. Jami Masjid on Bala Hissar. Temple site.
38. Taramati Masjid. Temple site.
Hyderabad
39. Dargah of Shah Musa Qadiri. Temple site.
40. Masjid on the Pirulkonda Hill (1690). Temple site.

41. Toli Masjid (1671). Temple materials used.
42. Dargah of Mian Mishk (d. 1680). Temple site.
43. Dargah of Mumin Chup in Aliyabad (1322-23). Temple site.
44. Haji Kamal-ki-Masjid (1657). Temple site.
45. Begum Masjid (1593). Temple site.
46. Dargah of Islam Khan Naqshbandi. Temple site.
47. Dargah of Shah Daud (1369-70). Temple site.
48. Jami Masjid (1597). Temple site.
Maisaram
49. Masjid built by Aurangzeb from materials of 200 temples demolished after the fall of Golconda.
Secunderabad
50. Qadam Rasul. Temple site.
Sheikhpet
51. Shaikh-ki-Masjid (1633-34). Temple site.
52. SaraiwAli Masjid (1678-79). Temple site.
VII. KARIMNAGAR DISTRICT
Dharampuri
53. Masjid (1693). Trikuta Temple site.
Elangdal
54. Mansur Khan-ki-Masjid (1525). Temple site.
55. Alamgiri Masjid (1696). Temple site.
Kalesyaram
56. Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.
Sonipet
57. Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.
Vemalvada
58. Mazar of a Muslim saint. Temple site.
VIII. KRISHNA DISTRICT
Gudimetta
59. Masjid in the Fort, Temple materials used.
Guduru

60. Jami Masjid (1497). Temple materials used.
Gundur
61. Jami Masjid. Converted temple.
Koindapall                                                                                                              

62. Masjid built in 1482 on the site of a temple after Muhammad Shah BahmanI had slaughtered the Brahmin priests on the advice of Mahmud Gawan, the great Bahmani Prime Minister, who exhorted the sultan to become a Ghazi by means of this pious performance.
63. Mazar of Shah Abdul Razzaq. Temple site.
Kondavidu
64. Masjid (1337). Temple materials used.
65. Dargah of Barandaula. Temple materials used.
66. Qadam Sharif of Adam. Converted temple.
Machhlipatnam
67. Jami Masjid. Temple site.
68. Idgah. Temple site.
Nandigram
69. Jami Masjid. Temple site.
Pedana
70. Iama-il-ki-Masjid. Temple site.
Rajkonda
71. Masjid (1484). Temple site.
Tengda
72. Masjid. Temple site.
Turkpalem
73. Dargah of Ghalib Shahid. Temple site.
Vadpaili
74. Masjid near Narsimhaswamin Temple. Temple materials used.
Vijaywada
75. Jami Masjid. Temple site.
IX. KURNOOL DISTRICT
Adoni

76. Jami Masjid (1668-69). Materials of several temples used.
77. Masjid on the Hill. Temple materials used.
78. Fort (1676-77). Temple materials used.
Cumbum
79. Jami Masjid (1649). Temple site.
80. Gachinala Masjid (1729-30). Temple site.
Havli
81. Jami Masjid. Temple materials used.
Karimuddula
82. Dargah. Akkadevi Temple materials used.
Kottakot
83. Jami Masjid (1501). Temple site.
Kurnool
84. Pir Sahib-ka-Gumbad (1637-38). Temple site.
85. Jami Masjid (1667). Temple site.
86. Lal Masjid (1738-39). Temple site.
Pasupala
87. Kalan Masjid. Temple site.
Sanjanmala
88. Masjid. Temple sites.
Siddheswaram
89. Ashurkhana. Temple materials used.
Yadavalli
90. Mazar and Masjid. Temple sites.
Zuhrapur
91. Dargah of Qadir Shah Bukhari. Temple site.
X. MAHBUBNAGAR DISTRICT
Alampur
92. Qala-ki-Masjid. Temple materials used.
Jatprole
93. Dargah of Sayyid Shah Darwish. Temple materials used.
Kodangal

94. Dargah of Hazrat Nizamud-Din. Temple site.
95. Jami Masjid. Temple site.
Kundurg
96. Jami Masjid (1470-71). Temple site.
Pargi
Jami Masjid (1460). Temple site.
Somasila
Dargah of Kamalud-Din Baba (1642-43) Temple site.
XI. MEDAK DISTRICT
Andol
97. Old Masjid. Temple site.
Komatur
98. Old Masjid. Temple site.
Medak
99. Masjid near Mubarak Mahal (1641). Vishnu Temple site.
100. Fort, Temple materials used.
Palat
101. Masjid. Temple site.
Patancheru
102. Jami Masjid. Temple materials used.
103. Dargah of Shykh Ibrahim known as Makhdumji (1583). Temple site.
104. Ashrufkhana. Temple site.
105. Fort (1698). Temple materials used.
XII. NALGONDA DISTRICT
Devarkonda
106. Qutb Shahi Masjid. Temple materials used.
107. Dargah of Sharifud-Din (1579). Temple site.
108. Dargah of Qadir Shah Wali (1591). Temple site.
Ghazinagar
109. Masjid (1576-77). Temple site.
Nalgonda                                                                                                               

110. Garhi Masjid. Temple site.
111. Dargah of Shah Latif. Temple site.
112. Qutb Shahi Masjid (Renovated in 1897). Temple site.
Pangal
113. Alamgiri Masjid. Temple site.
XIII. NELLORE DISTRICT
Kandukuru
114. Four Masjids. Temple sites.
Nellore
115. Dargah named Dargamitta. Akkasalisvara Temple materials used.
Podile
116. Dargah. Temple site.
Udayagiri
117. Jami Masjid (1642-43). Temple materials used.
118. Chhoti Masjid (1650-51). Temple materials used.
119. Fort. Temple materials used.
XIV. NIZAMBAD DISTRICT
Balkonda
120. Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.
121. Idgah. Temple site.
Bodhan
122. Deval Masjid. Converted Jain temple.
123. Patthar-ki-Masjid. Temple site.
124. Alamgiri Masjid (1654-55). Temple site.
Dudki                                                                                                                    

125. Ashrufkhana. Temple materials used.
Fathullapur
126. Muaskari Masjid (1605-06). Temple site.
XV. OSMANABAD DISTRICT
Ausa
127. Jami Masjid (1680-81). Temple site.

XVI. RANGAREDDY DISTRICT
Maheshwar
128. Masjid (1687). Madanna Pandits Temple site.
XVII. SRIKAKULAM DISTRICT
Icchapuram
129. Several Masjids. Temple sites.
Kalingapatnam
130. Dargah of Sayyid Muhammad Madni Awliya (1619-20). Temple materials used.
Srikakulam
131. Jami Masjid (1641- 42). Temple site.
132. Dargah of Bande Shah Wali (1641- 42). Temple site.
133. Atharwali Masjid (1671-72). Temple site.
134. Dargah of Burhanud-Din Awliya. Temple site.
XVIII. VISHAKHAPATNAM DISTRICT
Jayanagaram
135. Dargah. Temple site.
Vishakhapatnam
136. Dargah of Shah Madni. Temple site.
XIX. WARANGAL DISTRICT
Zafargarh
137. Jami Masjid. Temple site.
XX. WEST GODAVARI DISTRICT
Eluru
138. Fort. Temple materials used.
139. Sawai Masjid. Converted temple.
140. Qazi’s House. Somesvara Temple materials used.
Nidavolu
141. Masjid. Mahadeva Temple materials used.
Rajamundri 

142. Jami Masjid (1324). Converted Venugopalaswamin Temple.

EVIDENCE IS AVAILABLE THAT IN ANDHRA PRADESH THE ABOVE MENTIONED MOSQUES AND DARGAHS WERE CONSTRUCTED BY DESTROYING HINDU TEMPLES. BUT IN MANY OTHER CASES MUSLIMS SUCCEEDED IN REMOVING ALL TRACES OF TEMPLES FROM THE MOSQUES. IN SUCH CASES ONLY AN EXCAVATION BY ASI WILL REVEAL THE DESTROYED TEMPLES.
WHILE MUSLIMS ASK FOR REBUILDING THE ILLEGAL MOSQUE IN AYODHYA, WHY SHOULD NOT HINDUS DEMAND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DESTROYED TEMPLES IN INDIA?

Pushpagiri and its desecrated temples

Article by @HNAluru

As it dawns now, the glee of the morning sun here is seldom accompanied by the saccharine tweets of the parrots and sparrows. The cacophony of the chirrups of the birds craves to trail the blissful hymns that used to be rendered with a precision that could match only with the movement of the Sun and Moon.

The gatekeepers assigned to an eternal duty of preserving the temple, gaze down inscrutably into the river. Nestled in the most picturesque landscape of nature, the river flows inaudibly between two temples as if it were the to reminisce the horrors it has witnessed throughout. Called Pinakini – the divine bow of Lord Shiva, it is now colloquially called Penna, a declension apparent not just in its name but also in its state of affairs.

Time as the witness, the inscriptions wail of the forgotten glory this hamlet in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh held before.

It is a small village close to the now district head-quarters of the Cuddapah district in Andhra Pradesh. The place is called Pushpagiri – A mound of flowers.

Aloof from the parochial lines of discordant beliefs in Hinduism, Pushpagiri has become a centre of intellectual theology under countless kingdoms. In its bosom of faith, it nurtured the ideology of Shaivism and all its primaeval theories with the same fervour as Vaishnavism. When the Hindu world was being torn between the mutually exclusive philosophies about the supremacy of Gods in the same Pantheon, Pushpagiri has tried to persuade the masses to traverse to the thinking of ‘transcendental theology’. The two temples, one for Lord Shiva and another for Lord Vishnu on either bank of the Pinakini river stand as a (partially) living testimony of this catholic notion.

Legend has it that to extricate his mother Vinutha from the shackles of slavery of his stepmother Kadruva, Garuda has embarked on a journey to the heavens to conquer Lord Indra and fetch the holy nectar of Ambrosia. Garuda while returning from the heavenly abode passed by the hamlet then called – Kampalle, where he unintentionally spilt a drop into a local pond formed by the river Pinakini.

The pond was thus granted divine powers of transforming back to their youth, all those that took a dip in it. Consequently, people began to throng the pond for a dip in its waters. Appalled by the prospect of all human beings becoming immortal, the Devas approached God Vishnu who instructs Garuda to cover up the pond with a rock from a nearby mountain.

The megalith Garuda placed on the pond, started floating like a flower – Pushpa in Sanskrit. To stop the pond from surfacing again, the supreme trio (God Brahma, God Vishnu and God Shiva) trampled the rock into the land. Consequently, the name Pushpagiri which in Sanskrit would mean a flowery mound.

Legends aside, Pushpagiri also has a considerable amount of veritable history around it. The Śrīśaila Khaṇda of Skanda Purāna and Rasaratnākara of Satyanātha vouch to this place where significant worship was happening and was mentioned as ‘Dakśina dwāra’ for the celebrated temple of Şrīşailam. This was attested by the inscriptions that abound the place from the time of Ikşvāku dynasty circa 2nd Century CE. From this period on, the list is long and illustrious, including Karikāla Chōla of Chōla dynasty has seemingly imparted significant importance to the site when he ruled the Pottapi nādu.

Hero-stone (Veeragallu) of one of the warriors – Chola Dynasty

In time, this piece of land has reduced to a feudatory under bigger dynasties. Nevertheless, Geography helped and Pushpagiri retained its exclusivity both spiritually and politically. The temple complex has started attracting endowments from the rulers incessantly; Somadeva of Vaidumba dynasty, Chiddana Devaraja of Pallava dynasty, Yadava Singana of Kesa dynasty, Krishna Vallabha of Rāshtrakūta dynasty, Gangaya Sāhini and Ambadeva under Kākatiya dynasty and the Musunuri Nāyaks of Vijayanagar dynasty.

While these kings left inscriptions to the next generations to commemorate their contributions, some significantly contributed with their artistic providence, Gangaya Sāhini and Ambadeva built the Trikuteswara complex as a tribute to Lord Shiva for bestowing them with three daughters.

Musunuri Nāyaks built the Chennakeshava temple which exudes splendid architecture.

While it is common for the kings to be boisterous even in their devotion, Pushpagiri stands away from the crowd. A tantric saint Aghora Shivāchārya, apparently a Shaivite saw it apt to build the gateway-tower (Gopuram) for the Vaishnavite Chennakeshava Swamy temple.

There has been a surfeit of cults around the region of Pushpagiri. Beliefs and traditions date to times immemorial starting from the most traditional Vāmāchāra to the most recent Sāmyāchāra. The temples illustrate the slow and steady progress of Hindu beliefs in this region as the kings started embellishing the temple walls with sculptures that reflect their allegiance. The oldest of these reliefs start with Lakulīşa, a form of Lord Shiva that yields the caduceus symbolising the rising flow of the Kundalini Shakti to the zenith. This clearly demonstrates the presence of the Rasa Śaiva, Veera Pasupatha and Shakteya cults belonging to Vāmāchāra tradition.

Image of Lord Lakulisa with the Caduceus

The river: Pinakini, the mighty river that is fabled to have emanated from the bow of Lord Shiva meanders through the gorges of Gandikota which is close-by and enters the domain of Pushpagiri from the West and turns briefly South and again changes to the East at Pushpagiri. In this process, four of its tributaries mingle with ‘Penna’ – Pāpāgni, Kumudvati, Valkala and Māndavya. This has seemingly enhanced the spiritual status of the place and has begotten it the coveted name “Panca Prayāga”.

Docked in the natural beauty – coupled with a vibrant economy – fuelled by the constant supply of water and resources the region flourished and if you enhance it with a centre for spiritual development, you have the best of all the worlds. People thronged to the place, kings revered and built monuments, Sages clamoured for spiritual development and it gave rise to one of the most vivacious yet dormant cultures. At its crowning moment, Pushpagiri had as many as 1116 temples dedicated to various forms of both Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. Some of the notable ones can be listed as below:

  1. Śrī Lakśmī Chennakeśava Swamy temple (Also called Śrī Śiva Keśava Swamy temple)
  2. Śrī Kāmākśi Vaidyanātheswara Swamy temple
  3. Śrī Santāna Malleśwara Swamy temple
  4. Śrī Trikūteshwara Swamy temple
  5. Śrī Indrānātha Swamy temple
  6. Śrī Kaśi Viśālākśi Viśwanātha Swamy temple
  7. Śrī Sākśi Malleśwara Swamy temple
  8. Śrī Agasthyeśwara Swamy temple

… and many more. There are at least 100 sanctums and abandoned Nandis that vouch to the fact that they were once revered in a temple.

Mutilated image of a saint – Possibly Buddhism beyond recognition

The story was supposed to have a happy ending until faiths that thought themselves as the most superior of all stepped in. It was a night of horrors. The carnage went on relentlessly as the statuaries were handicapped, crop fields destroyed and the mighty river seemed to stand still – forsaken. The cacophony of parrots and sparrows got muted in the tacit cries of the most revered of deities. Time itself has ostensibly cowered to transpire. But as it mustered the courage to move on, a day of destruction ensued. The river dolefully ferried the remnants of the culture once so esteemed into the Bay of Bengal. Thousands of monuments destroyed, sanctums desecrated and temples vandalised. History etched on rock and preserved in memories has been expunged in a bloody inundation of prejudice and intolerance. A new faith that challenges the very foundations of so many other moralities has taken their place.

Hero-stone (Veeragallu) of one of the warriors – Chola Dynasty

Today, the monuments stand there as a sore testament of what rivaling beliefs can do to civilization – uncared and unwanted. Most of the temples cannot even afford a proper Pūja (worship) and the river as usual flows in all serenity but sans the rhythmic chants, the cacophony of birds and morning glee of the first ray of the sun.

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