Chebrolu, a treasure trove of history, culture and heritage in Andhra Pradesh Premium

Chebrolu is a small town in Andhra Pradesh, home to four ancient temples dedicated to Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu, Lord Siva, and Goddess Shakti. Built by Eastern Chalukya, Velanati Choda, Kakatiya, Pota Rajulu, and Paristchedi dynasties, these temples are a rare find in South India.

It is said that temples dedicated to Lord Brahma, one of the gods—along with Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva—that form the Trinity in Hinduism are rare. There are hardly ten such temples in the country. While the ones in Pushkar, Thirupattur, and Barmer are famous, there is a lesser-known Brahma temple in a small village in Andhra Pradesh.

A quiet town, Chebrolu, in Guntur district, located around 50 km from Vijayawada, is referred to by many, both people here and historians, as a land of temples. A general belief runs in the town that there are more than 100 small and big temples.

“Chebrolu can be passed off as any small town, but on a closer look, one understands the history and culture that it has been carrying for centuries now. Neither Vijayawada nor Guntur may have as many temples as Chebrolu does. The ones that we see today are but the tip of the iceberg. Modernisation has pushed many more into oblivion,” former superintending archaeologist D. Kanna Babu says.

Not all of the temples here have a ‘sikharam’ (tower). Most of them are one-roomed temples found in every corner of the town. Eastern Chalukya, Velanati Choda, Kakatiya, Pota Rajulu, and Paristchedi dynasties have all ruled this place. Some temples, hundreds of years old, must have been built by rulers who were fulfilling a promise they made to God after their wishes came true, says Mr. Kanna Babu.

Of all, a cluster of four ancient temples, sitting in an obscure corner of the town, is the highlight. They are: Chaturmukha Brahmeswara, Bhimeswara, Adikesava and Nageswara. All of them were built between the 9th and 12th century A.D.

Chaturmukha Brahmeswara temple has, as the name suggests, a Sivaling and the four faces of Lord Brahma attached to it. The temple, sitting in the middle of a pond, was remodelled by Zamindar Vasireddy Venkatadri Nayudu during the 18th century A.D. “It is difficult to point to a year of its construction since much of what we see today must have been the renovated one, not the original,” says Mr. Kanna Babu. The place is frequented by people for meditation, he adds.

“Since the temple has a Sivalinga too, we make puja offerings to the deity, as against the norm in Brahma temples where the presiding deity is not worshipped,” says A. Satyanarayana, the only priest for all the four temples here.