The Tirkutalaya temple. Picture by G Vijayalakshmi

Hyderabad, June 25: Most temples seem content to leave their presiding deities in the dark but an Andhra pair have long had their place under the sun.

The Trikutalaya and Arasavalli temples are among the few that have outlets for sun to brighten and enliven the glory of their deities.

Architects see the feature as feat of structural engineering in which the vishwakarmas (craftsmen) of those ages seem to have bettered modern-day technicians.

The two temples stand out in a country where the most famous of shrines have a sanctum sanctorum without any windows or openings for light to come through, with just oil lamps or dim bulbs as sources of light in the enclosure. That includes the Tirupati temple in Andhra and the Meenakshi temple in neighbouring Tamil Nadu’s Madurai.

At the Trikutalaya temple in Medak district, though, sunrays touch the feet of Anantapadmanabha Swami, one of the three main deities, several times a day.

But at the Arasavalli Suryanarayana temple in Srikakulam town, where the deity is the sun god himself, the rays sweep into the sanctum only twice a year.

That is because the Vishwakarma Brahmin sculptors of Odisha, also called Maharanas in their home state, designed the opening in such a manner that it is aligned directly with the sun only on the two days, once in February and the second time in June, according to temple officials.

In both temples, the architects carved the windows and gopurams (towers) in a way that allowed sunrays to peep into the sanctum sanctorum.

Legend has it that the Trikutalaya temple in Medak, 60km from Hyderabad, was built in the 11th century by the Kakatiya rulers. Vontimitta Obulayya, a one-handed architect renowned for his skills, had been hired for the job. Its architecture is similar to other structures of the period, including a 1000-pillar temple at Warangal, the erstwhile capital of the Kakatiyas, and the Ramappa shrine in the same town.

The Suryanarayana temple in Srikakulam, around 640km from Hyderabad, was built by Kalinga ruler Devendra Varma. It is one of the heritage shrines on the east coast and one of the few in the country dedicated to the sun god, other than the Sun Temple in Konark.

The idol is a magnificent surya (Aditya) riding a seven-horse chariot, flanked by consorts Padma, Usha and Chhaya. The complex includes five smaller temples, one each to Ganesha, Shiva, Parvati and Vishnu and Indra.