Sculptors

The Telangana government is giving a complete makeover to this ancient temple, about 60 km from Hyderabad, on the lines of Tirumala, the richest temple in India, which had gone to residuary Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation of AP in 2014 and the carving out of the separate state of Telangana. Renamed Yadadri, the temple is now being developed as a major pilgrim and tourist centre at a cost of ₹1,800 crore.

Around 800 sculptors are racing against time to complete the temple project by October this year. A large number of pillars, stone lotus pedestals, images of gods and goddesses and Yali sculptures (images of lions, elephants and horses carved out on pillars) are an integral part of the temple architecture.

One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the involvement of Muslim sculptors, most of them from the Turakapalem hamlet of Mangalagiripadu in Guntur district. “For the last several generations, our families have been involved only in sculpture works, mostly in temples. It has become our family profession and none of the men know any other work,” said Sheik Rabbani, 36, who has worked on more than 30 temples in the past 15 years. He has no reservations about working on Hindu temples. “For me, any work that provides me livelihood is god. Work is my Allah.”

Temple authorities have no reservations about hiring nonHindu workers either. “We strongly believe that work is worship. Religion does not come in the way of doing one’s profession,” said Chiranjeevi Aditya, a deputy sthapathi (architect) of the Yadadri temple.

The Muslim sculptors have not studied any Hindu scripture to understand the philosophy of Hindu temple architecture. They only follow the designs provided by the chief sthapathi of the temple, Soundara Rajan of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu. “We guide them at every stage. Since they are all experienced, they do their work with perfection,” Aditya said.

The temple authorities do not impose any restrictions on the