Millions of people in British India woke up to a new dawn on August 15, 1947. After decades of struggle under leaders of differing ideologies, from Subhas Chandra Bose to Mahatma Gandhi, Indians were no longer in the clutches of a colonial power.
As most of the country celebrated independence, the people of Raichur in Hyderabad were still waiting for freedom, along with the 1.6 crore people of the princely state. Hyderabad was yet to make a decision about acceding to either India or Pakistan.
Razakars, the Nizam’s notorious paramilitary force, were guarding Raichur, a town on the princely state’s southwestern border, with orders to kill anyone who revolted against the Nizam. Raichur Fort, built by the Kakatiyas in the 12th century, had seen the rule of the Rashtrakutas, the Vijayanagara emperors, the Bahmani sultans and the Nizams. Now the fort was ready to witness another change.
During this turbulent time, Tappadi Dodda Narasareddy was famous among his Munnuru Kapu community for riding on horseback through Raichur town, wearing the uniform of Bose’s Indian National Army. Other members of his community were followers of Gandhi and they were hoping to liberate Raichur in a Gandhian way. The patriots of Raichur continued their struggle for another 13 months until the newly restructured Indian Army annexed Hyderabad and liberated Raichur, and indeed the whole state, by force.
Seven decades on, Raichur is now part of Karnataka. It is girded by rivers: the Krishna on the north, and the Tungabhadra on the south. Despite the reputation of being a dry and hot place, Raichur grows cotton and hosts hundreds of rice mills. Raichur’s Hatti is the only active gold mine in India―1.41 tonnes of gold was mined in 2023. Ashokan rock edicts of Maski highlight the region’s historical significance.
Legends say that 300 people of the Kapu community, who were peasants, came from Telugu-speaking Warangal (now in Telangana) to Kannada-speaking Raichur to build the fort. They are called Munnuru Kapu in Raichur because munnuru means 300 in Kannada. The area of Raichur where most of them live is called Munnurwadi.
Having lived under various occupying regimes over the centuries, the Munnuru Kapu knew the worth of freedom well. So, in 1959, when it was time to renovate the temple of the community’s goddess, Lakshmamma, community leaders who took part in the freedom struggle decided to carve the images of freedom fighters on to the columns of the temple, alongside gods and goddesses. They also added the national emblem of India.
The Lakshmamma temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. The gopuram, the main tower of the temple, is constructed in Tamil Nadu-style temple architecture. Despite being a colourful structure, the temple is hidden between three-floor residential complexes in Munnurwadi. The Munnuru Kapu community is now evidently rich, as most of them are into wholesale commodity business. It is also politically powerful and has produced an MLA.
During the restoration of the temple, each family contributed. The richer families gave hefty donations and poorer people volunteered as labourers, bringing in stone slabs on bullock carts from a faraway quarry. This scene is depicted on the temple’s wall in relief.
“Our community was poor farmers those days and they were toiling in the fields under the sun,” says 62-year-old Sudarshana Reddy, a member of the community. “In these dry lands, they used to grow jowar (sorghum millet). People from each house came to build the temple. They carried stones and mud for its construction.”
The columns near the main entrance have Ram and Hanuman on one side, and Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Bose on the other side. Near the sanctum sacrarium is a large, Ashokan lion in relief. Like all Lakshmi temples, it is busiest on Friday, which is the day dedicated to the worship of the goddess. Devotees who visit the temple also pay their respect to the freedom fighters. They apply vermilion tilaks on the sculptures, literally elevating these national heroes to the status of gods.
Birds, reptiles and animals are also depicted on the walls of the temple. The priest, Vishwanath K. Bhat, says this commemorates the living beings whose habitats were affected by the construction. “After stones were removed from nature, they lost their habitats,” he says. “It is because of that memory that fish, monkey, snake, scorpion and elephant are skilfully carved here.” Similar carvings of animals and scenes of people transporting stone slabs were also etched on to the walls of the Raichur Fort centuries ago.
Ahuja Papareddy, 72, is among the oldest surviving members and the most influential people from the Munnuru Kapu community. He was elected MLA on a BJP ticket in 2004. When asked why the community gave Nehru a place next to divinity, he says: “Those days, people hardly ‘disliked’ Nehru in this part. That was confined to north India. Now, even in south India this is happening. But these statues are already done.” The sculptures are not three-dimensional figures created by fine craftsmanship. They are stone relief sculptures made by unskilled, amateur sculptors. As a result, one needs to look closely to identify the people who are depicted―Gandhi can be identified from his walking stick, and Nehru and Bose by their caps. But, despite the imperfections in the carving, the patriotism and the value attached to freedom is evident at one glance.