page_title: Gudimallam
section_title: History of the temple and site
hierarchical_section_title: Gudimallam / History of the temple and site
caption_attribution_description: English: Gudimallam Temple entrance
context_page_description: Gudimallam is a small village in the Yerpedu mandal of the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is ten kilometers north-east of Renigunta Railway Junction, not far from Tirupati.
  Gudimallam is a small village, but well-known because it has a Hindu temple dedicated to Siva, which is popularly known as "the Parasurameswara Temple." This contains a very early linga with a full-length figure of Shiva, housed in the garbhagriha of the temple. This is perhaps the second earliest linga associated with Shiva discovered so far, and it has been dated to the 2nd/1st century BC, or the 3rd century BC, or much later, to the 2nd century AD, 3-4th century AD, or even, according to one source, as late as the 7th century AD. This is "the only sculpture of any importance" to survive from ancient South India before sculpture made under the Pallava dynasty from the 7th century AD onwards, and "its mysteriousness lies in the total absence so far of any object in an even remotely similar manner within many hundreds of miles, and indeed anywhere in South India". If assigned an early date, the figure on the linga is ""one of the earliest surviving and unequivocal images of the god Shiva".
context_section_description: The name of the temple is mentioned as Parasurameswara Temple in the inscriptions. These inscriptions do not refer to the original builders of the temple. But they register the gifts made to the temple like land, money and cows for the conduct of daily worship in the temple. Black and Redware sherds of the 2nd or 3rd century AD have been brought to light during the course of excavations conducted in 1973. Potsherds of the Andhra Satavahana period (Circa 1st century AD to 2nd century AD) and large sized bricks measuring 42x21x6 inches of the same period have also been found. Hence some historians assign the temple to the Satavahana period.
  Videos of the temple show a number of medieval sculptures in position.
  Historians disagree about the political history and the name of this place. There are several inscriptions which date to the Pallava, Yadava Devarayalu, Ganga Pallava, Bana and Chola periods on the walls of the shrine and on stone slabs in the temple courtyard. The earliest inscription belongs to the reign of Nandivarma Pallava (802 AD). All the inscriptions mention the keen interest taken by the donors and their gifts to the Temple. However, none of the inscriptions give the village name as Gudimallam. These two names however are not mentioned in the inscriptions. The village is referred as Viprapita (Brahmana Agrahara).
caption: Gudimallam Temple entrance
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