Andhra Pradesh - Guntur   

ASI to develop Bhattiprolu stupa

Staff Reporter

Boswell of East India Company excavated the stupa in 1870

HIDDEN WONDER: Buddhist Maha Stupa at Bhattiprolu in Guntur district now hidden under a mound of soil will be opened for public viewing by the ASI.

GUNTUR: The Bhattiprolu maha stupa in Guntur district, one of the few found in India with the Buddhist relic caskets, will be exposed completely by March 2007 for public viewing by scientifically clearing tonnes of soil that has accumulated over a century. The Archaeological Survey of India will begin on Friday scientific clearing of the soil from the remnants of stupa proper and circumbulator, ASI Director and Hyderabad Circle Superintendenting Archaeologist D. Jithendra Das said. Boswell of East India Company in 1870 first excavated the stupa, dating back to 3rd Century BC and surrounding structures to 4th Century BC, where he found one of the ancient towns and stupa. Later in 1892 Alexander Rea fully excavated the stupa and took two caskets with Buddhist Relics along with some sculptured pieces of the stupa dome to the Egmore Museum in Chennai.

The ASI team, including Assistant Superintendenting Archeologist D. Kanna Babu, and Conservation Assistant D.P. Siddhaiah visited the spot on Monday and chalked out a plan for clearing the site. Developing a well laid out garden by landscaping surrounding area would be taken up along with excavating the mound.

The stupa was vandalised during the 18th Century and during the first excavation a proof of existence of the Republican Kingdom of Kubera Raja was found from the inscription. The stupa was constructed in wheel shape like the one found at Ghantasala in Krishna district.

State initiative

The Andhra Pradesh Government had expressed its desire to convert it into yet another place of tourist interest, hence the ASI would put up floodlights also and arrange for protecting the site.

The original stupa with 148 feet diameter and 65 feet height got reduced to 45 feet by the time archaeologist R. Subrahmanyam did the excavation work in 1969 and since then it was neglected and got converted into a mound, said Mr. Kanna Babu.

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