The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Buddhist site discovered at Allur

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Thursday, Jun 19, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Buddhist site discovered at Allur

M. Malleswara Rao

The site in Krishna district is rich with several dilapidated and decayed structures

History revisited: The excavated Buddhist site at Allur in Krishna district.

HYDERABAD: As the excavations by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Allur in Krishna district came to a near close, a full-scale Buddhist site surfaced from the bowls of the earth.

The site which is rich with several dilapidated and decayed structures, consisted of two chaityagrihas, a sort of temples used for prayer and worship, one Vihara, resting place of monks and 6-ft high stupam.

The chaityagrihas are found to be largest among all such structures found at the Buddhist sites in the State except those at Nagarjunakonda.

Historians chanced upon as many 46 lead coins and hundreds of beads so far, all belonging to Satavahana period between 2nd century BC to 2nd century AD. They want to close the excavation operation in a month and begin the conservation part by filling the missing parts of the brick-built structures suitably, giving them their original shapes to the extent possible.

Surprise package

A surprise element is that Allur lies about 10 km from the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway near Kanchikacherla and not on the bank of the Krishna like other Buddhist centres in the State such as Amaravathi and Nagarjunakonda.

This is seen by archaeologists as yet another “evidence” firmly establishing the belief that Satavahanas developed a land route connecting Paithan in Maharashtra, which was their first capital before they shifted to Dhanyakatakam, to several important places in ancient Andhra through Karnataka.

Kondapur in Medak district, which is also found to be a rich Buddhist site, lies in this route. The other places on the line are Ghantasala, Jaggaiahpet and Bhattiprolu.

A dibba (mound) that spread over four acres at Allur, aroused curiosity among the archaeologists for years. The ASI protected it for 40 years before excavations could be commenced recently. As the diggers removed the red soil with which the place is filled, inch by inch, a rich site was uncovered.

Vandalised

D. Jithendra Das, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Hyderabad, however, is not expecting any relic of the Buddha at the site. “The site was indiscriminately vandalised even before the ASI took its control for protection and conservation”.

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