The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : ‘Poornakumbham’ installed at Secretariat entrance

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Monday, Jul 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Poornakumbham’ installed at Secretariat entrance

Special Correspondent

Three sculptors worked on it for over three months

PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

NEW ATTRACTION: The ‘Poornakumbham’ replica installed at the Secretariat entrance on Sunday.

HYDERABAD: Finally the mammoth replica of ‘Poornakumbham’ (overflowing vase) found as part of Amaravati Stupa, which was adopted by the State government as its emblem alongside Ashoka chakra and four lion heads, was installed at the Secretariat main gate on Sunday.

White granite

Carved in select white granite rock from Mahabubnagar district, the rectangular replica shows the ‘Poornakumbham’ on all four sides.

Three sculptors from Allagadda worked for more than three months under the supervision of ‘Sthapathi’ T. Venkateswarlu, at Venkateswara Silpasala, near Shilparamam, to give the rough boulder a final shape.

The Poornakumbham -- which symbolises tenets of liberty, equality and fraternity, apart from bounty and knowledge -- was originally found by archaeologists as a fresco embedded in the Amaravati Stupa.

A writing in Prakrit at the foot of the Poornakumbham indicates it was sculpted and gifted by a cobbler Vidhikudu.

The heavy piece of art was brought to the Secretariat using a crane in the early hours under the supervision of A.B.K. Prasad, Chairman, State Official Languages Commission, which took up the work.

He said the replica would be unveiled by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy during July 20-24.

Bronze statue

Meanwhile, the GHMC cleared a proposal by the commission to erect a bronze statue of Gidugu Ramamurthy -- a reformer who taught Telugu to several tribal groups and evolved scripts for their dialects -- in the park opposite the Secretariat main gate, Mr. Prasad said.

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Andhra Pradesh