Jaggery juice is offered in large quantities but there are no ants on premises
Old GSI records say that the hills between Vinukonda and Amaravati are volcanic. Mangalagiri hill falls in this belt.
Guntur: There’s an inactive volcano in the AP capital region, at Mangalagiri, which is ‘fed’ jaggery juice to keep it from erupting. The public is now asking the government to conduct a research on the volcanic hill in view of the new capital coming up.
According to beliefs, the elephant-shaped volcanic hill drinks jaggery juice to keep from erupting. Jaggery juice has been offered for centuries at the ancient Lakshmi-narasimha temple atop Mangalagiri.
Locals believe that the sugar or jaggery water neutralises the sulphur compounds in a volcano and prevents its eruption. Jaggery juice is offered in large quantities to the deity but there’s not a single ant to be found on the premises, which is surprising, say locals. Also, no trace of the large quantities of jaggery juice offered daily is ever seen.
As per the oldest Geological Survey of India records dating back to 1880, the hills between Vinukonda and Amaravati were volcanic and Mangalagiri falls under this belt. The official website guntur.nic.in states that the Mangalagiri hill is volcanic. The GSI had also stated that Vinukonda and Mangalagiri hills were volcanic.
S.S. Hrishikesh, scientist at Indian Institute of Science, asserted the need to conduct research on the volcano and also into the mystery behind consumption of jaggery. Retired Prof. P. Venugopal said there is no history of volcanic eruptions in this area.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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