600-year-old Gandhari fort inscription decoded

MANCHERIAL: The 600-year-old inscriptions of the Gandhari Fort have been decoded by historian Dr Dyavanapalli Satyanarayana. The temple is on the outskirts of the Mancherial town. Traditional priests are performing pujas at the temple for the last 600 years and it is found that they were rulers of the area in the past.

The Telugu year Svabhaanu started in 1403 AD in which Telangana was being ruled by the Padmanayaka dynasty. The presence of their rule is attested in the Gandhari Fort since their traditional sculptures of Bhairava, Hanuma and Ganapati are found erected in the fort entrance. Dyavanapalli Satyanarana said that it was confirmed that the inscriptions were laid in the Gandhari Fort in the year 1403 AD by then ruler of the area, Peddiraju Anantharaju.

He said with the decoding of the inscriptions, it is found that the ancestors of the Peddiraju Anantharaju were inhabitated in the area and their initials carry the same names Peddi or Peddollu in the local parlance. The present priest of Gandhari Jatra is also Peddulu.