12th Century inscriptions in state of neglect

Vijayawada: Historic inscriptions belonging to the 12th Century have been found in a neglected state at Yanamadala village of Guntur district.

Ignorant of the importance of these rock pillars, local residents were found using the pillars as foundation stones to build a compound wall at Gopinatha and Veerabhadra temple.

CEO of Cultural Centre of Vijayawada & Amaravati Dr E. Siva Nagireddy found these inscriptions as part of his exploration programme ‘preserve heritage for posterity’.

He said there were seven inscriptions dated to 1181, 1251, 1525, 1263, 1279, 1388 and 1531 AD, which record donations to the temples of Rudreswara, Gopinatha, Beteswara, Ganniswara, Mailaradeva, Vireswara at Yanamadala. These were gifted by Kota chiefs of Yanamadala, the Vaisya community, trade guild Ubhayananadesi Pekkandru and an office of the Governor of Kondaveedu during the rule of Achyutadeva Raya.

He also noted that there were a good number of stone sculptures of Vishnu, Siva, Shambuka, Saptamatrika on the rear side of Veerabhadra temple lying in neglect and need to be restored.

A stone containing more inscriptions found under the compound wall was painted with whitewash, making the script illegible.

Mr NagiReddy said that it appears that the compound wall might have collapsed some time back and the villagers unknowingly used these big rocks as foundations to erect a new one.

He appealed to the Department of  Archeology to restore the historic inscriptions.
Guntur district served as the capital for many dyna-sties, starting from the Satavahanas, Ikshvakus, Anandagotris, Brihatpala-yanas, Kota chiefs, Velan-ati chiefs and Vasireddy family.

The Veerabhadra and Venugopala temples were built by Kota chiefs. They were subordinate to the Kakatiya rulers.