Nagarjunasagar and Nagarjunakonda - part 1

Dec 24, 2017
It was around 3-00 PM when we reached Vijayapuri North, we checked into Telangana government tourist resort Vijay Vihar. The resort is on the banks of Nagarjuna Sagar, the reservoir formed by the dam across river Krishna. The resort was packed with weekend tourists, crowded and noisy. By 6 PM the crowd had cleared, just a dozen or so cars left behind. The resort is situated away from the town, with plenty of trees and open space it has a peaceful ambiance. It was a long time since I'd listened to complete silence, thoroughly enjoyed it. We hit the sack early looking forward to the boat ride to Nagarjunakonda.

December 25, 2017
We rose early, went for a walk, had tea at a roadside stall close to the resort entrance. The roadside stall also served fresh idli. We got ready and headed back to the same stall for breakfast. Pushpa said there was no cafeteria on Nagarjunakonda so we had few plates idli packed for lunch.. much better than dry snacks in the warm weather. We drove down to the ferry station, about 2 kms away, situated at northern end of the great dam.

Tickets were issued around 9-30 AM, ₹150 for adults and a separate ticket of ₹50 for museum. We boarded the boat, around 10, our journey to Nagarjunakonda started.

Like our co-passengers, we too were excited about the boat ride, an acquaintance had told it was almost an hour's ride. Isn't it nice to just sit and do nothing. Yeah, there were lot of amazing sights.. the gushing water form the propeller, the boat trial, waves, shoreline, hills, islands, little fish jumping out & in and common terns flying about looking for breakfast. The terns sweeping turns, dives and take offs was entertaining. There were little rocky islands, 15 to 30 feet diameter, that's where terns rested. At one point our boat had left a long trial..

It was close to 11-15 when we docked. Ruins of fort wall welcomed visitors to this historic site. Just as we walked across the wall, ruins of a Mantapa or a temple is seen, only few damaged columns remain standing (see inset).

On this island, the only shop for dry snacks and cool drinks is situated under this tree. And, this is where people usually wait for the boats. Close to this tree is a board with a map of this island for tourists. Its quite helpful.

So here's that map which tells you what to see-

1. Pyramid
2. Temples (three)
3. Museum
4. Fort wall
5. Megalithic Tomb
6. Simhala Vihara
7. Chaitya Griha
8. Temple
9. Chamtasri Chaitya
10. Maha Chaitya
11. Peepul tree plants by Dalai Lama
12. Ashwamedha site
13. Swastik Chaitya

Here we go, the circular stepped pyramid. Its base diameter is 90 feet and approximately 25' high. There's no signage about this monument hence no idea who or when this was built.

Next we stop by the temple. This sight gives a feeling the temple is the middle of a jungle. During rainy season this would be completely green. In fact this island is covered by plenty of vegetation, so its a jungle. With no humans here after dusk, this place is ruled by wild life. There were several spots with wild boars' digging with their snouts. They stay hidden during day and prowl around during nights. I'm guessing there are plenty of rabbits, wildcats, and porcupines. Its quite possible that boars swim across to other island in search of food.

The structure is interesting. Solid walls made of dressed blocks. It has a single doorway, no windows whatsoever. Its pyramidal shikhara is made of red bricks.

A closer look at its Shikhara. Notice how the wall and shikhara are joined. Builders must have a special cement to join stone and brick. Going by the age of other monuments here, this structure is 1600 years old.

A distant view of the well maintained museum building and its surrioundings. In the foreground is a present day sculpture of Naga.. the serpent god.

This island was originally a hill with river Krishna flowing next to its base, in the valley. The valley was inhabited, a very busy place actually. Archaeologists had identified close to 80 independent structures in the valley. Only some selected monuments were relocated to two sites- Nagarjunakonda and Anupu. The museum has a large scale model of the valley & hills marking those monuments. Lot of hard work has gone into preserving these monuments. So this hill had a fort and few temples including a Hanuman temple. The fort was built here to guard the valley from enemy forces.

It was a proper fort with bastions an gateways. The fort wall is made of stones sourced locally hence smaller blocks.

Close to the fort are several heaps of stones which were originally some kind of structure. This terrain reminds of forts of Bagalkot district, though not exactly same.

Besides trees and grass, there are plenty of cactus, a variety I'm seeing first time. Individually they do not have a common shape as such but the similarity lies in the pattern formed by thorns. See the randomness in just one plant.

The next monument we are looking at is a prehistoric tomb. This seems to be originally located here. A signage describes the monument..
Megalith (Circa 2nd century BCE)
This is a cist burial representing the methods of disposal of the dead in pre-Christian era it is marked on the ground by unworked boulders arranged in a circular form.

The term megalith is used because of large stones used in such tombs. There were at least two large shaped stones, one slab and another long stone (see inset).

The ground is hard here hence easy to shape the pit. In fact the soil is almost as hard as a soft stone. Also, this plateau has several rock beds with grass and cactus growing over the cracks.

Another view of the burial pit. Probably several bodies were buried in such pits. I'm guessing only leaders or warriors qualified for such an elaborate burial since they are so rare to find.

There's more to come in the following post.. Nagarjunasagar and Nagarjunakonda - part 2.
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