Chain of tanks in Telangana built by Chola kings: V Prakash Rao

Mulugu: Stating that the Kakatiya kings constructed many water bodies following the chain system, Telangana State Water Resources Development Corporation chairman Veeramalla Prakash Rao said that the chain of tanks had been indeed built by the Chola or Choda dynasty king who were the predecessors of the Kakayiyas. “Many assume that the idea of chain […]

Mulugu: Stating that the Kakatiya kings constructed many water bodies following the chain system, Telangana State Water Resources Development Corporation chairman Veeramalla Prakash Rao said that the chain of tanks had been indeed built by the Chola or Choda dynasty king who were the predecessors of the Kakayiyas. “Many assume that the idea of chain of tanks was conceived during the Kakatiya period. But it was wrong. It was indeed the Choda who built the Panagal tank and others in Nalgonda district before Kakatiyas,” he explained.

Addressing the volunteers at the inauguration of the “World heritage volunteers camp -2022” at Kakatiya Rudreshwara temple, popularly known as Ramappa temple, at Palampet village in Venkatapur mandal in the district here on Monday, Prakash said that the Ramappa Lake was built abutting three hillocks by the Kakatiyas. “While you can see only two hillocks now, the third hillock which was a little smaller than the other two was converted into a bund to impound water,” he said. He praised the Kakatiyas for developing water bodies and irrigating the lands.

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District Collector S Krishna Aditya has urged the 50 volunteers to learn about the Kakatiya architecture and also other socio, cultural and economic conditions prevailing in the Mulugu district, and produce a report. “You can provide both the positive and negative findings,” he said, and asked the Kakatiya Heritage Trust (KHT) Trustee Prof M Pandu Ranga Rao to arrange a visit to the Kotagullu or Ghanapuram Group of Temples in Ghanpur mandal near Palampet as a part of the camp. He said that the State government was providing drinking water facilities to all the villages in the district, and developed the road network.

Prof Pandu Ranga Rao said that they had chosen 50 students from 400 applicants from civil engineering, arts, architecture, tourism, history, and archaeology backgrounds. “There are 42 students from 16 states of India and eight are from abroad,” he said, adding that there would be lectures by experts and field visits during the 12-day camp,” he said. Junior Conservation Assistant of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Madipally Mallesham, Tourism staffer Dr Kusuma Surya Kiran, and others were present.

Meanwhile, V Prakash, who hails from Palampet village, has donated Rs one lakh worth sports material to the staff of the local government high school for the use of the students.