Explorers find Kakatiya era stone quarries in Bhupalpally district

The 13th century AD stone quarries used by sculptors to extract stones for temple construction were identified on Saturday

Warangal: Much to the joy of archaeology and history enthusiasts and explorers, the 13th century AD stone quarries used by sculptors to extract stones for temple construction were identified on Saturday. Speaking to ‘Telangana Today’, Dr Emani Siva Nagireddy, noted archaeologist and CEO of the ‘Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati (CCVA)’, said that he, along with Warangal-based archaeology enthusiast Aravind Arya Pakide and Yadlapalli Amarnath, Gallery Executive, CCVA, had found the 13th century AD stone quarries used during the Kakatiya era.

“We went on an exploration tour as part of CCVA’s initiative ‘Preserve Heritage for Posterity’,” Nagireddy, a former Director, Archaeology and Museums, in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, said, adding that they were on a study tour of Kakatiya temples (Ghanpur Group of Temples) at Ghanpur in Jayasankar Bhupalapally district when they stumbled upon the quarries near Velturlapalli, a village located between Ghanpur and Ramanujapuram Chenchu colony.
“The quarries run a length of one and the wedge marks on the rock surface reveal that the Kakatiya stone-cutters and sculptors used 18×2×1 inch iron wedges to split the stones in required sizes for the temples nearby at Ghanpur, Ramanujapuram and Palampet Ramappa temple,” Reddy said. It also corroborated the evidence that Ganapeswara temple complex, popularly known as ‘Kotagullu’ and ‘Reddygudi’ at Ghanpur, Erukalananchari gudi (Panchakuta temple) at Ramanujapur and Ramappa Temple at Palampet were built using the stones extracted from these quarries.

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Aravind Arya said remnants of semi-finished architectural members are seen scattered at the Velturlapalli Kakatiya stone quarry and revealed that a 1244 AD inscription of ‘Malyala Chaunda Senani’ highlights the techniques of stone sculpting of the Kakatiya silpis. “It holds a lot of significance in this context. The team, which also discovered two more quarries, one at Gunturpally and another at Nallakunta village near the famous Ramappa temple, will continue its exploration at other temples to get clues on quarries from where the stone were extracted during the Kakatiya times,” Dr Reddy said.

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