Telangana: Rare humanoid monument unearthed in Bhongir

The monumental stone sculpture was found and identified by Kunde Ganesh, along a road outside the village in Bhongir mandal of Yadadri-Bhongir district.

Hyderabad: A member of the Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam has identified a rare anthropomorphic sculpture in Kesaram village about nine km from Bhongir.

The monumental stone sculpture was found and identified by Kunde Ganesh, along a road outside the village in Bhongir mandal of Yadadri-Bhongir district.

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According to Sriramoju Haragopal of Kotha Telangana Charitra Brundam, an examination of the Kesaram monument revealed it to be a humanoid (asexual) monument (menhir) with indistinct body parts. Six-ft high and 4.4-ft wide, it is a carved monument with a rounded head, rectangular chest, shoulders and lower waist. The bottom of the waist seems to be buried in the ground.

Archaeologists have decided that the Megalithic Age (Brihaschila Yuga) in South India was from 1800 BC to 300 AD. “We call this period the Iron Age. It was during this period that human development reached its peak,” Haragopal said in a release.

Among these, anthropomorphic monuments are unique. Man-made monuments (menhirs) are found all over the world as well as in many places in India. In Telangana, ancient Warangal and Khammam districts have found anthropomorphic monuments.

These anthropomorphisms are like designs for abstract concepts. They do not have clarity of the complete human body and not all the parts are carved. Local people worship them as deities with their own religious beliefs and it is also a tradition to worship them as representatives of their ancestors, he said.