Telangana: Sculpture of woman deity found in Bhupalpally

Archaeology enthusiast from Jangaon R Rathnakar Reddy has found an intricately carved sculpture of a woman deity.

Jayashankar Bhupalpally: Archaeology enthusiast from Jangaon R Rathnakar Reddy has found an intricately carved sculpture of a woman deity, believed to be Goddess Mahalakshmi, at a dilapidated temple at Minajipet village of Mahamutharam mandal in the district recently.

“It is a rare sculpture of Goddess Lakshmi. It was found at the ruined Ranganatha Keshavalaya (temple) of the Kakatiya era,” he said, adding that the sculpture had the goddess sitting in ‘Lalitasana’.

“The sculpture was so beautifully carved with even detailed attention given even to the toenails. A small blob between the eyebrows, a big blob on the forehead, bead-like earrings for the ears, first a tight necklace around the neck, then a loose necklace, a golden beaded ornament, another small beaded ornament between the temples, then another long ornament, and so on are part of it. The sculptor has also decorated the fingernails. There are rings for all ten fingers of the hand, rings for ten toes, including for the little finger,” he said.

He claimed that the sculpture was dated back to Kakatiya or the pre-Kakatiya period. Reddy has urged the experts from the Archaeology department to visit the temple to ascertain the age of the sculpture.

Meanwhile, Assistant Director of the Archaeology Department, Warangal, Mallu Naik after seeing the photos of the sculpture disputed Reddy’s claims.

“I cannot say it is a Kakatiya sculpture due to the difference between this sculpture and the other sculptures of the Kakatiya era. Since the carving of the idol is so smooth, I believe that the age of this idol cannot be more than 100 years. However, I can tell the exact age of the sculpture only after examining it,” Naik said.

He, however, confirmed that the temple belonged to the Kakatiya era. The temple is in shambles due to digging for treasure by treasure hunters.