The final day of the two-day seminar on ‘Telangana Through Ages: Perspectives from Early and Medieval Periods’ saw serious discussion on Telangana’s culture, heritage and a bit of song and dance.
A majority of papers delved into archaeological and epigraphical roots of the region with special focus on Kakatiyas.
“The Kakatiyas were great builders of tanks and irrigation system which are now being repaired by the Telangana government under Mission Kakatiya,” said Benjamin Cohen in his paper ‘Water in Medieval Modern Telangana: Repair, Restore and Beyond’. Citing evidence of the role of a designated water man called ‘Neeru Kattu’ just like cobbler, blacksmith etc, Mr. Cohen said repairing water bodies was good for the society. The rulers and their subordinates saw it as earning them spiritual wealth. “This tradition was continued even by the Qutb Shahis who repaired and restored tanks. There is epigraphical evidence that one of Ibrahim Qutb Shah’s noblemen repaired the Pangal tank,” said Mr. Cohen.
The day began with a paper presentation by Salma Farooqui of Maulana Azad National Urdu University on ‘Imperial gift giving at the Qutb Shahi Court’. “The khilat (robe) was particularly important not for its intrinsic value, but for the fact that it had been worn by a ruler and then given to a nobleman. The khilat was a symbol of physical contact between the body of the recipient and the body of the donor,” said Ms. Farooqui in her paper.
Using paintings as evidence, Fatima Bilgrami of National Institute of Fashion Technology showed how the Qutb Shahi rulers dressed and how their dress evolved in the course of their 150-year rule.
But it was Choodamani Nandagopal’s lecture-cum-demo on ‘Rudreshvara (Ramappa) temple- A Crest Jewel of Telangana Art and Culture’ that spotlighted the high watermark of Kakatiya culture. “The Ramappa temple has a highly evolved style with intricate detailing,” said Ms. Nandagopal pointing to the dancers’ sculptures on the temple. Later, these sculptures came alive as Vidya Shimladka performed a few steps to recreate what it must have been inside the dance pavilion of Ramappa temple.
