The dismantling of the famous Nagoba temple at Keslapur village in Indervelli mandal began on Friday with the structure being pulled down by an excavator.
It will give way to a new, bigger structure, the construction of which will begin soon.
Nagoba, the serpent god, is the clan god of the Buigoita branch of Mesram clan of Raj Gonds. The deity is worshipped annually by the Raj Gonds of this clan who assemble here at the end of January and beginning of February and take part in the famous Nagoba Jatara.
The event has been in focus thanks to the efforts of well known Austrian anthropologist Christoph von Furer-Haimendorf, who visited the temple in the early 1940s. At that time, the temple was just a makeshift structure under a tree. The one that is being dismantled now was constructed in 1998.
