In a recent incident, a 1,000-year-old Dwarapala idol was reduced to pieces at Ratham Centre in the One Town area as part of the city beautification drive taken up by local authorities, raising serious concern among historians and archaeologists.
According to E. Sivanagi Reddy, CEO of the Cultural Centre of Vijayawada (CCV), the idol was recovered from the Eluru Canal in 1844.
Responding to the local residents’ plea, the then British engineers installed the idol on a pedestal at the Ratham Centre near Brahmin Street in the One Town area.
This image was a piece of attraction for visitors and a signature sculpture of Vijayawada, said Prof. Nagireddy.
Besides, two life-size granite sculptures of Dwarapalakas had been shifted to Madras from Vijayawada by C. Sivarama Murthy, the then curator of the Government Museum, Madras, in 1938.
They are now on display at the entrance of the museum. Prof. Sivanagi Reddy said that as part of the Centre’s drive to identify and protect the ancient wealth of Andhra Pradesh launched with a slogan of ‘Preserve Heritage for Posterity’, he recently visited the Chennai museum and closely examined the two sculptures. “They belong to the era of Kubja Vishnu Vardhana, the founder of the Vengi Chalukya dynasty. On the back side of one of the two sculptures, bears an inscription of 7{+t}{+h}century AD, a Telugu script reading ‘Venginattu velanadu’, who was probably the chief of the area,” said Prof. Nagireddy. He said that since the sculptures reflected the contemporary art, tradition, dress and ornaments, besides the script of the 7{+t}{+h}century AD, the Department of Archaeology should insist that the priceless wealth be shifted back to either Victoria Jubilee Museum renamed as Bapu Museum, or to the new capital region, where it could be showcased to the locals.
