“Lachchammalu and Ramulammalu” dolmens are among the six megalithic tombs, dating back to the Iron Age 1,000 BC to 300 BC, explored recently in Pyalakurthy, a village in Kodumur mandal, 29 km from Kurnool city.
An academic Consultant of the Department of History and Archaelogy in Yogi Vemana University in Kadapa, Raghu Yadav, who explored the megalithic burial sites, says Ramulammalu dolmen was destroyed in road widening for agricultural fields under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Though the birth ceremonies performed in the Iron Age era are not known, the people practised diverse modes of rituals and death ceremonies, Dr. Raghu Yadav told The Hindu on Monday. The six are capstone dolmens, he said.
Among them a group of three called Lachchammalu are beside one another on the bank of Nadi Vaagu and a big one, yet to be named, is situated separately near a farm.
Ramulammalu was also situated on the bank of Nadi Vaagu and the final one very close to the village tank bund. Gneiss granite rock was used to construct them. The big dolmen was arranged with huge rocks with a capstone on three orthostats whereas Lachchammalu and Ramulammalu and the one situated at the tank bund with medium gneiss granite rocks, Dr. Yadav said.
The dolmen at the tank bund is without a capstone or it has been broken. The dolmen was disturbed and rearranged by a villager who constructed a small water tank for his agricultural fields. A Hero and Sati stone was kept in it. The western orthostat had been broken and rearranged.
The megaliths in Rayalaseema are regarded as ‘Pandavagullu and Rakshagullu’, but the ones in Pyalakurthy are called ‘Ramulammalu and Lachchammalu, indicating that they might be referring to people named Ramulamma and Lachchamma and their sisters.
The intention of the megalithic people to erect a burial is highly appreciated and the archaeological monuments in Karrola and Pyalakurthy are the best examples to study their culture, Dr. Raghu Yadav said.
The Telugu saying ‘nee neththina banda bada/banda yeyya’ means a person ought to die had been used by rural folk as a curse and derived from the convention of entombment, he added.
Dr. Yadav, who received doctorate in 2007 under the supervision of Prof. D.R. Raju from The School of History, Culture and Archaeology, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University, Srisailam campus, presented his paper on rural life in Kodumur area in Kurnool district and received Dr. Bendapudi Subba Rao’s Best Paper Cash Award in the 40th annual session of the Andhra Pradesh History Congress held at the Government Degree College for Women in Srikakulam in 2016.
