Thousands of people converged at Bojjannakonda, about 3 km. from Anakapalle, on Saturday.
The occasion was the ‘Bouddha mela' organised by the Visakha Bouddha Sanghala Samakhya. Buddhist monks from different parts of Andhra Pradesh as also those from other States participated in the annual festival, held on ‘Kanumu’, the day following Sankranti festival.
A.J.V.N. Rao, a teacher in a GVMC School, who came with his two daughters, appreciated the improvements done at the heritage Buddhist site during the last 10 years. A road was laid and greenery has been developed around the hills. An information board was put up at Anakapalle centre recently and people are coming in large numbers and this has become like a picnic spot.
“I came here for the second time on the invitation of the Bouddha Sangham. Though I knew of the heritage site in the past, I could not make it all these years,” said a retired employee of the Naval Dockyard M. Bhimayya.
“This site should be developed as a ‘Vihara’ and accommodation could be provided to Bikshus apart from provision of toilets to visitors,” said Dharmananda, a Buddhist Bikshu from Nagpur. “We have been making this demand for the past few years and we hope the government would concede it,” he added.
Bikshus Gnanadeep of Nagpur and Silananda Bante of Tripura spoke on the message and teachings of the Buddha. A four-member team of Home Guards have been posted permanently at heritage site for its protection from vandals and anti-social elements. “We are not allowing even college students coming with their girl friends into the complex as they were indulging in anti-social activities,” said Madhava Rao, a Home Guard, who was standing at the entrance to the cave near the main shrine.
Unique feature
Bojjannakonda was excavated under the aegis of Alexander Rim in 1906. A gold coin belonging to the Samudragupta period, copper coins of the Chalukya king, Kubja Vishnu Vardhan, coins of Andhra Satavahanas and pottery were discovered at the site.
An interesting feature of Bojjannakonda is that it shows features of all the three phases -- Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
A figure of ‘Kalabhairava' with the head of Lord Ganesha wearing conch shells and the image of a Buddhist monk, ‘Harati' have also been found at the site.
