Hillock that cries for attention

Karimnagar: Even as the stage is set for the grandeur of World Telugu Conference (WTC) in Hyderabad, elsewhere around 190 km upwards north, the historical Bommalammagutta and the inscriptions etched on the hillock that brought ancient language status for Telugu, are crying for attention.

The sculptures carved on the imposing 200-meter hillock near Kurikyala under Gangadhara mandal indicate that once Jainism flourished in the region, probably between 7th and 10th centuries.

It’s believed that Jina Vallabhudu, brother of Pampa, a prominent poet in the kingdom of Vemulawada Chalukya Ara Kesari-II, had the trilingual (Telugu, Kannada and Sanskrit) inscriptions etched on the hillock somewhere around 945 AD. Based on this revelation, renowned poet in north Telangana Malayasri claimed that first kanda padyam, a prosodic form of Telugu poetry, was from Telangana.

Moreover, it also opened up a debate that Telugu poetry was embellished in the region even before Adi Kavi Nannaya. Flanked by three Jain Teerthankaras on each side, the idol of Chakreshwari Devi etched on a huge boulder painted in red are huge attractions. This apart, the carvings of Yakshini, Bharatha and Vrushabhadeva are also alluring for the visitors.

Speaking to The Hans India, poet and Kendra Sahitya Akademi awardee Nalimela Bhaskar said: “The trilingual inscription of Jina Vallabhudu that contains three kanda padyams (in Telugu) manifested the fact that indeed Telugu is an ancient language.

Moreover, the inscription revealed that Ara Kesari-II gave away Dharmapuri to poet Pampa as an agraharam.” Despite Kurikyala’s historical significance, neither the tourism department nor the archaeology department has made any effort to convert the place into a tourism spot, he said, pointing to the ordeal one must undergo to reach the top of the hillock.

However, the hillock escaped from the clutches of the rock quarrying mafia, there was nothing significant to develop either the approach road or the steps leading uphill.

It may be mentioned here that protests all around from the locals and a request to save the inscriptions from then Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa saved the hillock from quarrying.

Choppadandi MLA Bodige Shobha, who attended the Kavi Sammelanam (poets’ meet) at Kurikyala as part of WTC preparatory programmes recently, promised to develop the precincts besides constructing a road at an estimated cost of Rs 2.77 crore.

By Adepu Mahender