Finally, Pothana project may take off

Finally, Pothana project may take off
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Finally, a dream that never translated into reality is here to happen.  The tourism development project at Bammera, a tiny village 120 kms northeast of State capital Hyderabad, where Pothanamatya translated Sanskrit epic Srimad Bhagavatham into Telugu, which has been gathering dust for the last few years is back in reckoning. Thanks to the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who announced Rs 40 cr

Jangaon: Finally, a dream that never translated into reality is here to happen. The tourism development project at Bammera, a tiny village 120 kms northeast of State capital Hyderabad, where Pothanamatya translated Sanskrit epic Srimad Bhagavatham into Telugu, which has been gathering dust for the last few years is back in reckoning. Thanks to the Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who announced Rs 40 crore for the development of the region.

Albeit, there has been an argument that Pothana belonged to Ontimitta in Kadapa district of AP, it’s widely believed that Pothana was born to Kesanna-Lakkamamba couple at Bammera under Palakurthy mandal in Jangaon district.

He lived between 1450 and 1510. He is regarded as the most natural poet, whose skilful use of alankaras (ornamentation of words) and figures of speech are very much evident in his works - Veerabhadra Vijayam, Narayana Shatakam, Bhogini Dandakam etc.

However, the land tilled by Pothana was identified; there was no trace of Pothana’s house in the village. Some time ago, Pothana Project was undertaken by Kakatiya Heritage Trust. The trust also acquired 4.32 acres land tilled by Pothana to establish a memorial. The well from which he used to draw water for agriculture and his samadhi (grave) still exist.

Against this backdrop, the government constituted a committee consisting of Deputy Chief Minister K Srihari, Tourism Minister A Chandulal, Government Advisor BV Papa Rao and KV Ramana Chary and others to take the lead for the development of the place in 2016. Since then, there was no forward move.

Realising the tourism potential of the place, Jangaon District Collector A Sri Devasena submitted a report to the government recently, seeking Rs 50 crore to construct a memorial and other developmental works.

Against this backdrop, the government on Friday entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Kakatiya Heritage Trust represented by M Panduranga Rao to develop a Cultural Tourism Circuit encompassing Bammera, Valmidi, Pembarthy, Palakurthy, Zaffergadh and Khilashapur that have cultural significance.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who visited Bammera on Friday, said that like Bammera there are several places in the region that are crying for attention due to the erstwhile governments’ lackadaisical approach towards Telangana culture and heritage.

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