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Gajagirigutta wallows in neglect
Highlights
Konne Gajagirigutta, located at a distance of 22 kilometres from the divisional headquarters of Jangaon, is offering rich and valuable evidence on the presence of archaic culture.
Jangaon (Warangal): Konne Gajagirigutta, located at a distance of 22 kilometres from the divisional headquarters of Jangaon, is offering rich and valuable evidence on the presence of archaic culture.
Pre-historic toolkits and artefacts have often been found in an area of 300 acres around the hillock ‘Gajagirigutta’ situated in between Konne and Ramachandrapuram villages in Bachhannapet mandal in the Warangal district.
But sadly, very little is known to the outside world about the place and its historic significance as neither the Archaeological Survey of India nor the historians laid their focus on this place. The artefacts found by the locals are rarely preserved.
Evidences of human dwellings of Palaeolithic Period (Old Stone Age), Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age), Neolithic Period (New Stone Age) and latter periods are found here. Middle Stone Age toolkits with pointed and projectile edge and Neolithic pottery vessels are found around the hillock.
Beads and artefacts that indicate the use of colour and symbols, microliths (chipped stone tools) made of jasper and quartzite that are unearthed here indicate the human occupation in the pre-historic period, a history enthusiast and a Lecturer, R Ratnakar Reddy of Jangaon.
During an expedition to the site, he explained to The Hans India that traces of Buddhism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism prevailed here in the past could be found. An earthen artefact in the shape of a flower with ten petals could be a ‘Dhamma Chakra’ connected to Buddhism.
A terracotta idol of an elephant, and grooves shaped on a massive rock to sharpen the metal tools, an idol of a deity called as ‘Kethamma’ by locals, idols of Shiva-Parvathi together are among the treasures that are found in the vicinity of the hillock, he explained.
“This place is very rich in terms of historic importance spanning from the Palaeolithic period to the modern age. There in an urgent need to explore the place in a scientific manner and preserve the artefacts found for future generations”, Ratnakar Reddy noted.
Reddy said that a few months ago, labourers digging harvesting ponds and drains side by the side of agriculture fields around Konne Gajagirigutta have found numerous stone toolkits. But they were not preserved as none are aware of their importance, he lamented.
A few curious locals however have preserved some of the stone tools, beads, and other artefacts. The local farmers use water in a water pond called ‘Suryudu Chudani Gundam’ hidden inside the stones on the hillock as a miracle cure to increase the yield of the crops they cultivate, he revealed.
James Edwin
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