Heritage activists, locals join hands to give historic structures in Telangana a facelift

NAGARKURNOOL: The volunteers of Nature and Indian Culture Foundation, along with Pleach India Foundation and locals, cleared wild-rank vegetation on five historic temples of the Kakatiyan era located at Nandivaddeman village of Bijinapally mandal in Nagarkurnool district, on the occasion of World Tourism Day on Sunday.

Since this year’s theme was “Inclusive Tourism Development”, the heritage activists encouraged the villagers to clear the weeds and make the temples presentable for tourists. This would also equip the villagers to protect the Kakatiyan structures with architectural brilliance, built during the 12th and 13th centuries.

There are several temples spread across Nandivaddeman, which used to be known as Vardhamanapuram, the southern capital of Kakatiyas. These magnificent, yet neglected, temples were constructed by Gona Buddha Reddy, Ganna Reddy and Vittala Reddy, who ruled from the fortified village as the subordinate chiefs of the Kakatiyan rulers.

The Bhadrakali temple, located in a paddy field without any access by path, the Trimurthi temples, abutting a huge fort’s mud wall, and the Nandiswaralayam, where a huge bull’s sculpture is located — giving the village its present name — have been lying in a state of neglect for a long time. The activists, through their awareness programme “Preserve Heritage for Posterity”, visited all these temples and cleared the weeds.