How experts see Buddhist sculptures in Alampur

HYDERABAD: Alampur, the temple town of Jogulamba-Gadwal district, is considered to be the western gateway to Srisailam, and is also known to be one of the eighteen ‘shakthi peethas.’ A startling revelation inside the Navabraheswara temple complex is the presence of two sculptures of Lord Buddha, which was discovered by famous historian late BSL Hanumantha Rao in the recent past. Dr E Sivanagi Reddy, an archaeologist and CEO of pleach India Foundation, has studied the Buddha’s sculptures carved on the ceilings of the ‘mahamandapas’ of Suryanarayana and Papanaseswara temples in Alampur.

In the Buddha’s sculpture found inside the Suryanarayan and Papanaseswara temples, Buddha can be seen seated under the Bodhi tree in Dhyanamudra (contemplating meditation), with an attendant’s sculpture carved above, below and on his left side. It measures 3 foot in width and height, and four inches in thickness. 

Dr Sivanagi Reddy opines that it was probably during the period when Buddhism was on the decline around 10th Century AD, and when Shaivism and Vaishnavism were on the rise, that Buddha was adopted by these cults as an incarnation of Vishnu, the reason why Buddha’s sculptures found their way into these temples.