Bhubaneswar: Kalinga Epigraphical Research Group (KERG) rediscovered an inscribed stone panel belonging to the ruling period of Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva near Champabati River, Vizianagaram district, Andhra Pradesh.
“This particular inscription mentions about the gifting of land and a perceptual lamp to the temple of Chodagangeswara at Dharmapura. During our survey, we found a village named ‘Dharmapuri’ still exists near Vizianagaram and remnants of an old Shiva Temple were found scattered which indicates presence of Shiva Temple at Dharmapuri which was probably built by Chodaganga Deva and was addressed as Chodagangeswar Temple,” Deepak Nayak said.
Deepak kumar Nayak and Bikram kumar Nayak from KERG were assisted by local heritage enthusiasts D Santosh and Bijaya Kumar in the exploration.
Deepak Kumar Nayak, a heritage researcher is currently listing and documenting the Kalingan heritage sites and archaeological remains scattered around different parts of South India. His documentation will soon be published in a book form. Sharing more details on this finding,
Deepak Nayak said, “The vast region of ancient Kalinga kingdom was not confined to present day political border of Odisha. From different mythological and historic accounts it is known that Kalinga’s southern region was spanned up to Godavari River. We are currently listing and documenting the archaeological and cultural sites having connection with Kalinga.”
The sheer negligence of these archeological sites makes it an important task to list and document before they are completely lost.
Decades ago, Late Padmashri Satyanarayana Rajaguru had shared details about these inscriptions in his book ‘Inscriptions of Orissa, Volume3’. The inscription inscribed in Telugu script and Language was assigned to a date Shaka year 1072 which equals year 1150 CE.
By Arindam Ganguly, OP