1600-year-old Buddhist Inscription in Hyderabad Remains Undeciphered

Hyderabad: A Buddhist inscription found on a boulder at the Sri Kosagundla Phanigiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in Chaitanyapuri, Hyderabad, remains undeciphered even after 40 years of its discovery.

While an inscription, dating back to the rule of Govindavarman from the Vishnukundi Dynasty between 398 CE to 440 CE , mentions the place as a Buddhist centre, which used to send scented materials and silk clothes to Govindaraja Vihara, the undeciphered inscription is placed just 10 feet above the studied inscription on the boulder.

As per the decoded inscription, which happens to be an ancient inscription found in Hyderabad, in 1984, Chaitanyapuri was once a hub for Buddhism.

Recalling his experience of discovering the temple in 1980, Komanduru Sheshacharyulu (92), professor of Sanskrit and principal of Oriental College, also priest of the temple, said that the temple is believed to have a Swayambhu idol of Narasimha Swamy.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Sheshacharyulu said, “One evening while I was coming out from the temple cave, I found an inscription in an unfamiliar script. I informed my friend P.V. Parabrahma Sastry, an epigraphist from the state archaeology department. He took the estampage of the inscription and studied it."

He said the Buddhist centre was called Phudagiri meaning the hood of a snake, now known as Phanigiri. He said he also found microliths material of Buddhists and handed it over to the Archeology department, requesting to examine and decode details on the other inscription.

When Parabrahma Sastry studied the lower inscription, archaeologist, Dr E Siva Nagi Reddy said that he noticed the inscription lying in the upper part and identified it as Brahmi script based on design.

He said scaffolding has to be built to estampage the upper inscription, following which one can know the exact content of the inscription.

According to records, the Hinayana sect of Buddhism thrived at Chaitanyapuri. The existing record says it as a residential cell built with stones by Bhadanta Sanghadeva, a Buddhist for the use of the persons in-charge of who would be offering sandal and clothes to Govindaraja Vihara. The six-line Prakrit inscription, which was deciphered, happens to be the most ancient inscription found in Hyderabad.

A senior official from the department of heritage, Telangana (formerly known as Telangana department of archaeology and museums) said the department received a letter about the inscription. "A committee with two experts has to be formed and the site has to be protected, and the inscription will be studied,” the official added.