Reddy Ratnakar Reddy, a teacher at a private college, has travelled extensively in Warangal and collected artefacts of historical value

For many of us, a piece of rock doesn’t mean anything. But for Reddy Ratnakar Reddy, a teacher at a private B.Ed college here, it’s a source of education and research.

The 40-year-old Ratnakar Reddy, who developed interest in studying history, travelled the entire district excavating the buried past. In the process, he collected innumerable items, mostly rocks, fossils and tools, believed to have been used by pre-historic men in the course of evolution.

Mr. Ratnakar Reddy found pre-historic places and animal and tree fossils at Buttaigudem in Eturunagaram mandal, cave paintings at Vargal near Medak district, coloured rock beads, menhirs, cist, kern circles at Konne village in Bachannapet mandal in Warangal and grinding stones and grooves at Ramachandrapur village in the same mandal. A huge rock avenue was spotted by him at Kodavatur village as well.

“The habit of digging into the past, literally, is inherited from my father, Buchi Reddy, who is a curious person. Since the announcement of separate Telangana in 2009, I took interest in digging out unknown facts about Telangana, particularly the Warangal district,” he told The Hindu .

He turned his house into a minim archaeology museum with the items he collected during his tours all over the district.

Among the most enchanting findings of Mr. Ratnakar Reddy are musical stones at Chunchunkota hillocks in Cheriyal mandal. “There is a long stone with 60 capsules which was perhaps used as a musical instrument. If you hit the stone, it emits a musical note. There are petroglyphs as well,” he explained.

How does he establish the veracity and authenticity of his findings? Mr. Ratnakar Reddy has been in touch with archaeology and history experts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and surfs internet to learn more about his findings.

“There is an amazing history attached to She Stones found at Wanaparthy village in Lingala Ghanpur mandal and so also the rock cut burials there,” he said.

He wishes to write a book about his findings thus securing a page for himself in the history of Warangal.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao / Jangaon(Warangal District) / April 01st, 2016

Recent excavations conducted by the department of Archaeology and Museums (DAM) have revealed evidence of yet another ancient settlement in Nalgonda district.

The latest site is located in Pajjur village, about 12 km from Nalgonda and 80 km away from Phanigiri Buddhist site, where the department had unearthed extensive Buddhist relics dating back to the 2nd century AD and 4th century AD. A team of archaeologists, who started excavations at Pajjur on February 18, found several pottery shreds and terracotta figures. After digging up to three layers, they have found an underlying brick structure too apart from several coloured beads, shell bangles, toys and female terracotta figures.

“On one of the pottery piece, it was written ‘Buddhasa’ in Brahmi script. But it is too early to call it a Buddhist site. Our investigations reveal that the site should date back to the first and third century AD,” said an official.

In fact, the archaeologists had conducted a preliminary surface excavation at Pajjur in 2003 but with Phanigiri Buddhist site gaining prominence, this site was left unattended. The proposal to conduct further excavations was approved by Central Advisory Board Of Archaeology (CABA) recently after the department conducted a surface examination of the site and forwarded the proposal to Delhi.

Confirming the same, NR Visalatchy, director, DAM, said a ground survey was conducted recently to find surface evidence which had suggested an underlying settlement.

“It is a huge area of up to 40 acres. We had problems in convincing the local farmers about the extent of land needed for excavations. We have taken up work on around 3-4 acres. The surface has been disturbed a lot. Just for agricultural purpose alone, around four feet of earth has been removed. We have found a lot of pottery shreds there,” she said.

According to her, there is no evidence so far to suggest that it is a Buddhist site.

“We are exploring the possibilities. The construction needs to be studied scientifically. The structure looks like a wall more than a Stupa. Whether it is part of a Vihara complex will be revealed during further investigation. Unlike the bricks seen in Viharas, these bricks are extremely of light weight. All the analysis needs to be done,” she explained.

At Phanigiri, the hillock which draws its name from the shape that resembles a snake-hood, the department had excavated structural remains in four aspidal Chaityagrihas, eight votive stupas (both circular and square), a maha stupa, a stone-pillared congregation hall with 64 pillars, three viharas with thick brick walls, sculptured panels, Brahmi inscriptions belonging to Satavahana and Ikshvaku dynasties, coins of Mahatalavarasa, Satavahana, Ikshvaku kings and even Roman coins and Persian pottery were found.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Telanagana / by Rahul V. Pisharody / February 29th, 2016

After his death, siblings of Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bafanna, owner of Haziq and Mohi Rare Book Suppliers, start digitising and categorising the inventory.

our months after 67-year-old Ahmed Bin Mohammed Bafanna breathed his last leaving behind a treasure trove in terms of literature, his four-decade-old shop which sells rare books is all set to be brought back to life. While it will take time to return things to full functionality, it is nevertheless something that book lovers have been waiting for.

And if you were one of those people wondering about the future of Haziq and Mohi Rare Book Suppliers, then there is good news. Mr. Ahmed’s five siblings have now begun sorting and rearranging the range of books in the shop subject wise, and they also plan to digitise the entire collection. “We started work in December, and have categorised more than 10,000 books so far,” said Khaled Bafanna, the youngest of the siblings.

The work to categorise all the books in Haziq and Mohi will take at least six months more, given that nobody in the family except Mr. Ahmed had any idea of which book is where.

“He had everything on his mind. We have started separating them under categories like Islamic literature and history. It will make things easier, as we would know how to find things. And we don’t even know the total number of books that are here,” explained Khaled. After Mr. Ahmed’s sudden demise, there was fear among his customers that his store would be shut down. Perhaps the fact that the store was closed for about 40 days after his death may have prompted that idea. For instance, a researcher from the US who was in Hyderabad last December went back disappointed, as the store was closed. The shop is a place where any literature lover could get lost in. Filled with books everywhere, there is just enough space for one person to walk through it, literally. A second person would have to either go outside to give way, or turn sideways to let another person pass. And the books also perhaps live up to the store’s name, as all of them inside are titles that would pique anyone’s curiosity.

For example, some of the books on display there are Aazadi (in Urdu), Women in Delhi Sultanate by Lokesh Chandra Nand, Timardaari (in Urdu) and another one titled Hyderabad Gazetteer by A. Khan. “Once my son’s exams are over, I will also create an email ID for the shop, so that our customers can reach us easily,” said Khaled, who is helped by his brothers to run the shop. And without Mr. Ahmed, how do they fix the cost of the books they sell? “We fix the price based on the date of the books, i.e. how old they are. And also, in case we cannot get another print of a particular book, we will only make Photostat copies of the original and give it, to preserve the copy we have,” he said, sitting where his eldest brother once sat in front of the shop on a small stool. Khaled and his brothers will also be relying on the same book sellers who would inform whenever a rare book would be available in the market for them to purchase. Mr. Ahmed is survived by his five brothers Ali, Abdallah, Salem, Osman and Khaled, all of whom maintain the store together. The shop is open from 12 noon to 7 p.m., and customers can contact Mr. Khaled on 93940 21930.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Yunus Y. Lasania / February 22nd, 2016