The Fifth Telangana History Congress held at Nadigudem, Suryapet, Telangana on January 19th and 20th 2020 concluded! [4]

The Fifth Telangana History Congress held at Nadigudem, Suryapet, Telangana on January 19^th and 20^th 2020 concluded! [4]

When I presented my paper, Prof T. Manohar, HOD, History Depot, Kakatiya University, Warangal, was chairing the session

I started with the dolmen found at Nadigudem in Nalgonda District, as discovered and reported by M.L.K. Murthy,

Neolithic axes found at Nadigudem in Nalgonda District, as discovered and reported by M.L.K. Murthy,

Stone Art and Architecture: Manufacture of stone temples, houses, utensils, jars, tubs and others: The technology behind and the tools used: I presented my paper on this topic. I started with archaeological evidence found at Nadigudem and proceeded to cover other aspects. Nadigudem has been situated in a hilly area with Paleolithic cultural evidences. M.L.K. Murthy[1] has pointed out the presence of prehistoric men with the discovery of dolmen and Paleolithic axes at Nadigudem, Nalgonda district. The megalithic sites, burials and related details of the Telangana state have been tabulated in the Appendix-II. As Telangana has been naturally formed hilly area with mineral deposits, men had been exploiting stone and stone implements made thereof. It is not that usage of stone utensils, implements and gadgets that could be considered as megalithic, Neolithic or any lithic culture, but, even in modern culture, it is used for durable and preservative nature. About the availability of ironworking in Telangana, reports have already been published[2]. Therefore, naturally, Telangana people must have worked with stones to manufacture marvellous specimens with high tensile Ferroalloy tools. Thus, stone Art and Architecture, manufacture of stone temples, houses, utensils, jars, tubs and others,  the science and technology behind and the tools used, are studied in this paper with the available evidences of Telangana, Andhra and neighbouring states of Tamilnadu, and Karnataka. Telangana archaeologists have discovered many megalithic, neolithic sites [Pullur banda, Gondimalla, Peddamarur etc] with specimens that prove the stone working capabilities of men going back to c.2000 BCE[3]. After giving many examples, I concluded as follows.

I showed many examples stone utensils etc., to prove how the stone was worked with tools according to the requirements of men’s usage.

A huge capstone was used to cover a menhir-type prehistoric burial site in Neremetta. The crane from Hyderabad took four hours to lift the 40 ton capstone

The preference, uniqueness and usage of stone for all purposes (In lieu of conclusion): From the above discussion, the points are summarized as conclusion:

1. The Indian selection of stone for many purposes in the art and architecture has been unique. Researchers note that not only the historians, archaeologists and art experts differ in dating IVC, IVC artefacts, Vedic civilization and literature, but also in dating available stone art specimens of all forms.
2. Stone has been formed with the creation of earth as a part of Panchabhutas. As a human body with life has been made of Panchabhutas, the stone has been unique, pure and lasts forever. Thus, anything made of stone, preserved in stone, lived with stone would have a long life without degradation.
3. Sila was considered divine and ‘Salagrama’ is treated and worshipped as ‘stone-god,’ nature carved Idol of God manifested.
4. Thus, the Vedic people referred to live in forests and hilly areas, so that they could get all their requirements.
5. The Jains and the Buddhists differed, thus, they located their paces at remote places at the hilly places and viharas. They had to come to villages and cities for their requirements.
6. Thus, stone art developed and progressed in one way or the other, giving employment to thousands of people.
7. During their periods, the quarrying and deforestation were undertaken in a balanced way, so that there were no ecological imbalances. As the population increased, cities multiplied, imbalances had crept into.
8. Modern methods of exploitations, including quarrying and infrastructure development activities, make many monuments disturbed, displaced and disappeared.
9. The uniqueness of /Indian stone art expertise, skill in the carving, particularly rock-art architecture and other features has bee unparalleled. Whether the material evidences came first and the architectural manuals composed later or vice versa, both had been in existence definitely 2000 to 5000 YBP depending upon various experts, different theories and varied chronologies.
10. In any case, the Indians have been so fascinated with stones and rocks of all forms, used and benefited by their use, and lived with them, that they have not disturbed the ecological imbalances, as modern men do.

I showed many examples stone utensils etc., to prove how the stone was worked with tools according to the requirements of men’s usage.

Bell made of stone hanging in a stone chain – the technology and the tools used behind the manufacture should be considered, appreciated and understood

Stone trough, tub, tank could be found in many places. They were used for storing water, food etc., catering to the need of the travellers etc.

This tub with inlet, outlet etc., is found in the Big Temple, Tanjore, reportedly used by Rajaraja Chola.

This tub with inlet, outlet etc., is found in the Big Temple, Tanjore, reportedly used by Rajaraja Chola. Again the point is the ferroalloy tools used to cut, shape, polish and bring out such item made of stone.

A 15th century stone trough spotted on the right bank of the river Krishna at Tangeda village in Dachepalli mandal of Guntur district. The trough chiselled out in Palnadu lime stone measuring 15ft x 3ft x 3ft with a depth of one foot from the River Krishna to facilitate drinking water for elephants during 15th century

Christian Missionaries: John David resented a paper on the role of Christian missionaries for promoting education, health etc. His way of presentation and the concepts of the [paper show that it was of nature of propaganda. He was quoting biblical verses exhaustively to prove that Jesus Christ was a good healer and so on. Of course, Rekha Pande questioned him, after the presentation.

Importance of Nelakondapalli Buddhist site from Khammam district in Telangana state[4]: G.Chandra Reddy presented this paper. He gave the findings of Maga-stupa, Viharas, Votive stupa, throne, Buddha figures and concluded that Nelakondapalli Buddhist site could be developed into a Buddhist hub to attract international tourists. Therefore, the Telangana government should take steps for tourism development.

Return to Chennai: The paper-reading session was over and the General Secretary opined that paper presenter should be available to listen to other paper presenters also. One should not just read paper and go away. Such trend should not be encouraged. But, the day before, they themselves announced that those who wanted to go immediately, they could read their papers, as pointed out above.  After lunch, I decided to proceed to Suryapet, as /I had to vacate the room and proceed to Khammam to catch my train to Chennai. So I came out of the venue and stood on the road near the entrance to request any car that might go to the main road / NH.  After some time, I saw one car coming out and I requested them, the person inside was kind enough to agree to drop me on the NH. Thus, I reached the main road at Barkataguda. Then, I got a share-cab to reach Suryapet junction by 3.30pm. I went to the hotel to know that my room-mate and other friends had already checked out and gone. Therefore, I took rest, packed up my luggage and checked out by 4.45 pm. I proceeded to the main road, where I could get a bus to Khammam. By 7.00 pm, I reached khammam BS and then RS by 7.30 pm. As my train G. T. Express would come by 9.00 pm, I was sitting there watching the passengers and trains going to and fro. The train came by one hour late i,e, 10.00 pm. I got into the train to settle down. After few stations, I had the same problem of many passengers just getting inside and filling up space. Of course, this time, there was an objection from co-passengers also, therefore, we could control them. Definitely, I had the most tedious, wearisome and difficult journey to attend one conference with inherent and other difficulties, as explained and pointed out above, in my life time. As the organizers have been well experienced, highly knowledgeable and veterans in the field, they should see that their logistics would satisfy the minimum requirements of the delegates coming to attend the seminar / conference.  It is not that satisfying 10 and ignoring 90 out of 100, as all pay the delegates fees. Therefore, they may have a feeling,  why should spend thousands of rupees to undergo such treatment. Therefore, if these basics are not taken care of, days are near for the history  congress to wind up their activities.

How to strengthen History Congresses?: Having attended more than 700 national and international conferences, seminars, workshops, and other academic meetings, gatherings etc., presented 700 papers, published 300 papers, and personally interacted with thousands of students, faculties, historians, archaeologists etc., I would like to submit the following to the organizers, conductors of the history congresses:

1. Plan systematically about the delegates reception, transport accommodation, food, kit with list of papers, academic sessions etc., in advance.
2. There is no meaning in forming so many committees with all A to Z names, but, with “do not care” towards delegates.
3. Take enough money, but, provide reasonable accommodation, food, transport etc.
4. With experience, I can tell with delegate fees, sponsorship, donation etc., the organizers get enough money and therefore, there is no problem in proving such facilities.
5. Satisfying coterie type people and harassing others is not the way of conduct of any congress, seminar or conference.
6. By sharing, cooking for 100s / 1000s, a lot of money can be saved, therefore, they should provide to the delegates back.
7. If they cannot or not able to do so, do not conduct, keep quite.
8. By getting delegates or crowd only, you can conduct and therefore, the organizers cannot ignore or harass delegates.
9. The delegates incur thousands of rupees by coming from distant places. The serious delegates would definitely feel and understand the mishandling of the proceedings.
10. Therefore, plan, take care of the delegates and conduct, otherwise forget the tamasha, jathra or get-together like gatherings.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

21-01-2020

[1] Murty, M. L. K., ed. Pre-and Protohistoric Andhra Pradesh up to 500 bc. Vol. 1. Orient Blackswan, 2003, p.89, 104.

[2] Juleff, G., Sharada Srinivasan, and S. Ranganathan. Pioneering Metallurgy: The origins of iron and steel making in the Southern Indian subcontinent Telangana Field Survey Interim Report 2011, National Institute of Advanced Studies, 2011.

[3] K.P. Rao, Iron Age Culture in South India: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in Akinori Uesugi (ed.), Iron Age in South Asia, Archaeological Research Institute, Kansai University, 2018, pp.129-144.

[4] His  paper – summary – has been printed in the Souvenir of the Telangana History Congress, the Annual Conference 2020, p.34.

The Fifth Telangana History Congress held at Nadigudem, Suryapet, Telangana on January 19th and 20th 2020 – after DACRI, THC started! [3]

The Fifth Telangana History Congress held at Nadigudem, Suryapet, Telangana on January 19^th and 20^th 2020 – after DACRI, THC started! [3]

Telangana Proceedings started by afternoon of 18-01-2020: The actual THC  proceedings started about 1.00 pm with the president’s speech about it and introducing the sectional presidents of different sections. After lunch, the sectional presidents started reading their papers as usual from the printed booklet, printed and distributed to the delegates. Of course, now, because of time, they briefed for 10-15 minutes.

Sl. No	Name Dr / Prof	Section	Topic / title of the paper read
1	K. P. Rao	Ancient	Telangana, the past and present duty
2	Rekha Pande	Medieval	Making history inclusive – rethinking women’s history and new categories = A case study of the temple girls in medieval Deccan.
3	Deepak Kumar	Modern	Why Histem?
4	Kurra Jitendra Babu	Local	The importance of local history

Though, these had been nominated / chosen by the EC for conducting the respective sessions, they could not perform their duties. The paper-presenters were allowed to read papers according to their convenience in the same place. The sectional presidents did not have any role in the proceedings. Then, those who wanted to leave might come and present papers, as announced by the organizers. That meant they could come, just read paper, get a certificate and went away without any active participation in the conference.

The concept of India: Thus, a person from Hyderabad presented the paper, “Concept of India”. He was trying to interpret that only Mohammedans through their language and literature mentioned about “India.” Hindavi language was spoken in and around Delhi. Amir Khusrow, who lived in the thirteenth century during the Delhi Sultanate period in North India, used these forms (which was the lingua franca of the period) in his writings and referred to it as Hindavi (Persian: ھندوی‎ literally “of Hindus or Indians”). The Delhi Sultanate, which comprised several Turkic and Afghan dynasties that ruled much of the subcontinent from Delhi, was succeeded by the Mughal Empire in 1526. He also quoted from Irfan Habib[1], “The first patriotic poem in which India is praised, India is loved, Indians are acclaimed is Amir Khusrau’s long poem in his Nuh Sipihir written in 1318”. Actually, Amir Khusrow’s poems were collected later, as his originals were not available. The Sufi literature influenced by the Bakti literature incorporated Krishna and Rama and even compared with Allah. Allah is compared with Ram, the Zam Zam water with the Ganges waters, Mecca with Kasi and so on. Really, I could not understand the purpose and purport of this paper read in this conference, because, without knowing India, none could have wanted to come to India. I did not know Nadigudem, but, somehow reached here from Chennai, then, I could not say how Nadigudem became a samasthanam, village, pargana and so on!

Kakatiya rulers and Mohammedans[2]: Then, Amarnath, a research student from Kakatiya university presented a paper in Telugu about the Kakatiya rulers and the Mohammedans and the encounters between them, particularly, how Musurnuru Kappayya Nayaka faced them. Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka (r. 1333–1368) led a larger rebellion against the Tughluq rule, driving it out of Warangal in 1336. According to the Kaluvacheru grant of Anithalli, a female member of the Panta Reddi clan in 1423, Kapaya Nayaka was assisted by 75 Nayakas. The grant also states that Prolaya Vema Reddi was one among these 75 Nayakas, but this is doubtful. Muhammad bin Tughluq, who became the Sultan of Delhi in 1324, witnessed numerous rebellions starting in 1330, first in the immediate vicinity in the Ganga-Yamuna doab, which caused a famine in Delhi, and rebellions within ranks in Ma’bar (Madurai) and Bengal. It is possible that Kapaya Nayaka advanced in the direction of Warangal in this period, acquiring some of its territories. Consequently, Telangana was also counted among the rebellious territories.

In 1334–35, the Sultan marched on Deccan in an attempt to quell the rebellions, but his army was struck by some kind of epidemic and the Sultan himself fell gravely ill. In the meantime, Ferishta narrates that Kapaya Nayaka approached the Hoysala ruler Veera Ballala III for assistance in evicting the Sultanate from Warangal. After consideration, assistance was offered. Bilal Dew [Ballala], convened a meeting of his kinsmen and resolved, first, to secure the forts of his own country. and then to remove his seat of government among the mountains. Krishn Naig [Kapaya Nayak] promised, on his part also, that when their plans were ripe for execution, to raise all the Hindoos of Wurungole and Telingana and put himself at their head…. He (Bilal Dew) then raised an army and put part of it under the command of Krishn Naig, who reduced Wurungole and compelled Imad-ool-Moolk, the governor, to retreat to Dowlatabad [Daulatabad] — Ferishta, Tarikh-i-farishti (c. 1600). Historian R. C. Majumdar characterises it as a ‘national revolt’ backed up by a regular army. Malik Maqbul found himself unable to withstand the rebellion and fled to Delhi.

Ferishta states that Kapaya Nayaka and Ballala III then jointly marched on the newly declared Madurai Sultanate and divested it of its outlying territories in particular Tondaimandalam. Kapaya Nayaka ruled over Telangana until 1368. Upon his death, the allied Nayakas are said to have returned to their own towns. Despite his opposition to the Turks, Kapaya Nayaka continued using the Kush Mahal built by the Turks in Warangal and adopted the Persianised title “Sultan of the Andhra country”. In 1361, he gifted to the Bahmani Sultan Mohammed Shah I the Turquoise Throne as part of a treaty agreement. He took control of Warangal from Malik Maqbul in 1336 and thus also of a wider swathe of eastern Telangana that was governed from there. He also tried to support other rebels in the surrounding areas, although in the case of aid given to Alauddin Bahman Shah, the outcome was that his fellow rebel turned on him. Several military engagements with Bahaman Shah followed over a period of years, during which Kapaya Nayaka had to cede various forts and territories. His weakened position was exploited by the Reddis and the Recherla Nayaks, the latter of whom caused his death in battle at Bhimavaram and ended the period of the Musunuri family.

The second day 20-01-2020 proceedings of the THC: Unlike yesterday, the huge crowd gathered, today, I could see only about 60 delegates sitting there. They were trying to arrange PPT provision also. It was giving some problem. The projected images were also not clear and therefore, they were covering the side portions of the stage with a cloth. Here, also, no paper list was provided. The organizers accepted that they received only about 20 papers, that too, titles, summaries and a few full papers. Coming to my case, though, I sent my paper through e-mail and acknowledged, it was not listed. Incidentally, I could find in the “Souvenir” though, 16 papers were listed and printed, I could note only five papers were presented and other paper-papers did not turn up. Then, it was added to be presented in the second session after tea break.  Thus, it is evident that the person-in-charge of “papers” had failed in his duty by not including my paper, though I have sent full paper by e-mail. Really, I do not know why it has been happening in my case then and there. As e-mail system cannot make any mistake, definitely, the persons involved in handling such system have been manipulating.

Ellamma, Renuka Devi cult: A retd. Prof from Kuppam university tried to argue that the Ellamma / Renuka Devi cult started from the Telangana state. He even tried to attribute the sculptures at Alampur to such a cult. The headless body fell at a place called as “Mundavalli,” where, Mundavelli temple is there near Alampur. It is clear that he was exaggerating and interpreting with a stretched explanation to locate the story in the Telangana area. Really, I do not know why certain paper readers, researchers and others have been trying to narrow down and locate everything in the Telangana geography.  Actually, the Yogamba / Jogalamba Devi temple is regarded as one of the Sakti-peetha, where, Sati Devi’s upper teeth fell. The original temples were destroyed by the Muslims in 1390 and it was rebuilt after  615 years i.e, in 2005.

Manuscript Heritage on the borders of Telangana[3]: Bujangarao Bode presented his paper on the topic mentioned. He was narrating in general, where manuscripts are there, how they are preserved, kept and neglected also. He was al accusing that some mss are missing from National archives, New Delhi. He also listed out the institutions and places where mss are available.

Telangs – The Mons of Burma and Thailand[4]: S. Uday Bhanu based on the secondary sources, the books are written by the European researchers on the SEA, quoting verbatim of their paragraphs, tried to interpret that the “Telengs” were Telangana people and the Muns / Mons were south Indians settled there in Burma.

© K. V. Ramakrishna Rao

21-01-2020

[1] Irfan Habib, Building the idea of India, Lecture delivered October 07, 2015 Kennedy Auditorium

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh.

 http://ia801207.us.archive.org/11/items/IdeaofIndiabyIrfanHabib/Building the Idea of India.pdf

[2] His paper – summary – has been printed in the Souvenir of the Telangana History Congress, the Annual Conference 2020, p.32.

[3] His full paper has been printed in the Souvenir of the Telangana History Congress, the Annual Conference 2020, pp.24-30.

[4] His paper – summary – has been printed in the Souvenir of the Telangana History Congress, the Annual Conference 2020, pp.35-36.