2,100-year-old Buddhist Site Faces Existential Threat

Nalgonda: A 2,100-year-old Buddhist site, located on a hilltop at Phanigiri about 110 km from Hyderabad, faces an existential threat, due to negligence shown by successive governments. It is one of the key locations that has yielded significant Buddhist relics during excavations by the Archaeological Survey of India, which were exhibited at several museums around the world.

These relics also became attractions at the State Museum in Hyderabad and the museum at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh. Buddhist sculptures found during excavations at Phanigiri were also displayed at a special exhibition titled “Tree and Serpent – Early Buddhist Art in India 200 BCE–400 CE”, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 2023.

However, successive governments have shown little interest in protecting the structures — the mahastupa, apsidal Chaitya Griha, votive stupas, and congregation hall viharas located on the hillock at Phanigiri. An archaeological museum was set up at the foot of the hill shrine to preserve the Buddhist relics, but they have been kept in a rented old building at Phanigiri for over a decade.

Even though Buddhist monks from across the world have been visiting the Buddhist site at Phanigiri, neither ghat roads nor steps have been constructed to provide access to the site on the hillock. Visitors have no option but to reach the Buddhist site at their own risk. The Buddhist site does not even have drinking water facilities for tourists.

Dhammapada Buddha Vihar Charitable Trust convenor Sadha Rakitha Bhantheji said that the structures at Phanigiri were being damaged due to rains. As there is no security at the site, it has become a place for illegal activities by drunkards. He urged the state government to lay a ghat road up to the hillock at Phanigiri.

Assistant Director of Archaeology Nagalakshmi informed that measures would be taken up for the protection of the Buddhist site at Phanigiri.