A Monograph on Yeleswaram Excavations

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The excavation at Yölöśwaram was carried out by the Department of Archaeology, Andhra Pradesh under the stewardship of Dr. P. Sreenivasachar with a band of enthusiastic workers like Sri Syed Ahmed and others in the year 1955-56 and this revealed the site to be very prolific and potential from Archaeological point of view. The learned excavator exposed many important Megalithic burials and also historical structures, both secular and religious besides collecting a rich crop of minor anti- quities. The work was of an emergent nature as the site was soon to be submerged under the waters of 80 meter high Dam which is coming up hardly 7 kilometers down the stream.

A wide scale excavation of the important site of Nägarjunakonda on the right bank of the river Krishna and Yelēśwaram on the left have brought to light the existence, in these parts, of great centres of culture which nurtured the civilization of the Andhras through Ages.

The civilization which flourished in the valley is comparable in some aspects to the great civilizations that arose in ancient times in the valleys of the mighty rivers of Nile and Indus. As this valley was threatened with submergence after the construction of a high Dam across the river Krishna, a decision was taken by the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh to excavate thoroughly a vast area and salvage as many antiquities as possible for the benefit of generations to come. Keeping this objective in mind the excavations at Yaleswaram were started by the Department of Archaeology, Andhra Pradesh under the leadership of Dr. P. Sreenivasachar in the year 1935 56. Later on Sri Md. Abdul Waheed Khan the present Diector of Archaeology took over the work and conducted two field seasons in 1960-61, and 1961-62, each covering a period of near- ly 5 months. The excavation has exposed several distinct occupation levels lying one above the other, and revealed a whole phase of human society teeming with life in these parts in prehistoric and latter periods. It has also yielded a rich crop of minor antiquities such as terracottas, variegated types of pottery, sprinklers, beads, iron and copper objects, inscriptions, hop-scotches, whet-stones, saddle- quern and sling stones etc.

The learned author of this monograph has posed a host of new problems such as a double burial where two skeletons were found lying one on the other in a Cairn-circle of Megalithic complex. It is indeed very difficult to say why these skeletons were buried in this particular posture, whether it has something to do with Tantric cult or some form of ritual like Sati. It is a challenge to the archaeologists to tackle this problem and offer some solution.

Yēlēswaram is now the name of an unostentatious modern village situated on the bank of the river Krishna in the Devarakonda Taluk of the Nalgonda District. The village is located in a valley, covering approximately an area of 13 square Kilometers and is contiguous to Nagarjunakonda valley.