A Trip To ARAI Waterfalls

VISIT TO NAGARJUNASAGAR AND NAGARJUNAKONDA

     Nagarjuna Sagar dam was built across the Krishna river at Nagarjuna Sagar which is in between Nalgonda district and Guntur district. The construction of the dam was between the years of 1955 and 1967. 

      Nagarjuna Sagar takes its present name from Nagarjuna, one of the most revered Buddhist monks lived in 2nd century AD. It is also a place of immense archaeological significance and excavations revealed this place as a centre for the propagation of Buddhist teachings in south India during 3rd century AD. It was ruled by the Sathavahanas and subsequently by the Ikshvaku rulers during ancient times.

HOW TO REACH NAGARJUNA SAGAR:

At a distance of 166km from Hyderabad, 83 km from Nalgonda, 149 km from Guntur, 190 km from Vijayawada its is accessible by buses fro respective locations. Hyderabad airport is the nearest airport about 153 km away. The nearest railway station are at Macherla 23km and Nalgonda 83 km away.

The best season to visit Nagarjuna Sagar is from September to January while the peak season is from September to December. If you want to visit during gates opening check out the dates from Telangana tourism website its in during monsoon season i.e., September/October. It usually takes one full day to visit all places in Nagarjuna Sagar. 

NAGARJUNA KONDA:

There are two ways to reach Nagarjuna konda through boats.

One from vijayapuri north also called hill colony maintained and operated by Telangana government.

Other from vijayapuri south boat launch station operated and maintained by Andhra Pradesh tourism government.

Both the Andhra and Telangana boat fare cost INR 150/- for adults and INR 120/- for children (6-12 years) and INR 20/- for museum.

Please go on weekends to reach Nagarjuna konda because when I gone to Telangana boat launch station they have said boat will be operated only when it has minimum 40 people as they registered only 6-8 people so I couldn't take ride from Telangana.

Its about 8 km from Telangana launch station to Andhra launch station.

view from boat launch station

ADVICE: FRIDAY IS HOLIDAY FOR BOAT RIDE.

BOAT TIMINGS: 9:30 AM, 11:30 AM and1:30 pm

                                You will have to travel 45 mins to reach and 1 hour to explore the museum and 

                                again 45 mins to reach back to sagar. So plan accordingly.

MUSEUEM TIMINGS: 9AM to 4 pm. Closed on Fridays and national holidays.

Nagarjuna konda is located on a small island in the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir this place houses some of the historic evidence of a Buddhist civilization. Museum has been built in which various sculptures and excavation are kept over there. And also a stupa and a monastery that was found during the excavation has been reconstructed there.

I have reached around 1:30 at the boat launch station and hopped in, it was an wonderful ferry experience after disembarking from boast we need to walk about an km to reach museum we find some ancient stuff over there about Buddhist sculptures. Photography is prohibited in museum .

Nagarjuna konda is one of India's richest Buddhist sites and it lies in backwaters of Nagarjuna Sagar dam. Nagarjuna konda was once the capital of ikshvaku kingdom and was called vijayapuri. It was named after Acharya Nagarjuna, a renowned Buddhist scholar, philosopher who lived here in the 2nd century AD and composed the initial sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. Discovered in 1926, the remains of the Buddhist settlements and university are preserved in the museum on Nagarjuna konda. Some of the Buddhist archaeological sites were submerged after the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar dam. Few of them were excavated later and transferred to higher land on the hill which is the main tourist site.

 

Monolithic statue of Buddha at Nagarjuna konda

Apart from Nagarjuna Sagar dam and Nagarjuna konda there are other Buddhist monuments at Anupu, its about 8km from AP boat launch station, Anupu is a site of Buddhist excavations reconstructed to perfection with extreme care and great effort. During the construction of the Nagarjuna Sagar dam, the ruins of an ancient Buddhist university were excavated along with several monasteries. The ruins are collected and few structures are reconstructed at Anupu by Archeological survey of India. It is one of the best Nagarjuna Sagar tourist places.

There are three main structures at Anupu - Ancient university, Amphi theater and Harati temple.

UNIVERSITY COMPLEX:

This transplanted structure which was identified as university complex by the excavators appears like a vihara complex of Buddhist monks with central meditation hall a stupa and cells. The epigraphical evidence surfaced at this place suggest that this place was inhabited by learned Buddhist monks.

AMPHI THEATRE:

This transplanted imposing structure contain multi liered gallery on all the four sides and can accommodate about a thousand spectators. It is unique example of architecture in ancient India and probably inspired by roman tradition. The brick built structure, entirely cased with stone slabs, had atleast 16 tiers. The place could have been used for sports and wrestling as attested by several sculptural representations of wrestling scenes from Nagarjunakonda.

HARITHI TEMPLE:

The temple of Harati, the Buddhist mother goddess, was one of the important finds during the excavations.