HYDERABAD: Once a fort of Raja Nayani Venkata Ranga Rao of Munagala Paragana (province), located at Nadigudi in Suryapet district, is now a research centre of the Deccan Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute (DACRI).
The 150-year-old fort was renovated by the DACRI and was inaugurated on Saturday. It houses over 2.5 lakh rare books and over one lakh palm-leaf manuscripts.The fort, built in 1870, was handed over to the DACRI six months ago after its director, Kurra Jitendra Babu, requested Santosh Reddy, the grandson of Nayani Venkata Ranga Rao, to do so to develop it into a research centre.
On Saturday, the renovated fort was inaugurated by Hampi Sri Virupaksha Vidyaranya Mahasamsthanam pontiff Sri Vidyaranya Bharathi Swami. Among those who were present include Santosh Reddy, Veamana Peetham president Ch Anjaneya Reddy, Telangana History Congress president Vaikuntham, former MLC Mandali Buddha Prasad and others. Speaking on the occasion, the DACRI director said it would take around 200 years to translate and print all the books that were at the research centre.
Meanwhile, the residents of Nadigudi expressed happiness over their village housing the research centre. The two-day meeting of the Telangana History Congress too began at the newly-inaugurated research centre on Saturday. As many as 10 books were released during the meeting.