HYDERABAD: Literary evidence of the spread of Buddhism to north Telangana (the land of Assaka) which was revealed in the Parayanavagga of Sutta-Nipata, a collection of religious discourse, speaks of Bavari, a Brahmin priest who had come from Kosala in Magadha to settle on a island on the forked streams of the Godavari River.
Despite the evidence claiming that Bavari had lived in the present Nirmal district where Godavari river flows in forked branches, archaeologists had always been keen to trace the island. In 1990, archaeologist Thakur Rajaram Singh observed that Bavari probably lived in Badanakurthi island on the banks of the River Godavari.
It was only in 2019 that a major breakthrough was achieved, when Heritage Telangana and Buddhavanam officials, along with volunteers and researchers, removed rank vegetation on a mound in the island at Bavapur Kurru, located 12 km from Badanakurthi that a brick mound was found and was first identified by Dr D Santosh, a history researcher.
The mound has three rows of stone platforms encircling a 19-metre-long brick-built Stupa, with a gap left between the rows for 'Pradakshinas'. Some brick laid structures were also found, which could have been chambers where the monks lived.
There were bricks of various shapes and sizes found in other parts of the island, which Dr MA Srinivasan, archaeologist and Assistant Professor at Potti Sriramulu Telugu University believes could have been smaller stupas.
"Lot of experimentation from bricks was done to form the mound's shape, with bricks measuring 56x26x12 cm, which according to archaeology, could date back to early history. Though it could be too early to jump to the conclusion about the site's connection with Bavari, if the age of the bricks could be ascertained, more could be revealed," he opines.
"Till now whatever archaeological evidence we have on Buddhism in Telangana was from the Satavahana era which began around 200 BC. Tracing the evidence of Bavari will take archaeological evidence of Buddhist influence in Telangana to pre-Satavahana era, probably to the later part of 6th Century, the time of Lord Buddha. That is what makes the necessity for further research pressing," Srinivasan adds.