The Dhaka Times Desk Much of the history of the world is unknown to us. One such landmark is the Nagarjunasagar Dam. It took about 12 years to complete the dam between Guntur in Andhra Pradesh and Nalgonda district in Telangana, India. A huge city of ancient India is buried under its water.
In 1903, survey work was started for the construction of this dam on Krishna river. The British engineers worked under the orders of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
The project started in 1955 during Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure. The work was completed in 1967. The 1.6 km long dam has a water capacity of 1147 crore 20 lakh cubic meters. This dam, spread in many directions including irrigation and hydropower projects, is considered as the main engineer of the country's green revolution.
However, in return, this dam has consumed the priceless value of history. Deep in it sleeps an ancient city of about 1700 years.
According to media reports, the Ikshbaku dynasty came to power after the fall of the Satavahana dynasty in Deccan. It was founded by Vasishtaputra Chamtamula. It has nothing to do with the Ikshbaku dynasty of Ramayana.
Historians believe that this dynasty deliberately took this title, to prove its closeness to Ramachandra. The rule of the Ikshbaku dynasty extended from 225 to 325 AD in the Guntur, Krishna and Nalgonda regions of present-day Andhra and Telangana. Their capital was located where Nagarjunasagar lake is today. The ancient name of their capital on the right bank of Krishna river was Vijayapuri.
This well-planned city once had huge palaces, common people's houses, temples, shops, markets, stables, baths and many parts of civil civilization. Like the Roman Empire, there was also an amphitheater in this city.
With this priceless wealth of history, Vijaypuri went under the public eye for several hundred years. No one was looking for him behind the dense forest and mountains. It was rediscovered during the British rule in 1926. From 1927 to 1931, minor excavations were also carried out there.
It is known that ASI has preserved very few traces of history in Nagarjunakonda. Nagarjunakonda is a single island on the Nagarjunasagar lake. It houses some architectural remains of the Ikhbaku Dynasty, which in the past have been preserved only slightly.
Nagarjunakonda also has a museum besides those relics of Hinduism and Buddhism. What has been preserved there is only the tip of the iceberg. The rest is swallowed up by the waters of the Krishna river.
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