Page:The Buddhist Antiquities Of Nagarjunakonda MASI 54 Longhurst A. H..djvu/15

2 the Buddhist monuments in the valley. The bricks resemble big tiles and measure 20 in. by 10 in. by 3 in., exactly the same dimensions as some of the bricks unearthed at Bulandibagh near Patna in Bihar, the ancient site of Asoka’s capital Pataliputra. It is strange that two sites so far distant, should yield large bricks of the same dimensions. On the northern slopes of the hill are several long stone curtain walls and bastions which belong to later times and were probably built by some local chief about the sixteenth century during the Vijayanagar period (Plate 1).

In the centre of the valley is the little hamlet of Pullareddigudem inhabited by a few Telugu Hindus, Lambadis and Chenchus. The Lambadis are a picturesque gipsy tribe who keep large herds of cattle and cultivate their own lands, While the Chenchus are a wild jungle people who live in the forest-clad Nallamalais of the adjacent Kurnool District, their chief settlement being at Srisailam (Plate III). They live mainly by hunting and trapping and collect honey, roots, firewood and charcoal. Their dwellings consist of small beehive-shaped huts with mud walls and roofs coyered with palm leaves and reeds. The huts are built close together in lines and are usually protected by a-strong wooden stockade. The Chenchus are expert archers and trackers and even kill tigers with poisoned arrows at times. The hamlet of. Pullareddigudem consists of a collection of exceedingly squalid mud huts with thatched roofs (Plate II (b) ). As it is impossible to cover the apex of such roofs with thatch, the opening is usually protected by an inverted earthenware pot. It seems probable that in this humble and ancient device we have the prototype of the ornamental pottery finials which became one of the chief characteristics of the roofs of early Indian buildings. The village is presided over ‘by the Headman who is known as the Reddi and whose word is law in all local matters. He owns a large herd of cattle and lives in the best house in the hamlet (Plate II (b) ). The only food supplies available for the visitor are milk, eggs and a few chickens, everything else required must be brought with one’s baggage.

The central portion of the valley is under cultivation but the rest of the land is covered with stones, rocks and thorny jungle and is quite useless for cultivation. It is a wild and desolate spot and being shut in by a ring of rocky hills is usually intensely hot during most months of the year and has an evil reputation for malaria, the surrounding Nallamalais being one of the worst districts in the Madras Presidency on account of this deadly scourge, so much so, that the Chenchus are the sole inhabitants of the Nallamalais. A few gazelie, peafowl and sandgrouse may be found in the thorny jungle along the foot of the hulls, while in the caves in the rugged cliffs above, panthers are always present and prey upon the local flocks and herds. Occasionally, a tiger. from the neighbouring Kurnool forests wanders into the valley and kills a cow or a bullock and then returns to his own jungles over the border, but they never remain permanently as the panthers do and are therefore, far Jeas destructive. The excavations at Nigarjunakonda took me about ten months to complete and during this period | shot six panthers to the great delight of the local villagers, and the Chenchus in particular, who actually ate the flesh of these animals.