Hyderabad: Two 1000-year-old square pillars with sculptures of Jain Tirthankaras (a saviour and spiritual teacher of the dharma), were found on the outskirts of the city in Rangareddy district’s Moinabad village.
The information about the pillars was first shared by P Srinath Reddy, a young archaeologist and heritage activist, following which a senior archaeologist E Sivanagireddy inspected the spot.
Sivanagireddy said the two pillars, including one granite and another black basalt, were carved with four Jain Tirthankaras namely, Adinatha, Neminatha, Parshvanatha and Vardhamana Mahavira.
The Tirthankaras were seated in meditation on the four sides and decorated with Keerthimukhas (guardian of the threshold) on its top.
The pillars bore inscriptions in Telugu-Kannada language, where the visible part of the inscription refers to a Jain Basadi (monastery) located close to Chilkur village.
Sivanagireddy opined that the pillars might have been brought from a local dilapidated Jain temple and fitted to the sluice some 100 years ago.
He appealed to protect the pillars, remove them from the sluice and then install them on pedestals with labelling and historical details.
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