Hyderabad: A rare black granite Lord Ganesha sculpture of the 12th century CE is facing damage at Lingala in Nagarkurnool district, where a Trikuta temple is in ruins, and the sculpture is swallowed by the trunk of a tree.
Dr E. Sivanagi Reddy, archaeologist and CEO of Pleach India Foundation, has also found an inscription broken into pieces dating back to 1167 CE issued by ‘Tondaya, son of Gokarna-2 of the Kanduru Chola lineage’. Based on the inscription, the Lord Ganesha Idol is also dated to the 12th century, he added.
The inscription records the construction of a Trikuta temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva and Lord Surya and mentions that Lingala village donated to a temple at Somasila on the left bank of Krishna River. He appealed to the people in the village to save the historically valuable sculpture from further damage.