Ancient Shivling found at Polavaram site

Eluru: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," William Shakespeare says so in his play Romeo & Juliet. That may be true of roses.

How about 'Shivlings' in our country? Do they sound the same everywhere? Certainly not. Ask the Gyanvapi Masjid committee or AIMIM leadership or any of those speaking to the contrary. They would say it is a fountain. We need our courts to decide on it.

Well, here in Andhra Pradesh, that may not be the case. Officials of the Polavaram project, a national project in the making in the State, said a 'Shivling' was found buried in the Godavari riverbed. It was found by the officials at Patha Paidipaka village on Wednesday during the course of spillway works that require digging in the riverbed.

The labourers working on the site came across some hard contact at some depth and informed the officials supervising the work immediately. Soon, the 'obstacle' was taken out and to the surprise of everyone, it was found to be a 'Shivling'.

While everyone bowed with reverence to 'Bholenath', the Archaeology Department was informed by the site officials immediately. Its Assistant Director K Thimmaraju rushed to the spot. After a few technical evaluation methods, it was found that the 'Lord' was quite antique. The dating of this one goes back to 1300-1200 BC, it is said, perhaps belonging to the 13th to 12th century BC. The department conducted research in the area between 1996-2003 to find ancient brick structures. The officials further said the Godavari catchment area of the region had several hundred villages in the past and idols were found in the ancient temples here. It is said that in around 370 villages, according to a survey, 570 such idols had been found. Mercifully, this Linga does not encounter any litigation and shall have its rightful place in a museum coming up at the project site in Ramaiahpet village in five-acre land, according to the officials. Of course, there is one obstacle: People.

The nearby villagers have begun thronging the site for a darshan of the Lord Shiva and the latter is getting his due in the form of pujas and aartis. The public pulse prefers a temple for the God who had surfaced after this many centuries as the people view it as a good omen.

The air is already thick with 'Shiv Nama Smarana' here! The Polavaram project anyway requires God's blessings too to overcome its obstacles. So be it!