Water pumped out of Jalakanteshwara temple
The Hindu
The ASI-protected monument remained waterlogged for a week
The district administration pumped out water from the Jalakanteshwara temple on Thursday. The ASI-protected monument had remained waterlogged for a week.
District Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian inspected the temple after archaeologists and the temple authorities on Monday requested him to take steps to remove inundation in the temple.
“Releasing a portion of water from the moat to the clogged drain can bring some relief as water from the temple can flow to the moat. The PWD and Corporation officials are attending to it,” M. Varadaraj Suresh, Archaeological Officer, ASI (Vellore), told The Hindu.
Hampi, the UNESCO-recognised historical site, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. Foreign travellers from Persia, Europe and other parts of the world have chronicled the wealth of the place and the unique cultural mores of this kingdom built on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. There are fine descriptions to be found of its temples, farms, markets and trading links, remnants of which one can see in the ruins now. The Literature, architecture of this era continue inspire awe.
Unfurling the zine handed to us at the start of the walk, we use brightly-coloured markers to draw squiggly cables across the page, starting from a sepia-toned vintage photograph of the telegraph office. Iz, who goes by the pronouns they/them, explains, “This building is still standing, though it shut down in 2013,” they say, pointing out that telegraphy, which started in Bengaluru in 1854, was an instrument of colonial power and control. “The British colonised lands via telegraph cables, something known as the All Red Line.”