For picnickers, it is a great place to visit and for researchers and archaeologists — a treasure trove. Located 160 km south east of the Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad, Nagarjunakonda is an ideal picnic spot for travelers.

Nagarjunakonda, or Nagarjuna Hill has a well-maintained museum and many archaeologically-important sites.
It is a must for those researching Buddhism and archaeologists as Nagarjunakonda is a unique site in India. A parallel to such reconstruction of gigantic monuments could be found only at Nubia of the Aswan Dam in Egypt.

     Nagarjunakonda has 14 large replicas of excavated ruins and they have been displayed in open air in two clusters on the hill top. Replicas of some of the excavated sites, arranged around a miniature model of the valley are inside the museum. Tourists are bound to enjoy the trip to Nagarjunakonda from jetty point Anupu in Andhra Pradesh State Tourism Development-operated launches as they will be treated to lush-green scenery for a good part of their nearly 40-minute journey. As tourists disembark from the launch, only chirping of the birds welcome them. Tourists can relax on the well-maintained lawns after going around the museum and archaeological sites. The tourists can spend several hours in the museum and the sites.

    "It has become a picnic spot. During the season (August to February), over 2,000 people visit Nagarjunakonda every day. During the rest of the year, around 200 people come here. A good number of foreigners, mostly Japanese, come here to study and have a look at Buddhist monuments,” says museum curator K Ramakrishna Reddy.

    As per the records available with the ASI, the name Nagarjunakonda is of medieval origin and is often coterminous with the hill-fort perched on the hill. The valley was known on Vijayapuri. The hypothetical association of Nagarjuna, the celebrated Buddhist philosopher of the second century AD, with the hill or the valley has not been established.

    Nagarjunakonda was a secluded valley, about 23 sq km in area, covered by Nallamalai range (black hill) from three sides and the other was the Krishna river. The rich archaeological wealth in the area came to light only in 1926 when A R Saraswati, Telugu assistant to the Archaelogical Superintendent for Epigraphy, ASI, made the discovery. In 1938, a minor operation was carried out and the sculptures recovered in excavations were kept in a small museum in the valley.

    However, the decision to build the Nagarajunasagar dam, led to a large-scale excavation in 1954. In a matter of six years, more than 100 sites ranging in dates from early stoneage to the later medieval period were excavated. “Though the need for water for irrigation in the region gave no scope to avert the archaelogical tragedy, the event gave birth to a new approach to combating the total destruction of the cultural heritage by the reconstitution or transplantation of ruins of monuments. Today’s Nagarjunakonda is the outcome of these activities, the like of which was repeated in salvaging monuments of Nubia threatened due to construction of the Aswan dam in Egypt,” the ASI said.

The international campaign to save monuments of Nubia (1960-1980) resulted in the excavation and recording of hundreds of sites, the recovery of thousands of objects, and the salvage and translocation of a number of important temples to higher ground. Due to the quantities of material recovered from tombs, temples and settlements, UNESCO was encouraged to assist the Egyptian Authorities in the planning of a Nubia.

Today’s Nubia Museum at Aswan is the result of 12 years of active work coordinated by the International Campaign’s Executive Committee and its related bodies, and conducted by the Egyptian authorities with the assistance of UNESCO-experts in various fields of specialisation. The total area of the complex is 50,000 square metres: 7,000 allocated for the building, and 43,000 for the grounds.

How to get there:
Nagarjunakonda is about 160 km south-east of Hyderabad and about 147 km from Guntur, the district headquarters. The nearest railway station is Macherla, about 24 km to the east of the valley. Visitors coming either from Hyderabad or Guntur have to reach the jetty point near Anupu, about 8 km from Vijayapuri, south of the Nagarjunasagar dam. Vijayapuri is connected by regular bus services with Hyderabad, Guntur and Macherla.