Biccavolu (Bikkavolu, Baccavol) is a village about 30 kilometers west of Kakinada, Eastern Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. Prior to the 13th-century, it was a much larger historic town and religious center. It is called Birudanka, Birundankavrolu and Biruvrolu of Vengidesa in historic Telugu and Sanskrit texts.
<ul><li>Major Hindu temples, particularly of the Shaiva and Surya tradition, were built in Biccavolu by the Eastern Chalukyas of Vengi. Per inscriptions found in the temples and this area, these temples were complete and consecrated between the 8th and 10th-century. These temples and iconography therein are useful illustrations of innovative interpretations of early Sanskrit texts on temple architecture and the Hindu synthesis of ideas across those found from the Cholas in the South (Tamil Nadu), the Kalingas in the east (Odisha) and the western Deccan region's explorations (upper Karnataka). Many of these temples and artwork were damaged and destroyed by the wars during the Islamic invasions of the Deccan region such as by the Delhi Sultanate.</li></ul><ul><li>The monolithic Ganesha was found buried in the fields of Biccavolu. It is a large monolithic artwork from the Eastern Chalukyas period. It is likely from the 8th or early 9th-century (perhaps earlier) because it has only two hands, is nude, has no elaborate crown and sophisticated decorations, somewhat in the manner Ganesha is found depicted in Cave 1 of Badami. Later Ganesha iconography and statues found in the Deccan region typically show four hands, partly dressed, and more playful, elaborate decorations such as those illustrated in the artwork of the Hoysalas, Yadavas and Vijayanagara.</li></ul><ul><li>The hands of the Ganesha monolith of Biccavolu are broken (either chopped off, or broke as it tumbled). The Biccavolu monolithic Ganesha has no jeweled crown on its head, but does have the small halo found in Vengi and Kalinga iconography.</li></ul><ul><li>The Ganesha monolith of Biccavolu has been moved into a newly constructed, contemporary-design active temple with modern flooring and decor. This new temple has a modern style gopura as its landmark and is found in the east side of the village. Behind him is a newly built, ceremonial metallic frame and umbrella.</li></ul><ul><li>The Biccavolu Ganesha is now painted with Shaiva tripundra signs (three white parallel lines) all over the belly and trunk. In the original archive photographs published in the 1950s and 1960s by scholars and art historians such as C Sivaramamurti, the Biccavolu Ganesha had no such markings. In these archival photographs, his right upper arm has a triple ring, he wears a necklace, and his waist-belly area is wrapped with a ceremonial cloth, as is the Hindu dressing tradition on sacred occasions. The archival photos show both legs as human with five toes each.</li></ul>
G.N. Subrahmanyam
G.N. Subrahmanyam (OTRS 2021062810008185)