After finishing with Bhimunipatnam, the next stage of our project shifted to investigation of some early Buddhist sites south of Visakhapatnam.
We then continued on to the large farm of a second Raju, where we were to stay for the coming days. We got settled into Raju’s guest house on his farm and had lunch. We then proceeded to the village of Peda Uppalam, where the principal early Buddhist site that we will investigate is located, but we spent our time until sunset at a nearby early Buddhist site know as the Devil’s Hill. The site had been excavated some years ago, but little published.
The group at Devil’s Hill (Front Row: Me, Rani and Mr. C.V. Raju; Back Row Anja, Rani’s nephew, Rani’s sister and Ilse)
On Wednesday December 14, we checked out of the hotel, and Rani, her sister and her nephew joined us for the several hour trip south. We first stopped in the village of Etikoppaka, where we visited a toy factory run by C.V. Raju. He operates the wooden toy factory as a handicraft cottage industry and uses only natural dyes.
Anja in a palanquin at Raju’s toy factory
Devil’s Hill
The group at Devil’s Hill (Front Row: Me, Rani and Mr. C.V. Raju; Back Row Anja, Rani’s nephew, Rani’s sister and Ilse)
The landscape near Devil’s Hill
At sunset Rani and the others returned to Visakhapatnam, while Ilse, Anja and I returned to Raju’s farm.
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