Raju’s Farm December 18

On Sunday December 18 we went on a trip south to the East Godavari District to see a cluster of newly discovered early Buddhist sites at Kummari Lova. Rani’s sister and nephew came along with K. Suryanarayana, the Andhra University professor, and we were joined by a number of local press reporters. We toured three of the early Buddhist sites that a local school teacher had first noticed a couple of months ago. 
 

The first site

Me being interviewed at the second site (the school teacher is on my left)

Some bricks at the third site being exposed in a farmer’s field

We then went to the nearby village where we were shown some pottery found at the site.

The pottery

In the afternoon we proceded to the nearby village of Vempadu, where we visited Chitrapur, a retired forestry official, at his home. We were joined there by C. V. Raju and stayed for lunch and a long chat.

The group at Chitrapur’s house

The women servants got all dressed up specially for a photograph.

The ladies in the group

Afterwards we went to the beach nearby. Ilse and Anja briefly went into the water. There is a strong undercurrent, so it is not safe to venture out very far. We had a discussion at the beach about the prospects for a project next year.

The beach

The group at the beach

Ilse and Anja in the water

Then at sunset, while Rani and the others returned to Visakhapatnam, Ilse, Anja, Venkatesh and I returned to Raju’s farm.