Visakhapatnam December 18-20

On the morning of Saturday December 18 I flew from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India to visit my friend Rani Sarma for a couple days. I have visited her and her husband in Visakhaptnam several times before in previous trips to India. She is currently working on the draft of a book about the early Buddhist presence in Andhra Pradesh and during this stay I read through her current draft.

For Sunday December 19, Rani had arranged a tour of the major early Buddhist site of Sankaram, south of Visakhapatnam, for the officers of the Indian naval base at Visakhapatnam. The tour was sponsored by the local chapter of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Culutural Heritage); Rani is the current president. After the tour of the site, the navy provided lunch for the group.

The naval officers listening to Rani, with the Buddhist caves of Sankaram in the background.

The members of the Visakhapatnam chapter of INTACH at Sankaram.

After the site of Sankaram, Rani and I met a local archaeologist who wanted to show us two other undocumented early Buddhist sites in the vicinity. One proved to be on a hill that was too remote, so we turned back, while at the second site only a few fired bricks and a wall line hinted at the presence of something substantial.

Rani, the local archaeologist and the hill too far

The group looking at traces of a wall line at the second Buddhist site

The next day I spoke at length with Rani about the possibility of us undertaking a small project to document some of the archaeological sites in the Visakhapatnam district when I come again to India next December. The idea to document a Dutch East India company settlement in the town of Bhimunipatnam, north of Visakhapatnam, seemed most promising. That evening I flew back to Hyderabad.