Bhattiprolu is a village in

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a po ...

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. It is the headquarters of Bhattiprolu mandal in

Tenali revenue division Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama and hence, it is called ''Andhra ...

. The ''Buddhist stupa'' in the village is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance. One of the earliest evidence of

Brahmi Brahmi (; ; ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such as 'lath' o ...

script in

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

comes from Bhattiprolu. The script was written on an urn containing Buddha's relics. The script has been named

Bhattiprolu script The Bhattiprolu script is a variant of the Brahmi script which has been found in old inscriptions at Bhattiprolu, a small village in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, South India. It is located in the fertile Krishna river delta and the estuary ...

History

The original name of Bhattiprolu was Pratipalapura, a flourishing town in the ancient Sala kingdom that predated Andhra

Satavahanas The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the lat ...

. From available inscriptional evidence, King Kuberaka was ruling over Bhattiprolu around 230 BCE. Bhattiprolu is well known for its Buddha

stupa A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circum ...

(''Vikramarka kota dibba'') built about 3rd-2nd century BCE.

The stupa and the script

Three mounds were discovered in Bhattiprolu in 1870. In 1892 when excavations were undertaken by Alexander Rea, three inscribed stone relic caskets containing crystal caskets, relics of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

and jewels were found. The

was found to be 40 meters in diameter with an additional basement of 2.4 meters wide running all around. The most significant discovery is the crystal relic casket of Sarira Dhatu of the Buddha from the central mass of the stupas. The Mahachaitya (great stupa) remains of a large pillared hall, a large group of ruined votive stupas with several images of Buddha, a stone receptacle containing copper vessel, which in turn, contained two more, a silver casket and within it, a gold casket enclosing beads of bone and crystal were found. One of the earliest evidence of

script in

comes from Bhattiprolu.Ananda Buddha Vihara
The script was written on an urn containing Buddha's relics. The script has been named

. The Bhattiprolu script is related to the Tamil-Brahmi, and is found in nine early inscriptions on stupa relic caskets discovered at Bhattiprolu (Andhra Pradesh). According to Richard Salomon, the Bhattiprolu script reflects innovations in a Dravidian language context, rather than Indo-Aryan languages. Both the Bhattiprolu and Tamil Brahmi share common modifications to represent Dravidian languages. The Bhattiprolu was likely a provincial offshoot of early southern Brahmi script, states Salomon. "A Manual of the Krishna District in the Presidency of Madras" (1883) mentions Public Works Department at that time having demolished beautiful marble pillars, central casket and used the remains in the sluice flowing 2 miles east of Bhattiprolu. Bhattiprolu Union Panchayat was established in 1892 under Madras local boards act.

Geography

Bellamkonda is situated to the southeast of the mandal headquarters,

Amaravathi Amaravati () is the capital of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the river Krishna in Guntur district. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone at a ceremonial event in Uddandar ...

, at . It is spread over an area of .

Government and politics

Bhattiprolu

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

is the

local self-government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

of the village. The village forms a part of

Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Andhra Pradesh Capital Region is the metropolitan region area of Andhra Pradesh state capital, the defacto capital city of Andhra Pradesh. Vijayawada is the headquarters and the largest city of the region. It includes the major ancient cities o ...

and is under the jurisdiction of

APCRDA The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (abbreviated as APCRDA), Amaravati, ACT No. 27 of 2020. It was notified on 31 July 2020 by the Government of Andhra Pradesh as per ''The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority ...

Transport

The village has connectivity with

National Highway 216 (India) National Highway 216 (NH 216) (previously: NH 214 and NH 214A) is a National Highway in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The former highways of NH 214 and 214A were merged and renumbered as NH 216. It starts from NH 16 junction at Kattipudi ...

which passes through the village.

APSRTC Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is the state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its headquarters is located at NTR Administrative Block of RTC House in Pandit Nehru bus station of ...

operates buses from

Tenali Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama and hence, it is called ''Andhr ...

and Repalle via Bhattiprolu. Bhattiprolu railway station is located on

Tenali–Repalle branch line Tenali–Repalle branch line is a electrified single track railway section in South Central Railway zone. It connects and of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Further, this section intersects Howrah–Chennai main line ...

and administered under

Guntur railway division Guntur Railway Division is one of the three divisions of the South Coast Railway zone of Indian Railways. The division was sanctioned in 1995–96 and was fully operational on 1 April 2003, with its headquarters at Guntur. The ''Rail Vikas Bhavan ...

South Central Railway zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

Education

As per the school information report for the academic year 2018–19, the village has a total of 14 schools. These include 4 MPP, one other type and 9 private schools.

References

{{Mandal headquarters in Guntur district Villages in Guntur district Mandal headquarters in Guntur district Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh Indian Buddhist sculpture Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India Tourist attractions in Guntur district Archaeological sites in Andhra Pradesh Ancient Indian cities Hindu holy cities Former capital cities in India