INDIA, December 7, 2024 (All That’s Interesting): Nageswara Swamy temple in India has officially been rediscovered after 80 years buried in sand. Experts believe that the 200-year-old structure in Perumallapadu started to be swallowed up with the massive floods of 1850 — and was completely filled and covered with sand and sediment by 1940. According to The Smithsonian, archaeologist Ramasubba Reddy said that the weather in 1850 so drastically changed the Penna River’s course that it began redirecting sand onto the temple for decades. While it remains debated whether or not the temple is 200 or 300 years old, a few things are certain. According to Ancient Origins, the temple is dedicated to Lord Nageswara, an form of the God Shiva.

The older generations of Perumallapadu had fond memories of visiting the shrine, though their descendants were long entirely unaware of its existence. Only when the tales were told, did the effort to dig this temple up begin — an effort that might lead to a restoration of its former glory. Remarkably, the effort to resurface the stunning structure was undertaken by about 35 people, some of them miners. Many of them had returned home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and stories of the lost temple invigorated them to do something about it. After the troop of ambitious villagers raised enough money to fund the dig, the work began in earnest. Many even agreed to work on the excavation for free. In terms of its size, the fact that it took an entire day of digging in the sand merely to expose the temple’s pinnacle certainly contextualizes the heft. While this success certainly proved that they had, indeed, located the temple, there is far more work to do until the project is completed. As it stands, the villagers hope to complete the excavation and return the temple to its original purpose of worship. Reddy said that the site will soon be inspected to assess which next steps to take.

Short video at source.
https://allthatsinteresting.com/nageswara-swamy-temple

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