Adurru is a village and a 2nd-century CE

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

archaeological siteGarima Kaushik (2016), Women and Monastic Buddhism in Early South Asia, Taylor & Francis, , Appendix Table 4: Buddhist stupa sites in India, with Ayala projections in the

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Konaseema district Konaseema district (officially Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Konaseema district) is a district in Konaseema region of Andhra Pradesh in India. It is situated between the tributaries of the Godavari River in the Coastal Andhra. It was carved out of East ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

, India. It is located in the Mamidikuduru Mandal, on the western bank of Vainateya, a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...

of the

Godavari River The Godavari (, Help:IPA/Sanskrit, �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganges River, Ganga River and drains the third largest Drainage basin, basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. It ...

, around 9.5 km from the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

Buddhist site

Adurru is the location of an ancient Buddhist site, which is situated on a mound locally known as Dubaraju Gudi or Dubaraju Dibba. The site was first excavated in 1925, and declared a protected monument by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

(ASI) in 1955. Till 1960, people sacrificed animals at the mound during a two-day annual festival called ''Dubaraju Teertham'', which was held on 13–14 January on the occasion of ''

Sankranti Sankranti () refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In ''Saurmana'' ''varsha'' (Hindu Solar year), there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broa ...

''. However, when the ruins were confirmed to be a former Buddhist site, the site was taken over by the ASI, and all sacrifices were banned. The ruins of a large

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

(''maha-stupa''), besides other artifacts, have been discovered at the site. A 2015 ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' news report, citing the historical evidence found by ASI, claims that the foundation stone for the Adurru Buddhist structure was laid by

Sanghamitra Saṅghamittā (Saṅghamitrā in Sanskrit, nun's name Ayapali; 282 BC – 203 BC) was an Indian Buddhist nun and believed to be the eldest daughter (Sri Lankan Tradition) of Emperor Ashoka (304 BC – 232 BC) from his first wife Devi (Ashoka' ...

, the daughter of the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

emperor

Ashoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was List of Mauryan emperors, Emperor of Magadha from until #Death, his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynast ...

, on her way to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. In contrast, Garima Kaushik in a 2016 comprehensive list of Buddhist stupa sites in Andhra Pradesh and nearby regions, dates this monastic archaeological site to about 2nd-century CE.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Adurru covers an area of 5.61 km²., with a population of 4,145, including 2,096 males and 2,049 females. 1420 people belonging to the Scheduled Castes and 47 people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes. 992 of the villagers are illiterate.

References

{{reflist Archaeological sites in Andhra Pradesh Buddhist sites in Andhra Pradesh Stupas in India Villages in Mamidikuduru mandal