Kakinada: History and culture are interrelated. A sense of history instils pride in one’s culture. This is what makes individuals and institutions preserve ancient monuments, coins, inscriptions, idols, palm-leaves and old journals, among others. If preserved at public museums, they educate people about their history and culture. One organisation that is preserving such heritage is the Rallabandi Subba Rao Museum in Rajahmundry, maintained by the Archaeological department. But the museum is currently in a state of neglect. And, the state government does not appear to be bothered about conserving and preserving the artefacts contained in the museum.In fact, termites are nibbling away many journals and manuscripts. Going by the information available, state government is disinterested in releasing the ₹6 crore required for preservation of the building and its contents. Rallabandi Subba Rao, a history lecturer, had collected hundreds of manuscripts, inscriptions, ancient idols, palm-leave scripts, journals, coins and many similar objects. He started displaying them in a museum from 1967. He handed over the museum to the state government in 1970. The museum contains nearly 5,000 palm-leaves scripts, 280 ancient idols, 400 coins including those of bronze, copper, silver and gold, 11 ancient inscriptions, hundreds of old journals and books dated way back from 9th Century BC to the times of Turpu Chalukyas, Chanakya and Vijayadithya, apart from 1,119 inscriptions from the 12th century of the Turpu Andhras.During the YSRC regime, then Rajamahendravaram Lok Sabha member M. Bharat got sanctioned ₹4 crore from the central government, provided the state government released ₹6 crore. Authorities drew up a plan to build a three storeyed building to display all the material, apart from housing a library with ancient journals and palm-leaf inscriptions for those interested in pursuing them. But with the state government not releasing its share of funds, the museum got limited to a single floor. As a result, museum authorities have shifted books and other materials to social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu’s house in Rajamahendravaram.Archaeological department assistant director K. Thimma Raju told Deccan Chronicle that the department remains keen on the three-storey building to preserve all artefacts including idols. The central government has released ₹4 crore for the building and works are in progress. Thimma Raju assured that the department will take all steps to preserve the ancient materials.
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