Giraffe and Camel Carvings at Srisailam Point to Vijayanagara-Era Global Connections

Images of giraffes and camels on bas relief of Srisailam temple wall.

SRISAILAM: An unusual medieval carving of giraffes and camels on the walls of the Sri Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple at Srisailam is drawing fresh attention from archaeologists, who say the imagery reflects the wider commercial and cultural networks that connected Vijayanagara-era South India with Africa and West Asia.

The rare bas-relief appears on the southern prakara, or enclosure wall, of the historic temple complex in Andhra Pradesh's Nandyal district. It depicts a procession of two giraffes and two camels, accompanied by attendants.

The giraffes are especially significant because the animals are not native to India. Archaeological Survey of India Director of Epigraphy K. Muniratnam Reddy said their appearance in the temple's sculptural programme points toward the wider maritime connections through which exotic animals, goods and ideas reached medieval South India.

The significance of the panel emerged after Muniratnam Reddy examined an old black-and-white photograph showing the carving on the temple wall. The sculpture itself was already part of the temple complex. What is new is the archaeological attention being given to its unusual subject matter and what that imagery may reveal about the world in which Srisailam's Vijayanagara-period sculptures were created.

Muniratnam Reddy said the Srisailam representation indicates connections involving the Indian subcontinent, Africa and West Asia through Indian Ocean ports. He suggested that such animals could have arrived through trade or as royal gifts and were sufficiently remarkable to enter the visual vocabulary of Vijayanagara-period artists.

Separate epigraphical research provides stronger evidence that the wider Srisailam landscape was tied to commerce. An inscription dated to 1436 CE records the grant of two villages producing 800 varahas each, along with revenues that included taxes on forest products and on sales and purchases at Palutla, identified as an important Vijayanagara-period trade centre.

For Telugu Americans, the panel offers an intriguing reminder that the medieval Telugu region was not isolated from the wider world. Long before modern globalisation, South Indian political and commercial networks interacted with traders, ports and societies across the Indian Ocean.