Eminent archaeologist, Veluri Venkata Krishna Sastry, who was involved in transplantation of several ancient temples including Alampur, passed away here on Wednesday. He was 78 and is survived by wife, a son and a daughter.

Fondly called “the digger” for his passion in excavating antiquities, Dr. Sastry was instrumental in the discovery of rare coins that established the succession of pre-Satavahana kings and Chimukha Satavahana, the founder of the Satavahana dynasty. It was again Dr. Sastry who established historicity of Keesaragutta on the outskirts of Hyderabad. He found antiquities from prehistoric to medieval periods as famous as those of Nagarjunakonda during the excavations at Yeleswaram. Discovery of many of the prehistoric rock paintings in Kurnool, Mahabubngar and Karimnagar are credited to him. He also pioneered salvage archaeology and is known for transplanting several temples that would have otherwise submerged in Srisailam, Jurala, Singur and Pulichintala projects.

Born on October 23, 1934, Dr. Sastry completed his BA from Andhra University and MA from Osmania University. After obtaining training in archaeology from a pioneer like Rayaprolu Subramaniam, he joined the Archaeology Department in 1961 and rose to become the Director in 1981, a post which he held till 1992, a record next only to the founder of the department, Ghulam Yazdani.

Having a number of publications, his magum opus, Pre, proto and early historic cultures of Andhra Pradesh , was released by Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Hyderabad in 1983.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – August 23rd, 2012