Saikat Rudra's video: Thotlakonda Buddhist Ruins

Thotlakonda, Andhra Pradesh, Buddhist Complex, Hinayana Buddhist religious centre Thotlakonda Buddhist Complex, about 15 km from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, had its heyday between 3rd century BC and 3rd century AD. It was a Buddhist complex, a religious cum academic centre, accommodating about 100 Buddhist mendicants or monks with arrangements for storing food, medicine, clothes and other necessities. Ruins of stupas, viharas, congregation hall, chief monk's cell, kitchen, dining hall etc still bear witness to its days about 2000 years ago. Traders and believers seem to have supported the institution, and, presumably, it fell into decline for want of royal patronage. On 20 October, 2019 a part of the Maha Stupa, reconstructed in 2016, collapsed during torrential downpours.