Archaeologists have found two pillars with Jain Tirthankara sculptures and inscriptions outside of Hyderabad city in Enikepalli village. The pillars are made of granite and black basalt and feature four Jaina Tirthankaras: Adinatha, Neminatha, Parsvanatha, and Vardhamana Mahavira. The sculptures are decorated with Keerthimukhas on the topside.
There are inscriptions in Telugu-Kannada script on both slabs, but they are currently fitted in the masonry walls of the sluice of the village tank and cannot be deciphered. The visible part of an inscription refers to a Janina Basadi (monastery) located close to Chilukuru, a prominent Jaina center during the Rastrakuta and Vemulawada Chalukyan times (9th-10th centuries CE).
The Jaina Tirthankara slabs were likely brought from a local dilapidated Jain temple and fitted to the sluice about 100 years ago. Archaeologist N Siva Nagi Reddy has appealed to the villagers to protect the pillars by removing them from the sluice and erecting them on a pedestal with proper labeling and historical details.
