Akkanna Madanna Caves

The Akkanna Madanna Caves are rock-cut Shiva temples at the foot of Indrakiladri hill in Vijayawada, the hill of the Kanaka Durga Temple, close to the Krishna river. Cut in the mid-7th century under the Eastern Chalukyas, they are thought to be the earliest Hindu cave temples in the Krishna and Guntur region, though the Archaeological Survey of India, which protects them, dates them to the 6th–7th century. They are named after Akkanna and Madanna, two 17th-century brothers who served as ministers of the Golconda sultan Tana Shah and were later beheaded by Mughal soldiers.

There are two caves. The larger, better-preserved upper cave has a front court and a hall of plain octagonal pillars leading to three shrines; the central one held a rock-cut linga, now replaced, and the side cells once had images of Brahma and Vishnu. A long 7th-century inscription on a pillar helps date the caves along the Krishna.