[2][3] To the immediate north of the lower caves is a small park with inscribed pillars and recovered ruins of lost Hindu temples.

The Akkanna Madanna caves are protected monuments of national importance, managed by the Archaeological Survey of India.

[5] The Akkanna Madanna caves are from the mid-7th century and are the earliest of the Hindu rock-cut temples found in Krishna and Guntur districts of Andhra Pradesh.

The brothers, according to Dutch East India Company archive records, soon were responsible for all collected taxes and the disbursal of the exchequer.

They used the taxes for the welfare of the people states Gijs Kruijtzer – a scholar known for his studies on Golconda Sultanate history.

[6][7][8] Aurangzeb, when informed of the power of Akkanna and Madanna by the Muslim officials in the Golconda Sultanate, sent his army to attack it.

After a seize and the payment of large tributes to the Mughal empire, soldiers led by Shah 'Alam – the son of Aurangzeb, beheaded Akkanna and Madanna.

A regular adhishthana with a flight of six steps in the center is topped with a much damaged gaja surulyali (elephant head) balustrade.

This totals six facade pillars and two pilasters, all of which are now partially surviving as stumps of uneven heights, their top sections gone.

[2] This upper cave has three shrines on the back wall, each with projecting fronts, complete with a deep set prati and an adhishthana, with a shared continuous pattika.

The central shrine was provided with a monolithically excavated Shiva linga, but much has been gouged out in vandalism, and is now replaced with shorter substitute.

It helps date this and many other cave temples found along the Krishna river valley, because all of them contain the phrase "Sri Utpati Pidugu".

The pillars in the front have largely decayed, likely from natural erosion of Khondalite gneiss – the composition of the lower rock.

Further, the roof of the sanctums show a significant systematic effort to carve out a shikhara superstructure in an alpa-vimana format, in-situ.

This experiment by historic Telugu region shilpins emerged in a more spectacular form in the Undavalli caves, a few decades later.

It along with the panels recite the Hindu legend about Arjuna's yogic effort to gain the pasupata weapon from Shiva.