  The stone alignment 'Nilurallu' at Murardoddi is a megalithic monument
containing standing stones of 12 to 16 feet high that are arranged somewhat in
a squarish pattern. This is one of the stone alignments listed by Allchin
(1956) as a non-sepulchal array that might have some astronomical connotations.
This impressive stone alignment seems to be similar to that at Vibhuthihalli,
that was studied earlier, but constructed with much larger stones. The
observations conducted by us show that the rows of stones are aligned to the
directions of sunrise (and sunset) on calendrically-important events, like
equinoxes and solstices. In contrast to Vibhuthihalli, the shadows of stones
provide a means of measuring shorter intervals of time. Key words:
Observational astronomy, megalithic astronomy, stone alignments, equinoxes,
solstices, sunrises
