TOI, Patna 23-08-08
1400-yr-old monastery unearthed
A Buddhist monastery visited by Hiuen Tsang and missing ever since has been dug out of a mound in a West Bengal village
Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey
Kolkata : A 30-foot-high mound in a nondescript Bengal village, which has spawned many a legend and mystery, may yield one of the biggest archaeological finds in the country. The remains of a huge yet exquisite monastery are emerging from the sands of time.
Archaeologists believe it is one of the missing monasteries mentioned in Hiuen Tasng’s memoirs that was yet to be found. The monastery reportedly dates back to the seventh century – the time when the Chinese Buddhist monk made his 17-year walk across India. The site of the find is in Moghalmari village, five kilometers from Dantan in West Midnapore. The excavation is being carried out by the archaeology department of Calcutta University, partly funded by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Hiuen Tsang had visited Bengal during the reign of King Sasanka and wrote in detail about Tamralipta and a monastery he saw here. But later records do not mntion the existence of monasteries in this region. It has remained a matter of great interest among archaeologists and a source of many a debate. However, archaeologist feel that the Moghalmari excavation will finally set the record straight.
The 30-foot-high mound, which had hidden the monastery for centuries, was locally called Sakhisena and is the stuff of local legend. A couple of years ago, a team from the department had spent quite a few months in Moghalmari as part of a project backed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The experts were tracking an ancient navigation route passing through Dantan but stumbled on something much bigger. "Our attention was quickly drawn to the mound by the local people, who showed us hundreds of artifacts and statuettes of stone, stucco and terracotta that they had collected for generations. These precious relics adorn homes, libraries, schools and other buildings in the village," said Asok Datta, a faculty member who led the team of archaeologist. This team then prepared a project report on the possible existence of a mastic site under the mound and sent it to ASI which immediately gave the permission for excavation.
Seals, terracotta remains, bricks, pottery and the like tumbled out of the dirt, Experts say it is turning out to be one of the largest monasteries in eastern India and certainly one of its kind in the country, because all the ornamentation on the walls and domes are made of stucco. "This is interesting because in the other monasteries, even those at Gaya, stucco designs are only in the sanctum sanctorum. Here the entire monastery has stucco decorations all over. This is not all. We have excavated the eastern flank of the monastery and were amazed to find that the length of one side is 61 metres," Datta added.
The excavated portions show cells that served as residences for monks lined on the sides of the building that opened into a central courtyard. "What has excited us most is the discovery of a rare Buddha stone sculpture from stratified context, representing the Buddha in the well known Bhumisparshamudra. Two stone heads, presumably of the Buddha, have also been found but we are waiting for ratification. So have a large number of terracotta seals," Datta said. The university sent the artifacts to Bratindranath Mukherjee, an expert in ancient seals. "They are of the post-Gupta era, which dates them to the late 6th to early 7th century. Some of them bear sentences like, ‘propagation of dhamma does not happen without a lot of self sacrifice," Mukherjee said. The ornamentation on the monastery resembles Buddhist designs that were popular in the North West, especially Gandhar, say experts.
1: Reconstructed figure of the Buddha found under the mound. This is said to be one of the most important relics discovered at the site.
2: Pillar basements that once held up the massive monastery.
3: Trenches excavated in the north-west corner of the mound.
4: Exquisite composite motifs in stucco. This is a unique feature of the monastery. Other such structures have stucco designs only in the sanctum sanctorum whereas the Dantan one is covered all over with this delicate artwork.
5: Lotus motif in stucco overlying the brick of the same design.
6: A terracotta seal dating back to the post-Gupta era (6-7th century AD) inscribed with Brahmi script.
7: One of the two different lotus-type bricks found among the ruins.
Site to get national importance status
Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey
Kolkata : Moghalmari in West Midnapore will soon become a place of national interest. The seventh century Buddhist monastery that has been excavated here promises to take it to the Archaeological Survey of India’s map of key places. The Union ministry of culture has decided to declare the village as a place of national importance, thanks to the stunning discovery.
The fact that an ancient trade route existed from Nalanda and Gaya to North Bengal through Orissa is proved by the existence of this monastery, feel experts. "Interestingly, Buddhist monasteries came up along such trade routes, especially outside settlements where people of lower castes (under the Brahminical system) lived. The monastery in question also existed outside the populated part of Mogalmari," says historian Ramkrishna Chatterjee.
"Since the Brahminical system subjugated people belonging to the lower castes, these Buddhist monasteries grew up as places of succour. Interestingly, the religion came into Bengal from Orissa where it had spawned like a rage by the 7th century," Chatterjee added.
Soon after the ASI gave permission to Calcutta University to excavate the site and the monastery started revealing its secrets, state minister for water investigation, Nandogopal Bhattacharya, who is also MLA of Dantan, urged Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee to request the Union ministry of culture to declare the place as one of national interest.
"This is necessary because once the center ‘adopts’ a site, ASI can declare the monument as "protected" and take up its conservation," said Ashok Datta, faculty member of Calcutta University’s archaeology department, who led the excavation. "We have been able to unearth the entire eastern flank of the monastery, but to complete the excavation will take another three years," Datta said, adding that the discovery will throw light on the early medieval history of West Midnapore.
The letter from the Centre is already under way. This means that as the excavation progresses and larger portions of the monastery are unearthed, the ASI will start conservation and preservation work simultaneously.
