Bhubaneswar, Feb 16 (Representative) The remnants of a Buddhist site near Ganeswarpur village in Odisha’s Cuttack district dating back to the 9th century CE were discovered by the INTACH team. The site, with scattered Buddhist archaeological remains, was found near a small mound inside a rice field at the far end of the village. A five-member team from INTACH’s Odisha chapter recently visited the site located just 150 metres away from the Birupa embankment to conduct a preliminary survey and document the archaeological remains. According to Deepak Kumar Nayak, co-convenor of INTACH’s Cuttack Chapter, the present and ancient floodplains of the Birupa River are dotted with numerous Buddhist sites on both banks. The discovery of a large headless Abalokiteswar image, nearly six feet in height, lying on the ground near a small wooded grassy mound is important, he said. Although the head is missing, the iconography closely matches the Abalokiteswar images found at the nearby Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, and Lalitgiri, Nayak said.
The excavated Buddhist stupa in the nearby Rameswar village is placed across the river, where the images are now being worshipped by the villagers as Hanumancheswara Mahadev. According to heritage expert Anil Dhir, who is also the convenor of INTACH’s Odisha chapter, the findings further indicate the fact that Buddhism flourished in the region in ancient times. The exact period can only be ascertained after a systematic archaeological excavation, he said, adding that comparing the broken Abalokiteswar image with such images found at other places, it could be approximately assigned to a period prior to the 9th century CE. INTACH team member Biswajit Mohanty thinks that the existence of a Buddhist stupa or temple, which had the large images, was buried under the silt due to the frequent flooding of the Birupa.
The disfigured images lying at the site and a small shrine are also indicative of the destruction by iconoclastic invaders during the Afghan-Mughal period. He said two temples in the village, such as Panchapandavar Temple and Tareswara Temple, were demolished by Kalapahada’s barbarian invasion in the 16th century CE. The remains of the base of a temple and many odd-shaped kiln-baked bricks suggest that either the temple or a stupa are buried in the mound, Mohanty said. The INTACH team also discovered a large number of broken potsherds, which included both red and blackware. The INTACH’s Cuttack chapter will soon draw the attention of the ASI, the State Archaeology Department, and the Culture Directorate of the Odisha government to dispatch experts to the spot for further detailed surveys of the ancient site.