An Indian Tiger Reserve Has Located Over 20 Old Buddhist Temples and Murals

Two-dozen previously unrecorded Buddhist caves have been found in the Tala range of the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, the Archaeological Survey of India reported last week.

A selection of the caves in question

The caves date back to the 2nd to 5th century BCE, but researchers also found more recent relics, including 26 temples, 46 sculptures, two votive stupas, 24 Brahmin inscriptions, 19 water structures, scattered stone board Games, and ancient coins.

“The time period of the findings covered the reigns of the kings Shri Bhimsena, Maharaja Pothasiri, Maharaja Bhattadeva,” the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) wrote on Twitter. The caves have been traced to the Mahayana sect of Buddhism—and to the same milieu as the UNESCO-designated Ajanta caves in Aurangabad, according to Indian Express. ASI determined the temples are from the 9th to 11th century, and the water structures are from 2nd to 15th centuries C.E.

The month-long undertaking, led by archaeologist Shivakant Bajpai of Jabalpur Circle this past spring, marks the first government exploration into this patch of wilderness since 1938. That earlier endeavor focused on inscriptions, while this one focused on architecture. ASI has so far recorded a total of 35 temples, 76 caves, 50 inscriptions, and 56 sculptures across both studies, nearly a century apart.

Only two stupas (dome-shaped structures) have been found, including one from this latest round.

In June, researchers from Ashoka University published findings from their own ground-level and GPS explorations into Bandhavgarh. “The Archaeology of historical India has usually been perceived through the lens of cities and states, leaving forest tracts to a large extent unexamined,” their report in Current Science begins.

ASI’s team included archaeologists, analysts, and photographers, but also forest guards who kept watch while they surveyed the reserve’s principal area of 65 square miles. “Many times, we had to run away from the site due to [the] presence of wild Animals,” Bajpai said, according to the Hindustan Times. Wild elephants were more likely to wreak havoc than tigers.

Bajpai cited one particularly large Varaha sculpture from the 9th to 13th centuries C.E. among the most meaningful finds. Measuring 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide, he said it might be “the world’s largest sculpture.” Votive stupas hailing from the 2nd and 3rd centuries C.E. “held the ashes of the monastic dead to be eternally in the presence of the Buddha Shakyamuni,” Bajpai added.

However, an ASI official told Heritage Daily, “The most startling finding is the remains of the Buddhist structures in the region where a Hindu dynasty ruled. It suggests religious harmony, but who built these Buddhist structures is not yet known.”

Next, ASI will explore the remaining Khitauli and Magadhi ranges of the Bandhavgarh forest. The total area of all three ranges is over 276 square miles.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stonᴇ-Agᴇ Skᴇlᴇtons Unvᴇarthed In Sahara Dᴇsᴇrt

Image
Archaeologists have υпcovered 20 Stoпe-Age skeletoпs iп aпd aroυпd a rock shelter iп Libya’s Sahara desert, accordiпg to a пew stυdy. The skeletoпs date betweeп 8,000 aпd 4,200 years ago, meaпiпg the bυrial place was υsed for milleппia. “It mυst have beeп a place of memory,” said stυdy co-aυthor Mary Aппe Tafυri, aп archaeologist at the Uпiversity of Cambridge. “People throυghoυt time have kept it, aпd they have bυried their people, over aпd over, geпeratioп after geпeratioп.” Aboυt 15 womeп aпd 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥reп were bυried iп the rock shelter, while five meп aпd jυveпiles were bυried υпder giaпt stoпe heaps called tυmυli oυtside the shelter dυriпg a later period, wheп the regioп tυrпed to desert. The fiпdiпgs, which are detailed iп the March issυe of the Joυrпal of Aпthropological Archaeology , sυggest the cυltυre chaпged with the climate. Milleппia of bυrials From aboυt 8,000 to 6,000 years ago, the Sahara desert regioп, called Wadi Takarkori, was filled with...
Read more

Mass grave of plague victims may be largest ever found in Europe, archaeologists say

Image
Plague pits containing the remains of at least 1,000 victims have been unearthed in southern Germany. The pits could together form the largest mass grave ever discovered in Europe, archaeologists say. The excavations, which were carried out ahead of construction work in the city of Nuremberg, revealed eight pits each crammed with hundreds of skeletons belonging to adults, children and babies that date to between the late 15th and early 17th centuries. Archaeologists also found pottery shards and silver coins in two of the three pits they have finished excavating. Radiocarbon dating revealed the pottery coincides with plague outbreaks that occurred between 1622 and 1634, while the coins date to around 1619, according to a statement released by the archaeological excavation company In Terra Veritas. "A discovery like that has never happened before and quite honestly, no one had thought this to be possible," Melanie Langbein, of Nuremberg's department for heritage co...
Read more