Remember when we started writing this blog, we had said that being in Nalanda is a constant treasure hunt and now that we have shared so much of its history you must know the kind of information and data we are dealing with each single day. And the new literature and new clues are just another point in the matrix, there is no final word, we are far from it.
With the information we get, the matrix resolves itself to a new shape accommodating the newer discovery and it is exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time cause this is a work in progress and at times it can be quite intimidating to be critiqued for something that isn’t complete, that isn’t absolute and that is so old that it’ll probably never be complete but at best we can reach a consensus…
Sorry for trailing off on that thought, coming back to the treasure hunt part…
This beautiful and rare sculpture was just discovered in the agricultural fields of Dhurgaon; as you can see with our reference object, it is a small piece with tons of details and it has some inscriptions at its back.
The sculpture is an image is ‘Buddha in bhumisparsa mudra’ flanked with ‘Matrieya’ and ‘Avalokiteswar’ at either side. The piece in whole is shaped like a stupa and the dome of this stupa symbolizes the Mahabodhi temple of Bodh Gaya and at the top the bodhi tree is depicted.
It is a very rare piece and in a very good shape but it was found in the middle of an agriculture field and we have no idea how it got there and how many of such we’ll find there. And not just that it is a very common occurrence to find such pieces but there is no way paved as yet for these sculptures to find a safe home.
For the lack of awareness and a proper system in place many of these pieces are basically lost to the people whose heritage it really is; they are smuggled out of here, or end up in a museum of another country or the best case scenario, they end up in our police stations
before it’s figured out what can be done with them.
So here it is another little piece of puzzle that we found that enforced our commitment that we need to find a solution so that our heritage is not lost and we learn and cherish it and we save it for future generations…..
With the information we get, the matrix resolves itself to a new shape accommodating the newer discovery and it is exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time cause this is a work in progress and at times it can be quite intimidating to be critiqued for something that isn’t complete, that isn’t absolute and that is so old that it’ll probably never be complete but at best we can reach a consensus…
Sorry for trailing off on that thought, coming back to the treasure hunt part…
This beautiful and rare sculpture was just discovered in the agricultural fields of Dhurgaon; as you can see with our reference object, it is a small piece with tons of details and it has some inscriptions at its back.The sculpture is an image is ‘Buddha in bhumisparsa mudra’ flanked with ‘Matrieya’ and ‘Avalokiteswar’ at either side. The piece in whole is shaped like a stupa and the dome of this stupa symbolizes the Mahabodhi temple of Bodh Gaya and at the top the bodhi tree is depicted.
It is a very rare piece and in a very good shape but it was found in the middle of an agriculture field and we have no idea how it got there and how many of such we’ll find there. And not just that it is a very common occurrence to find such pieces but there is no way paved as yet for these sculptures to find a safe home.For the lack of awareness and a proper system in place many of these pieces are basically lost to the people whose heritage it really is; they are smuggled out of here, or end up in a museum of another country or the best case scenario, they end up in our police stations
before it’s figured out what can be done with them.So here it is another little piece of puzzle that we found that enforced our commitment that we need to find a solution so that our heritage is not lost and we learn and cherish it and we save it for future generations…..
5 comments:
Deepak
May i say that the core of Magadh ,i.e., Nalanda , not in the administrative but more so in the cultural sense , may not fail us in nera future with the abundant treasure pieces from our glorius past.
If the history and our ancient heritage has been so bountiful , let ut be . let us celeberate the abundance and glory of our heritage.let the discovery of the traesure hunt continue for hundreds of years, let it keep our future generations engaged. the more the better. On a conservative note ,there must be few hundred settlements of Buddhist / Mauryan / Gupta period in the triangle between Patna , Nalanda- Rajgir and Gaya.
whether we do it ourselves ( our generation ) or the next generation of Magadhan does it , but the work of , excavation ,documentation , restoration and preservation will be done. this is an idea whose time has come.
regarding the figurines recovered from the fields of Dhurgaon- given the small size , the statue may have been part of decorative motif, say pieces of art kept / embedded on the railings , chaitya panels , gates etc. and if so then the village and fields of Durgaon must be strewn with large number of such figurines.
what the inscriptipon says requires to mentioned.
Keep up the great work you are doing .
Kaushal Kishore
email- kaushalkishorejnu@yahoo.com
blogs
www.patnagandhimaidan.blogspot.com
www.magahdes.blogspot.com
PS :To reach the hindi speaking public can be think of publishing these write ups on a suitably named hindi blog linked to blog aggregator like blogvani ?
Regards
Kaushal
I was rather curious to know the antiquity of the inscription. But unfortunately it does not appear to be properly readble. Whatever the case may be, the inscription does not appear to be Brahmi.
As pointed out earlier also, it is worthwhile supplying the latitude-longitude of the places of interest.
The place name must also be written in devanaagarii. Although I know for sure that the place Dhurgaon is धुरगाँव and certainly not ढुरगाँव. But how people in general will understand it ? Roman script is highly unscientific.
gr8 work and discoveries mama
i m proud of u
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