Ruins Of Buddhist Site With Headless Image Of Abalokiteswar Found In Odisha’s Cuttack

Bhubaneswar: Remnants of a Buddhist site have been discovered near Ganeswarapur village in Tangi Tehsil of Odisha’s Cuttack district.

According to sources, large headless Abalokiteswar image, nearly six feet in height, was recently found on the ground near a small wooded grassy mound inside a rice field at the far end of the village by Odisha Chapter of Indian National Trust For Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH).

“Although the head of the image is missing, the iconography closely matches with Abalokiteswar images found in nearby Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Lalitagiri. The excavated Buddhist Stupa in the nearby Rameswar village is across the river, where the images are now being worshiped by the villagers as Hanumancheswara Mahadev,” informed INTACH’s Cuttack Chapter co-convenor Deepak Kumar Nayak.

Ganeswarapur village is 150 metres away from Birupa embankment.

Nayak further said that the site also has remains of a temple base and many odd-shaped kiln-baked bricks, indicating that a temple or a stupa is buried inside. The present and ancient floodplains of the Birupa River are dotted with numerous Buddhist sites on both the banks, he added.

A five-member team comprising Dr Biswajit Mohanty, Ritu Pattanaik, Deepak Kumar Nayak, Suman Prakash Swain and Anil Dhir visited the spot to conduct a preliminary survey and document the archaeological remains found at the site. They also found broken potsherds.

The INTACH has sent a formal request to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), State Archaeology Department and Culture Directorate for survey of the area by experts.

“The discovery indicates that Buddhism flourished in the region in ancient times. However, the exact period can be ascertained only after a systematic archaeological excavation,” said INTACH member Anil Dhir.

Similar Abalokiteswar images were found in other places belong to the period before 9th century CE, he added.

“The disfigured images lying at the site and a small shrine indicate destruction at the site by invaders during the Afghan-Moghul period,” another member Biswajit Mohanty said.

According to locals, Panchupandava and Tareswara temple in the village were destroyed in the 16th Century CE by Kalapahada, the tyrant general of Bengal monarchy, he added.