The remains of a Buddha Vihar along with some stone images of lord Buddha, Saraswati, Padmapani and others have been unearthed from the Asiha hillock near Majhipada in Jajpur district.
Noted historian Dr Harish Chandra Prusti and others stumbled upon the Buddha monastery beneath the earth after they dug four feet.
A two-feet-high image of lord Buddha having four hands, a three-feet-high meditating Buddha image, a three-feet-high image of Saraswati, an image of Padmapani, many ceramic hoards, high-framed earthen bowls, begging bowls, spout jars, terracotta lamps, many coins and some stones with inscriptions were discovered.
Dr Prusti said, “This Buddhist monastery had perhaps been built in the 8th Century AD under active royal patronage and propagation of a Buddhist kingdom of the Bhaumakura dynasty flourished within the 8th to 11th Centuries AD in Odisha. But in the 12th Century, Hindu Rajas of Somabanshi and Ganga, who were anti-Buddhism and pro-Bramahanical, might have demolished the Buddhist monastery and constructed a Shiva or Mahakala temple on the ruins of the monastery.”
“And in the 16th Century, Muslim invaders demolished the Shiva or Mahakala temple as they had demolished and attacked many other temples. Hindu kings had also demolished Buddha Vihars and constructed Mahakala temples on the ruins of the monasteries at Ratnagiri and Udayagiri in this area. Seven years back, officials of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) had stumbled upon a giant Buddha Vihar beneath the Mahakala temple at Ratnagiri while the temple’s renovation works were going on,” said Dr Prusti, Buddhist researcher and Principal of the Sahasapur College.
The ASI should unearth this village and its nearby areas too to unearth more artifacts, said Dr Prusti.
