Integrity Score 570
No Records Found
Oh 😳
In 1976-77, excavation outside the monastery complex yielded structures of different phases of construction, with one of the trenches having four human skeletons, 1.5m apart, with lengths varied from 1.0 to 1.73m and oriented north to south with head turned towards west and hand resting on chest, at a depth of 1.0m below the surface, which then could not be dated in the absence of any associated find. From the excavations at Oriup, recovered fragments of baked tiles and clay, indicated that rice grains and chaff were mixed with clay before modelling tiles and clay pieces. In 1977-78, the entire basement wall of the central shrine, damaged by brick robbing, was exposed. In 1978-79, excavation in the area south-west of the monastery revealed a rectangular structure which appeared as the manuscript section of the Mahavihara since vents in the wall seemed to have been provided for the entry of cool breeze, essential for preserving the talapatra manuscripts, by forced draft ventilation. Interestingly, when the tank was fully exposed, water started oozing out through the broken floor and within a short time the whole tank was filled up with water, which dried up automatically after a week.
In 1979-80, excavation in front of the main gate revealed altogether 103 votive stupas, most of them being constructed in reused bricks from the votive stupa complex along with other antiquities. Interestingly, in the excavation on the mound near Jangalisthan, also called dharohar, 0.5 km north-west of the main monastery, a rampart-wall with salients, built of bricks, probably robbed from the Mahavihara was encountered. Some of the outer veneer stones of the rampart had architectural members like door-sill, lintel, jambs, pedestal, etc., which seemed to have been built in the early 14th century AD, just after the destruction of the monastery. Excavation on the mound at Malkapur, where a villager had encountered a large number of unbaked clay tablets representing miniature figures of Buddha in bhumisparsa mudra, revealed disturbed votive stupas just below the humus. In 1981-82,during the course of clearance work, a small temple belonging to latest phase in pancha-ratha plan and facing east was discovered.
To be continued.....