The following news item appearing in "The Daily Star" has been interesting, as the Vishnu Deity has been found in digging of a pond. Earlier, Dr. R. Nagaswamy has pointed out in his article that there has been scriptural direction to preserve the Icon / Idol/ Vigraha / Murthy etc., by burying under the ground, throwing into pond, lake etc., so that they would be escaped from the marauding iconoclasts, fanatic followers of Islam that destroyed all Deities they found. (As the Taliban did to the world's largest standing Buddhas of Bamiyan back in March 2001.) Later, they could be recovered and installed.
In the same way, last year, a Vishnu Deity was reported in Russia. The Deity found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1046928.cms
For more discussion on the topic, see:
http://www.allempires.net/default.asp
The Daily starSaturday, July 12, 2008 07:33 AM GMT+06:00
Published On: 2008-07-11
Pond digging leads to rare statue
While re-digging his pond recently, Mongal Member at Sultanpur of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila found a 10th century Deity of Lord Vishnu five metres below the ground.
The night after the discovery, the so-called Magnet Party (smuggling group) of the locality offered Mongal Tk 10 lakh for the Deity. He refused the offer. He feared about the safety of the artefact and contacted the local police station to handover custody of the statue.
Meanwhile, local journalist and cultural activists contacted Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (ASB) and urged them to help preserve the Deity properly. Editor of Smatat Barta, a local daily of Brahmanbaria, Manjurul Alam said, "We thought it is our responsibility to protect our heritage from the clutches of smugglers."
Chairman of ASB Prof Sirajul Islam along with archaeological experts rushed there to have a look at the Deity. The experts claimed the five feet high and 2.6 feet wide Deity of Lord Vishnu, weighing 262 kg, is an artefact of 10th century made during the Chandra dynasty"s rule of Samatat Kingdom, now the greater Comilla district.
Renowned archaeologist AKM Zakaria went to the spot to look at the artefact just after it was discovered on June 14. He said, "It is a unique piece of art made with superior quality black stone… could be made of high-quality Basalt. It is one of the finest and one of the largest artefacts discovered in the country."
"The decoration of the artefact follows the school of art developed during the Pala dynasty. However, I suspect it was made during the rule of Kalyan Chandra, of the Chandra dynasty, who ruled the ancient Samatat region during the 10th century," he added.
Zakaria said, "The halo of the Deity confirms that it was made before 11th century. However, the excess use of decorations indicates that it was not made before 10th century. Other features of the Deity follow the 10th century trends."
On why the artefact was found five metres under the ground, Zakaria said it was a practice of the ancient Hindu community to bury the image of a deity, when a part of it was distorted. Of the four hands, two hands and the nose of the Vishnu statute are broken.
Chairman of ASB Prof Sirajul Islam said, "The artefact deserves special treatment which is why we have offered a fellowship to archaeologist Mokammel Hossain Bhuiyan of Jahangirnagar University to do a comparative study on the archaeological value of it."
Despite locals" demand of keeping the Deity at the National Museum in Dhaka, the artefact was taken to the Mainamati Museum, Comilla Sunday for preservation as per the decision of the Department of Archaeology under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.
The editor of Smatat Barta said, "When Brahmanbaria police asked a local court to give directions on where to keep the artefact, the additional chief judicial magistrate of Brahmanbaria on June 15 asked the National Museum at Shahbagh, Dhaka to preserve it. However, the Department Archaeology took the artefact from Brahmanbaria Police Station"s custody and placed it in Mainamati Museum."
"This is a violation of court order. Moreover, the unique artefact deserves to be preserved at the National Museum," he added.
Director of the Department of Archaeology Shafiqul Alam said, "As per Antiquities Act, 1964 [amended, 1976], it is the responsibility of the department to maintain, conserve and repair protected sites and monuments all over the country."
The Deity of Lord Vishnu found in Brahmanbaria. Photo: STAR
MOSCOW: An ancient Vishnu idol has been found during excavation in an old village in Russia's Volga region, raising questions about the prevalent view on the origin of ancient Russia.
The idol found in Staraya (old) Maina village dates back to VII-X century AD. Staraya Maina village in Ulyanovsk region was a highly populated city 1700 years ago, much older than Kiev, so far believed to be the mother of all Russian cities.
"We may consider it incredible, but we have ground to assert that Middle-Volga region was the original land of Ancient Rus. This is a hypothesis, but a hypothesis, which requires thorough research," Reader of Ulyanovsk State University's archaeology department Dr Alexander Kozhevin told state-run television Vesti .
Dr Kozhevin, who has been conducting excavation in Staraya Maina for last seven years, said that every single square metre of the surroundings of the ancient town situated on the banks of Samara, a tributary of Volga, is studded with antiques.
Prior to unearthing of the Vishnu idol, Dr Kozhevin has already found ancient coins, pendants, rings and fragments of weapons.
He believes that today's Staraya Maina, a town of eight thousand, was ten times more populated in the ancient times. It is from here that people started moving to the Don and Dneiper rivers around the time ancient Russy built the city of Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine.
An international conference is being organised later this year to study the legacy of the ancient village, which can radically change the history of ancient Russia
No comments:
Post a Comment