archive: A mystery unveiled?
A mystery unveiled?
PTI
The Observer
May 15, 1999
Title: A mystery unveiled?
Author: PTI
Publication: The Observer
Date: May 15, 1999
Khajuraho is slowly unravelling a gift for its millennium-old temples,
as a ninth-century Chandela temple, larger than any of the existing
ones, emerges from a mound near here. Excavation by a team of
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at a mound near Jatkara, six
kilometres south of Khajuraho, has revealed a 34-metre long sandstone
jagati (foundation) of a temple with carvings and sculptures.
"This makes this temple larger than the 30-metre long Kandariya
Mahadev, the biggest and the loftiest of the temples standing in
Khajuraho", ASI Director General Ajai Shanker said. However, it was
too early to say if the temple, built in the same style as the other
temples here, was completed at all or fell during construction,
Shanker said. "If it was completed, as per the rules of temple
architecture it would have been 34 m tell."
The date of the temple's construction is another puzzle before the
archaeologists. Since excavation began on March six, the mound has
yielded about 124 architectural fragments and sculptures of Vishnu,
Saraswati, Shiva, Brahma, Uma-Maheshwar, Buddha, Tirthankaras and some
erotic figures, dating from the late ninth century to the 11th
century, in various stages of preservation. "This variation has not
been seen in any other temple," head of the ASI team, Dr P K Mishra,
said.
While the jagati was excellently preserved, showcasing a high quality
of sandstone work, the sculptures found in the rubble were of a later
period and lacked the fine proportions of the earlier figures, Shanker
said. A Shivalinga atop the mound also dates from a later period.
"We are trying to date the temple with the help of the motifs on the
jagati, the quality of the sculptures and the stone," Shanker said.
Of the fabled 85 temples built in Khajuraho, only 25 stand today and
the newly excavated temple is the 26th. The archaeologists are also
trying to find out the purpose of the bricks which surround the
sandstone structure from three sides. The bricks could have been used
to shore up the temple and a layer of bricks on the eastern side may
even have served as steps, according to Mishra.
It was too early to say if the bricks were remains of a Buddhist stupa
or evidence of any Buddhist influence in the region, he said.
Complete excavation and conservation of the temple in the Bijamandal
mound may take one to two years, and if 50 to 60 per cent of the
temple's remains are found, ASI would reconstruct it from the
fragments, Shanker said.
About 40 people from Jatkara, Khajuraho and other nearby villages are
engaged in the excavation under the supervision of the ASI team. Work
on the mound is slated to stop on May 10 due to the extreme heat and
will resume after the monsoon. The Bijamandal mound is one of the 18
mounds spread over a radius of seven km identified for excavation by
the ASI in 1980. Work on the mounds could not start all these years
as "ASI had its hands full conserving the other temples and shortage
of manpower and funds," Shanker said. Excavation at the other mounds
would be taken up depending on further finds in Bijamandal and
availability of manpower and funds, Mishra said. While anybody can
climb upon the mound now, ASI plans to fence it so that tourists can
watch the excavation without posing any danger to the temple. "We
will allow tourists into the compound only after we have excavated and
conserved the temple," Shanker said.
As for the people of Jatkara and other nearby villages, the discovery
of the temple means many things. "Yeh to chamatkar ho gaya (it's a
miracle)," said Narmada Prasad Dubey of Jatkara. Prabhu Dayal Mishra,
also from Jatkara and engaged in the excavation work, had more earthy
reasons to be happy. "Earlier we had little work in summer. Now the
excavation work fetches us more money than farming or construction
jobs," he said. And while there are fears that the government will
take over village land for developing the area around the temple, the
villagers, like Suli Ram of Jatkara, believe that, "if the temple is
built, it will bring development to the village."
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