Nalanda similar Buddha Monastic found in Mogalmari

Buddha statues dating back to sixth century AD have been found at a West Midnapore site where archaeologists have stumbled upon the ruins of a “Buddhist monastic complex” resembling the ancient Nalanda University.

The statues were discovered at Dantan’s Mogalmari village, 180km from Calcutta and near the Odhisa border, by a team of Calcutta University archaeologists.

It appears to us that this was an institution on the lines of Nalanda. Some of the decorations found are similar to those in Nalanda.

Monastic complexes were found in Murshidabad and Malda around two decades ago but the one in Dantan is the biggest yet in Bengal so far. It appears the ruins of the monastic complex is the largest so far found in Bengal, measuring about 3,600 square metres.

The digging at Dantan began in 2003.The monastic complex is decorated with stucco art. The excavation revealed the ruins of a monastery and other constructions from which we can deduce that there was some kind of a school or institution.

Moghalmari Buddhist Monastery at Dantan in the district of West Midnapore (W.B.) may be identified as the historically recorded Dantapur Buddhist Monastery on the ground of the origin of the place name of Dantan, most probably deriving from the Sanskrit word ‘danta’ meaning tooth, and not from the Oriya place name of Dandabhukti, as it is generally assumed. Dantapur may derive its name from the traditional Buddhist monastery convention of preserving the body parts (here tooth) of Lord Buddha in the monastery as a relic. Experts in the field may kindly look into this aspect for proper identification of Moghalmari Buddhist Monastery as the historic Dantapur Buddhist Monastery, mentioned by the Chinese traveller Huyen Sung in his travel writings.