KOLKATA/DANTAN: A wave of excitement swept the
Moghalmari excavation site
near Dantan on Wednesday following the chance discovery of a gold coin
and a locket. Though yet to be confirmed, archaeologists feel the
exhibits belong to the sixth century AD, which is generally known as
the Gupta period in ancient history. It is also known as King
Shashanka's reign in the history of Bengal.
In 2003, when
Indologist BN Mukherjee had visited Dantan to document Bengal's
navigational history, he came across a huge mound at Moghalmari, which
the locals call Sakhi Sena or Sashi Sena. They told him that underneath
the mound lay the state's oldest Buddhist monastery, which might even
beat the Raktamrittika Vihara of Murshidabad (erstwhile Karnasuvarna)
in age. Chinese scholar Hiuen Tsang had mentioned the existence of an
old Buddhist monastery in Bengal that was older than Raktamrittika.
However, this was never found and historians felt the excavation might
finally bring the age-old mystery to an end.
At the behest of Mukherjee, the
Calcutta University
took up the excavation project at Moghalmari. Gradually, a tri-ratha
structure, typical of Buddhist monastic architecture complete with
innumerable cells for the monks was unearthed.
The nature of
the architecture proves that construction and growth here happened in
two phases. The first was between the sixth and seventh century while
the second was in the ninth and 10th century.
The CU
excavation happened in phases and was sponsored by the Archaeological
Survey of India. It drew its conclusions about the sixth century
monastery. In March, on the basis of these conclusions, the state
archaeological department declared Moghalmari as a protected site and
on November 20 re-started the excavation.
The gold coin found
on Wednesday has the image of a king on one side and a goddess on the
other. The locket, on the other hand, has standing images engraved on
it. "Though we have sent the exhibits for inspection so that their
antiquity could be ascertained, it is possible that they belong to the
sixth century," said Amal Roy, deputy director of the state
archaeological department.
Once this is established, it will
be proved that the monastery was indeed built in the Vajrayana phase of
the propagation of Buddhism. At this time, deity worship was slowly
making inroads into Buddhism, explained archaeologist Durga Basu.
