Decks have been cleared for carrying out fresh excavation of ruins of the Vikramsila university in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, nearly three decades after the Archaeological Survey of India obtained sanction from the state government in this regard.
"The Bhagalpur district administration has cleared an ASI proposal in this regard," Bhagalpur District Magistrate Rahul Singh has confirmed.
The Jangleswar Tila, the excavation site, is located beyond the area under the purview of the ASI and therefore, the district administration's nod to the proposal was necessary, sources said.
Spread over nearly four acres, the earthen mound is located approximately a kilometre away from the area acquired by the ASI within the range of the ancient Vikramshila University.
The proposal was under consideration ever since local people had pointed out to visiting ASI authorities last year that there were chances of historical treasures lying beneath the mound. The director-general of ASI had also paid a visit to the area.
The convenor of the Vikramshila Nagrik Manch, Dr N K Jaiswal, said as digging in the adjoining acquired site had brought out several artefacts, it was supposed that excavation at Jangleswar Tila would bring out a historical treasure trove.
Vikramsila is located about 50 KM east of Bhagalpur and about 13 KM north-east of Kahalgaon, a railway station on the Bhagalpur-Sahebganj section of Eastern Railway.
Excavated remains represent the ruins of Vikramasila Mahavihara, the celebrated university founded by Pala king Dharmapala sometime between the late 8th and early 9th century AD.
It prospered for about four centuries before it collapsed in the beginning of the 13th Century AD. It is known mainly through Tibetan sources, specially the writings of Taranath, the Tibetan monk-historian of 16th-17th Century AD.
Vikramasila was one of the largest Buddhist universities having more than hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture and religion.
The most distinguished and eminent among all was Atisa Dipankara, the founder of Lamaism in Tibet. Subjects like theology, philosophy, grammar, metaphysics and logic were taught there, but the most important branch of learning was tantrism.
Meticulous excavation at the site conducted initially by Patna University (1960-69) and subsequently by Archaeological Survey of India (1972-82) has revealed a huge square monastery with a cruciform stupa in its centre, a library building and cluster of votive stupas.
To the north of monastery is a number of scattered structures, including a Tibetan and a Hindu temple, spread over an area of more than hundred acres.
The monastery, or residence for the Buddhist monks, is a huge square structure with each side measuring 330 metres having a series of 208 cells. There are 52 cells on each of the four sides opening into a common verandah.
The main stupa built for the purpose of worship is a brick structure laid in mud mortar and stands in the centre of the square monastery.
About 32 metres south of the monastery on its south west corner and attached with the main monastery through a narrow corridor is a rectangular structure identified as library building.
It was air-conditioned by cooled water of the adjoining reservoir through a range of vents in the back wall.
The system was perhaps meant for preserving delicate manuscripts.
The architecture of the stupa and the themes of terracotta plaques of Vikramasila Mahavihara are comparable to contemporary Somapura Mahavihara, Paharpur in Bangladesh.
A large number of antiquities of different materials unearthed from this place in course of excavation are displayed in the site museum maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Source: Zee News