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HILLONG: The sleepy hamlet of Bhaitbari in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills, which was in the national limelight when ruins of an ancient kingdom
dating back to 4-8 AD were discovered a few years ago, might hold the keys to a glorious period of N-E history.
There is speculation that the royal seat of the Kamrupa (Assam) kingdom could have been located at Bhaitbari. Nevertheless, several such interesting historical details, which are still mired in controversy, could be answered more vividly when archaeologists excavate the entire Bhaitbari-Tikrikilla area. The site is barely eight km from Phulbari near the Meghalaya-Assam boundary.
The state government is planning to tie up with the Northeast Circle of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out excavations of the remaining areas in the Bhaitbari site. The 20-sq km area grabbed national and international attention following archaeological findings after protracted excavations in 1992. The archaeological findings, which have yet to be adequately unraveled and carbon-dated, are reported to be of considerable antiquity. The finds are of artifacts, which reveal the existence of planned places of worship with exquisitely designed masonry oil lamps.
"Further excavations are likely to reveal more remains of an earlier habitation, besides unraveling the historical antiquity of the plains-belt of the State of which very little is known from recorded history," says senior government archaeologist Julies Marak. In 1992, A K Sharma of ASI, Nagpur, excavated the site and unearthed three temple sites with numerous Shiva lingams and a Buddhist Stupa. According to ASI officials, nothing is definitely known at present about the history of the site, including the era when it had flourished.
However, on the basis of idols of deities like Ganesh, Parvati, Kubera and Yaksha depicted on the terracotta tiles and their stylistic taste and the stupa's existence, scholars say the period of the flourish of the fortified city may be contemporaneous to the reign of Harsha Vardhana during the first half of the 7th centry AD. Moreover, from the existence of ancient tanks of various sizes, this township suggests being an important temple township, they feel.
The government archaeologist, however, said it's only after the excavation of the "inhabited" or "residential" area can anything concrete be said about the history of Bhaitbari, which promises to be no less interesting and of historical significance than that of Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
HILLONG: The sleepy hamlet of Bhaitbari in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills, which was in the national limelight when ruins of an ancient kingdom
dating back to 4-8 AD were discovered a few years ago, might hold the keys to a glorious period of N-E history.
There is speculation that the royal seat of the Kamrupa (Assam) kingdom could have been located at Bhaitbari. Nevertheless, several such interesting historical details, which are still mired in controversy, could be answered more vividly when archaeologists excavate the entire Bhaitbari-Tikrikilla area. The site is barely eight km from Phulbari near the Meghalaya-Assam boundary.
The state government is planning to tie up with the Northeast Circle of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out excavations of the remaining areas in the Bhaitbari site. The 20-sq km area grabbed national and international attention following archaeological findings after protracted excavations in 1992. The archaeological findings, which have yet to be adequately unraveled and carbon-dated, are reported to be of considerable antiquity. The finds are of artifacts, which reveal the existence of planned places of worship with exquisitely designed masonry oil lamps.
"Further excavations are likely to reveal more remains of an earlier habitation, besides unraveling the historical antiquity of the plains-belt of the State of which very little is known from recorded history," says senior government archaeologist Julies Marak. In 1992, A K Sharma of ASI, Nagpur, excavated the site and unearthed three temple sites with numerous Shiva lingams and a Buddhist Stupa. According to ASI officials, nothing is definitely known at present about the history of the site, including the era when it had flourished.
However, on the basis of idols of deities like Ganesh, Parvati, Kubera and Yaksha depicted on the terracotta tiles and their stylistic taste and the stupa's existence, scholars say the period of the flourish of the fortified city may be contemporaneous to the reign of Harsha Vardhana during the first half of the 7th centry AD. Moreover, from the existence of ancient tanks of various sizes, this township suggests being an important temple township, they feel.
The government archaeologist, however, said it's only after the excavation of the "inhabited" or "residential" area can anything concrete be said about the history of Bhaitbari, which promises to be no less interesting and of historical significance than that of Mohenjodaro and Harappa.
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