Underwater monastery found in Orissa

01-18-2004, 09:52 PM

>From: Priyadarshi Rajiv <rajiv@...>
>Reply-To: manthan@... (Manthan)
>To: Manthan <manthan@...>
>Subject: [manthan] Underwater monastery found in Orissa
>Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 08:05:51 -0800 (PST)
>
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>Title: Underwater monastery found in Orissa
>Author:
>Publication: Deccan Herald
>Date: Jan. 18, 2004
>URL: http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanhe...n182004/n1.asp
>
>The fresh discovery may give a boost to the school of history which argues
>that Buddha was born in Orissa and not Nepal
>
>BHUBANESWAR, DHNS
>
>An underwater Buddhist monastery has been discovered in coastal Kendrapara
>district of Orissa.
>
>A report from the district quoting a local historian and researcher, Dr
>Harishchandra Prusty said the 29 by 29 metre monastery was unearthed on
>Thursday last about eight feet underwater on the bed of the Govari rover
>in Kantikiari village under Mahanga block of the district.
>
>According to Dr Prusty, he and his team discovered the site after a local
>villager, Damodar Rout informed him about its presence. The 18-room
>monastery has side and partition walls made of bricks. The bricks used in
>the monastery are rare and had not been found in other Buddhist sites in
>the state like Lalitagiri, Udaigir and Khandagari, the historian has been
>quoted as saying.
>
>A number of other ancient articles have also been found from the site.
>They included rock lamps and cooking pots. The discovery has once again
>confirmed the spread of Buddhism in Orissa, Dr Prusty has said.
>
>The fresh discovery may give a boost to the scholars and historian who
>have been claiming that Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, was born
>at Kapileswar near Bhubaneswar, the Orissa capital and not at Kapilavastu
>in Nepal as claimed by history books.
>
>During a national symposium on Buddhism in Orissa held here in November
>last, a historian from neighbouring West Bengal, Dr Satyakam Sengupta and
>his team had claimed that Gautama Buddha was born in the coastal Orissa
>village.
>
>After 35 years of extensive research, we have found that Gautama Buddha
>was born in Kapileswar village near Bhubaneswar and not at Kapilavastu in
>Nepal, Dr Sengupta, a retired professor at Rabindra Bharati University,
>had claimed.
>
>In support of his claim, Dr Sengupta had provided several evidences and
>one among them was frequent discovery of Buddhist sites and monuments in
>the eastern state. A number of Buddhists sites have already been
>discovered in Orissa whereas Nepal has hardly any such important
>historical sites to suggest that Buddhism was widespread there, the
>researcher had observed.
>
>Following Dr Senguptas claim, the Orissa government had announced to set
>up a special team consisting of historians and researchers from Orissa
>University of Culture for further research on the subject.
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