Rare ancient idol of Sri Ganesha found

Bhopal: At a time when the nation is celebrating Ganesh Utsav, the Department of Archaeology has found a rare ancient idol of Sri Ganesha. This idol was dug out while cleaning out debris at Dhaavla village (Harrai gram panchayat) in Raisen district. Idols of Jain Chatushtika statue, Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Devi, Bhairav apart from remnants of 4 temples on the mountains have also come to light. Only the lower portions of the temples are intact.

Giving this information Commissioner Archaeology Anupam Rajan said that the ancient idol found during the cleaning dates back to the period between 11thcentury AD to 13th century AD. There is a huge ancient temple of Lord Shiva on the nearly 50 ft.high mountain in the village. A shivalinga and a water base in the sanctum sanctorum has also come to light.

Rajan told that several portions of the ancient temple including the shakha, sirdal, jangha, shikha besides several other idols have been unearthed by the technical team constituted by the department to clean up the debris. Commissioner Archaeology congratulated the technical team officers Dr. Ramesh Yadav, Sangrahadhyaksh Rajgarh G. P. Singh, archaeologist Ashutosh Upreet, antiquaries Sarvashri Yogesh Pal and Dr. Ahmed Ali for digging out the rare idol and ancient temples.

Rajan has issued instructions to begin maintenance work of the ancient temples at the earliest to restore it.-WTN