Posts filed under ‘Tel valley civilization’
Ruins of ancient temple found in Jhinkerpali village, Boudh
BOUDH:The recovery of remains of a purportedly 10th century temple from a farm land in Jhinkerpali village under Palsagora gram panchayat in Kantamal block of the district has opened up a new chapter in the history of temples under Somvansi rulers. As per reports, the ruins of the temple were found while earth work was underway in the farm land of Parameswar Sahu on Friday.
The ruins include pillars with engraved motifs besides blocks with writings in Palli script. The excavator, which was deployed in the farm land, came across the ruins following which the work was put on hold. As the news spread, excited villagers rushed to the spot to catch a glimpse of the ruins.
Local villagers call the place from where the ruins were recovered as ‘Chandi Taal’ while revenue records reflect it as ‘Deva Staal’. Manoj Mohanty, a villager, recalled his grandfather mentioning about the existence of a Maa Chandi Bhairavi Temple at the place. In 1991, two Shiva Lingas had been found from the location which are currently being worshipped in Palsagora temple.
Researcher Satyanarayan Pani said the ruins hint of the temple being constructed during 10th Century. As the Somvansi rulers were devotees of ‘Chandi’, they could have built the temple, he said.
While the early history of Boudh is still obscure, the discovery of three remarkable Buddhist statues from the region had led some scholars to believe that the place was an important Buddhist centre of Odisha.
The town, which has over 200 temples built by Somvansi rulers, has led some to believe that the ruins could be that of a Shiva temple.
Boudh houses some ancient temples including the famous twin temples of Nilamadhava and Sidheswar and the twin temples dedicated to Hari and Hara. These apart, there are Chari Sambhu temple and the Ramanath temples dating back to the 9th century AD.
Kosaleswar temple and other historical sites needs urgent attention of Odisha archaeology department
Following report is from the Sambad:
Jitamitra Prasad Singh Deo and his research work on South Kosal
Following information is taken from D.K.Printworld website:
Has the Odisha govt. renamed the Utkal Divasa as Odisha day?
On 2008 I joined various e-groups to participate in the discussions about Odisha and western Odisha. On that year April first I received various e-mails protesting the name of Utkala Divasa. The common complain was that the present Odisha is an amalgamation of Kosala, Kalinga and Utkala, which some historians also refer as Trikalinga. Even today, the common complain from the people of western Odisha (Kosal region) is that there is no mention of Kosal in the history books of Odisha.
Culturally and linguistically western Odisha is different from coastal Odisha. There have been significant archaeological excavations of the upper Mahanadi valley (both western Odisha and Chhattisgarh region). It is evident that western Odisha had shakti, tantric and tribal culture unlike the coastal Orissa which is mainly dominated by Vaishnva culture. The 64 Yogini temple of Ranipur-Jharial, Balangir is a living monument of tantric civilization. In this regard, the “Sasisena Kavya” narrate an interesting incident happened in Sonepur with respect to a tantric expert known as “Jynanadei Maluni”. If you are visiting western Odisha through river Mhanadi you will see that on both sides of Mahanadi there are lord Shiva temples. Prof. Sadhu Charan Panda has done lot of research on Nagas found in these temples.
Ramai Dev of Patna (present day Balangir) founded the Chauhan rule in western Odisha. The Somavamsi kings of Sonepur established many of the Shiva temples in Bhubaneswar and they have set the norms for worshiping the lord Shiva in BBSR. Today, the temples of Mandiramalini Sonepur bear a deserted look; whereas govt. is spending lot of money to preserve the temples in Bhubaneswar. Today, the old capital of Somavamsi rulers is no where to be found in the tourist map of Odisha. So far, the intelligentsias of Odisha are running away from the word Kosal and Kosli language. This is also cited as one of the reasons for instigating the Kosli language movement and separate Kosal state movement.
Jitamitra Prasad Singh Deo in his book “Cultural Profile of South Kosala” points out that “in the early period the South Kosala state was formed on the upper Mhanadi valley (western Odisha and Chhattisgarh); and in the early medieval period the people of Kosala tract originally spoke a language which was similar to the Bhojpuri Prakrit; whereas, the language of coastal Odisha had affinity with Magadhi.” This clearly indicates that there is a huge difference in the evolution pattern of languages of western Odisha and coastal Odisha.
In the past former MP Sriballav Panigrahi, former MP and current Odisha minister Prasanna Acharjya and present MP Bhakta Charan Das have raised the issue of Kosli language in the parliament. In addition, some people and organizations from western Odisha are working for the recognition of Kosli language and culture. It is also learned that in some of the schools of western Odisha Kosli language will be a medium of education in the primary level.
Many have pointed out that now the Odisha govt. is observing Odisha day not Utkala Divasa. It is good. I have nothing against Utkala but let govt. establish few institutes like Kalinga University and Kosal University. Let there be Kalinga Gramya bank and Kosal gramya bank. The Odisha govt. should also recommend so that some trains should be named as Kosal express.
One can ask, after all what is in a name! But, this is the same reason why Mumbai is renamed after Mumbadevi and Chennai is named after Chennapattinam. Indeed, Orissa was renamed as Odisha. The local sentiments should be respected. It is better for all of us if we respect the history, language and culture of all the regions. After all, the beauty of India is in its diversity.
Tel valley civilization: Riverside kingdom traced in copper plates
Following is a report from The Telegraph:
Balangir, Dec. 8: Eminent historian and epigraphist Sadananda Agrawal revealed that both sides of Tel river valley were dotted with principalities in the late 8th century AD.
Agrawal came to this conclusion after going through copper plates which were found in Kapsila village near Balangir.
Recently, a local Brahmin had handed over the copper plates to Sadashiva Pradhan, a professor of archaeology in Utkal University. He, in turn, sent it to epigraphist Sadananda Agrawal for deciphering.
Talking about his discovery to The Telegraph, Agrawal said that the copper plates talked about history of Tel river valley in Balangir in 8th century AD.
“The charter issued consisted of three copper plates tied together by a circular ring and issued by a king named Khadgasimha. Paleographically, the charter has been assigned to late 8th century AD and it informs us about new rulers in the Tel valley,” Agrawal said.
Agrawal said that small principalities in the valley were established by chieftains.
“The copper plates do not mention anything about any particular dynasty or place. So it is certain that both sides of the Tel river valley had small states ruled by local chieftains belonging to different clans. The Udayapur area, the capital of Rashtrakuta kings, who ruled in the valley, is still dotted with standing structures and ruins. These are mostly found at Amathgad. Ruins of a medieval fort is also found there,” Agrawal said.
“Proper archaeological exploration is needed to enrich the medieval history of the area,” he added.
Four copper plates, which were found earlier in Teresingha, also spoke of the Tel valley civilisation.
Sadashiva Pradhan, archaeologist at the Utkal University had earlier excavated the Gumagad site in the Tel valley, where he found that a strategic military hub existed in 1st century BC. It was set up by a king contemporary to king Kharavela.
“Last year, we had submitted a memorandum to the governor demanding preservation and further excavation of the area. The area needs extensive excavation”, he said.
Following is another report from expressbuzz.com:
BALANGIR: While Gumagad, the first century BC military strategic hub, speaks volumes of a flourishing kingdom in the Tel river valley, a copper plate recently found at Kapsila village in Balangir district hints at existence of several kingdoms on either side of the valley.
Historians, who recently evinced interest in exploring more facts about the valley civilisation, opined that further excavation can unravel the history buried under the earth. This copper plate was interestingly found near the archaeological site of Kharligad near Gumagad.
Utkal University Archaeology Prof Sadasiva Pradhan, who got the copper plate from a Brahmin, said it contains information regarding the civilisation. He, however, had sent it to eminent epigraphist Sadananda Agrawal for deciphering.
According to Agrawal, as per the information on the copper plate, the civilisation dates back to the 8th century AD.
“The Udayapur area, the capital of Rashtrakuta kings who ruled the valley, is still dotted with standing structure and ruins. These are mostly found at Amathgad. Ruins of a medieval fort too exist here,” said Agrawal.
Earlier, Prof Pradhan had excavated the Gumagad site, where he found a strategic military hub of the first century BC. It was set up by a contemporary of King Kharavela.
Studying further into the formation on copper plate, Agrawal said that a king called Khadgasingha had donated a village Remudaka (modern Remanda) in Saintala. This also throws light on the civilisation.
He feels that further excavation by expert archeologists with the government’s support would shed more light on the civilisation.
The other four copper plates found earlier at Terssingha village also spoke of the Tel valley civilisation.
Those plates had information regarding the two capitals – Udayapur and Parbatadwaraka – which were under the rule of Rashtrakutas and local chieftains belonging to different clans.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 