Scattered Buddhist and Brahmanic Images of District Nalanda and Its Vicinity

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Since 1838 when Nalanda (25° 12" 00"N.; 85° 31" 12"E.) first reported by F. Buchanan archaeological investigations in the district are continuously going on till date. During 1974-1982 excavations of Sarai mound at Nalanda revealed Mural paintings of Pala period. Excavations done at Banganga, Rajgir during 1999-2001 exposed a brick-stupa made in terraced form. Excavations at Chandi Mau near Silao discovered a temple-complex along with a few votive-stupas in 2001-2002. In 2004-2005 scientific clearance done behind Temple No.3 of the Nalanda ruins revealed temple on wheels of Gupta period. During 2006-2007 excavations were done at Juafardih and Begumpur. A mud-stupa was exposed at Juafardih built during the NBPW period. The most important contribution of Juafardih excavation is the early date for NBPW supplied by Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotanical Research. Lucknow ranging from 1200-400 BCE. It is interesting to bring forth that there are four C"dates which have given early dates for NBPW levels.

The excavation at Ghorakatora done in 2008-09 had brought out a pre-NBPW horizon. During exploration a few Palaeolithic tools and Microliths were also collected from Banganga Valley of Rajgir. B.K. Choudhary. Director, K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute, Patna has reported about 52 sites of archaeological importance in and around Nalanda in Purazama Vol.38. Choudhary claims that there are several sites in the region whose antiquity are as old as, or even earlier than, that of Juaferdih. Recently excavations done at Telhara exposed the ruins of Tiladhak Mahavihara mentioned by Xuann-zang in his travelogue as Ti-lo-shi-ka. In one of the Nalanda seals the place is mentioned as Tilakanda Vihara.

Recent findings compelled me to do village to village survey of the district. Explorations were done by me in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 keeping in mind the ruins of Nalanda as the main reference point and have surveyed more than 600 villages and reported 68 sites having archaeological potential, among them 35 were unreported. Pot-sherds of RW, RSW, BW, BSW and NBPW were collected from the surface. The reports on various aspects of the exploration are published inIndian Archarology 2012-13: A Review, Puratattva Vol.44, Itihas Darpan Vol. 18 and Bharti Vol.38. I have also explored the peripheral area of District-Nalanda and found a number of sites having archaeological importance. During exploration a number of Buddhist and Brahmanic images were found scattered on a number of sites. During 2015-16 I have excavated a site named Rukhaegarh whose cultural sequence goes from NBPW to Early Medieval Period. Report of the excavation is already published, so that I have not repeated it here.

In this book I have tried my best to present a brief history of the archaeological investigations done in the district of Nalanda and its peripheral area since 1838 upto 2015.Chapter-1 throws light on the historical background of the district and the literary sources by which we may able to know about Nalanda. Chapter-II investigates the archaeological sources which throws ample light on the glorious past of Nalanda. Geographical scenario of the district is the theme of the Chapter-III. Chapter-IV records the archaeological investigations done in the district before and after the independence while Chapter-V mentions about the sites explored by me. In Chapter-VI documentation of archaeological sites in the vicinity of Dist. Nalanda was done. Chapter-VII deals with the description of scattered Buddhist and Brahmanic images in and around the district. Special features of Nalanda Art are the theme of Chapter-VIII while in the last chapter I have tried to prove the impact of Nalanda Art on other Art Traditions. The book is well supported by tables, figures, maps and illustrations and a rich bibliography. Hope, the book will be useful for the students of archaeology.

Nalanda district of Bihar occupies an area of 2355 square km, and the co-ordinate is 25º 12 00" N. latitude and 85° 31° 12" E. longitudes. It is a part of the Lower Gangatic plain except its southern part, where small hills are separated over a large area. Barh district is in the north of this district were Ganga River flows from west to east direction. Patna is in the north-west whereas Gaya and Nawadah districts lie in the south-west and south of the district respectively, where hills belonging to the Chotanagpur hills spread over in a large area. Its topography slopes towards the north and most of the streams flow northward and join the Ganges as tributaries. The archaeological remains of Nalanda mahavihara lay some 11 kms north-west from Rajgir and the same distance to the south-west of Bihar Sharif, the headquarter of the district Nalanda. It is 3 kms away from the Nalanda Railway Sration and 88 Kms south-east of Patna, the metropolis of the Bihar state. Its latitude is 25° 8'N., and the longitude is 85° 27 E. Historians and archaeologists identified this place with a modern village named Badagaonat Nalanda. The term Badagaon has been taken as a corrupt form of Viharagrama.

Nalanda has perhaps received the highest amount of scholastic attention till date than any other Archaeological site in India. Archaeological investigations at Nalanda have undertaken in various phases and periods. The archaeological sites in district-Nalanda have been extensively explored and excavated from time to time. As a result, many structures have been exposed. Most of these are in ruins but these structures even today, glorify the ancient seat of learning. The structures include dilapidated monasteries, temples, stupas and ancient avenues. Most of them belong to the Pala period,i.e. 8th-12th centuries CE, but some structures belong even to pre-Pala period. Archaeological investigations done previously by the pioneers in the field such as Buchanan (1839), Kittoe, Cunningham (1871:73; 80; 82; 83) and Broadley (1872) are extremely important for the purpose. After independence there have been certain very useful explorations in the region. During 1955-56 in course of a general clearance, a Jain sculpture of the medieval period was found. Excavations were made during 1973-74 by which many images were discovered belonging to the Pala period. Sculptures of Vishnu, Surya, Haragauri, Buddha, Tara, Marichi, Chaturmukha linga and Ganesha were discovered from the village of Badagaon located north to the ruins. Images of Avalokiteshvara, Buddha in Bhumisparsha mudra, Vishnu and Haragauri were discovered from the village of Surajpur adjacent to Badagaon. At Machchaldiha, just south to Badagaon, sculptures of Dhyani Buddha, Maitreya, Avalokiteshvara and Vishnu along with a few votive stupaswere discovered. Sculptures of Buddha were also recovered from Mirchaiganj and Mohammadapur located north to Badagaon. Several images including a crowned Buddha in Bhumisparsha mudra, a panel showing life-scenes of Buddha, tripal faced Marichi, Tara and Jambhala were discovered from Pachwara located south-west to Badagaon. A crowned Buddha image from Lodipur and a seated image of Avalokiteshvara from Tazubigha were also reported. Several beautiful sculptures including Uma-Maheshvara, Tara, Bodhisattva, Marichi etc. came to light during the clearance of the eastern part of the Sarai mound of the ruins.

An interesting inscription of 7th-8th century CE was discovered at Sarai mound during excavations of 1975-76 which referred to a bronze image of Buddha being installed by king Purnavarmana. During this year a heavy stone slab probably used as a part of a door in the entrance of a temple, was recovered. A partially exposed stone pedestal of a garbhagriha revealed remnants of paintings in red, black and white pigments. This painting shows an unidentified seated person with one hand raised and a standing elephant. The excavations also revealed stone votive stupas, Buddha images in Bhumisparsha and Dharmachakra mudras and a few other deities related to the Buddhist pantheon. Sporadic excavations were done after 1976 by the mid-eastern circle of Archaeological Survey of India. Mention may be made of a figure of Vagishvari sitting on a standing lion during excavations of 1981-82. During 1982-83 an image of Surya and a panel of Dhyani Buddha were exposed. Since 1999 up to 2014 a few excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India and successfully revealed some architectural remains in the district like- Stupas and Votive Stupas, Temple-complex and Monasteries. Apart of these findings in 2008-09 a few Palaeolithic tools and Microliths were also collected from Banganga Valley of Rajgir during exploration. The excavation at Ghorakatorawas done in 2008-09 which brought out a pre-NBPW horizon.

Nalanda was certainly one of such glorious spots from which the light emitted and not only India, but the neighbouring countries were also illuminated. The history of the place remained shrouded with mystery for long and despite untiring efforts made during a century and half, several layers remain concealed. There has been still a need for comprehensive work on various aspects of Nalanda. Keeping in mind these facts I have done archaeological exploration in the district and its peripheral area during 2012-2013, 2013-14 and 2015-16 along with my technical staff Mr. Arun Kumar Pandey (Draughtsman), Mr. Barun Kumar Sinha (Photographer) and my ResearchScholarMr. Pankaj Kumar. Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi has permitted me for the exploration work and given license for the purpose.