CM launches Jaynagar hills excavation at Lakhisarai

PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar launched the excavation works at Jainagar hills in Lakhisarai district on Saturday. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recently issued the licence for conducting excavation at Jainagar based on recent discovery of an early medieval period monastery (6-10th century AD). The place is located around 125km east of Patna.
The excavation work would be jointly carried out by Bihar Virasat Vikas Smaiti and Vishwa Bharati University, Shantiniketan.Officials said that excavations would be carried out for four months in the first phase as per the licence issued by the ASI.
“A sculpture in this Buddhist monastery looks similar to those found in other Pal period (8-12 century AD) structures,” CM Nitish said while inspecting the site on the sidelines of the launch event.
Bihar Virasat Vikas Samiti’s executive director Bijoy Kumar Chaudhary said British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham, the first director general of ASI, mentioned about the monastery in one of his archaeological reports. “Cunningham, in one of his reports in the 19th century, has mentioned about an ancient Buddhist monastery in Jaynagar hills in Lakhisarai,” Choudhary said, adding that several cells and a courtyard resembling a monastery have been identified at the site so far.
Several copper coins of Alauddin Khilji and two coins bearing the name of Maratha ruler Bajirao Shinde were also discovered at Jayanagar in December, 2016, when locals were digging a mound. Later, Anil Kumar, an associate professor of ancient Indian history and archaeology at Vishwa Bharati University, Shantiniketan identified the coins to belong to Khilji and Bajirao. Sources claimed that numismatic experts from National Archives, New Delhi also confirmed the inscription of the names of Khilji and Bajirao on the coins.
Jainagar hills apart, CM Nitish instructed the officials to take steps for preservation and protection of seven archaeological sites in and around Lakhisarai town, which is believed to be a historically rich region.
“Lakhisarai and the places around it were quite strategic in the early medieval (AD 550- 1200) and medieval period (AD 1200- 1800). Large numbers of historical monuments including Buddhist monasteries and Brahminical temples belonging to this period have been found in and around Lakhisarai. The significance of Lakhisarai is also due to its strategic location in eastern India. It was significant in the inland river trade route as it is located at the confluence of Ganga, Haruhar and Kiul rivers,” Chaudhary said.
Barley a month back in October a few MNS party workers in Malad got beaten up by hawkers after they allegedly tried intimidating the later. MNS party workers had alleged that the incident occurred after Sanjay Nirupam --President, Mumbai Congress Committee, addressed a large gathering of hawkers in Malad and said that its time they retaliated back.