UP: Ancient idol of Lord Vishnu recovered in Kaushambi village

PRAYAGRAJ: An ancient idol of Lord Vishnu has been recovered at the village of Rasoolpur Badagav under the limits of Manjhanpur tehsil in Kaushambi district here on Saturday. The idol was recovered during the digging work of Khumbhi pond under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) work.
District magistrate (Kaushambi) Manish Kumar Verma told TOI, “We have apprised the authorities of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) about the recovery of the ancient idol of Lord Vishnu, who assume that the idol might be from 12th century.The authorities of Allahabad Museum have also been apprised of the discovery who would also be sending a team of experts to study the recovered idol."
The idol is currently in possession of treasury department and teams of ASI and Allahabad Museum would be examining it on Sunday.
SDM (Manjhanpur) Rajesh Chandra, meanwhile, said that the ancient old idol was recovered when around 150 labourers were digging Khumbhi pond in Rasoolpur Badagav development block under MANREGA scheme and when a labourer named as Sukhraj suspected the presence of idol. As soon as the labourers spotted the idol, they informed the village head and block development officer about the recovery.
Upon being alerted, district authorities immediately rushed to the spot and took the ancient idol in their possession. Officials said they had already consulted the ASI authorities to know more about the status of recovered idol.
According to villagers, this idol has four arms of Lord Vishnu carrying a conch, gada and chakra. The district authorities said they would speak about more about the idol after consulting with archaeologists. Leaders and workers of Hindu frontal organisation also assembled to get a glimpse of the recovered idol and demanded district authorities to install it at a temple for prayers.