Pond digging leads to rare statue

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While re-digging his pond recently, Mongal Member at Sultanpur of Brahmanbaria Sadar upazila found a 10th century statue of Lord Vishnu five metres below the ground.

The night after the discovery, the so-called Magnet Party (smuggling group) of the locality offered Mongal Tk 10 lakh for the statue. He refused the offer. He feared about the safety of the artefact and contacted the local police station to handover custody of the statue.

Meanwhile, local journalist and cultural activists contacted Asiatic Society of Bangladesh (ASB) and urged them to help preserve the statue properly. Editor of Smatat Barta, a local daily of Brahmanbaria, Manjurul Alam said, “We thought it is our responsibility to protect our heritage from the clutches of smugglers.”

Chairman of ASB Prof Sirajul Islam along with archaeological experts rushed there to have a look at the statue. The experts claimed the five feet high and 2.6 feet wide statute of Lord Vishnu, weighing 262 kg, is an artefact of 10th century made during the Chandra dynasty’s rule of Samatat Kingdom, now the greater Comilla district.

Renowned archaeologist AKM Zakaria went to the spot to look at the artefact just after it was discovered on June 14. He said, “It is a unique piece of art made with superior quality black stone… could be made of high-quality Basalt. It is one of the finest and one of the largest artefacts discovered in the country.”

“The decoration of the artefact follows the school of art developed during the Pala dynasty. However, I suspect it was made during the rule of Kalyan Chandra, of the Chandra dynasty, who ruled the ancient Samatat region during the 10th century,” he added.

Zakaria said, “The halo of the statute confirms that it was made before 11th century. However, the excess use of decorations indicates that it was not made before 10th century. Other features of the statute follow the 10th century trends.”

On why the artefact was found five metres under the ground, Zakaria said it was a practice of the ancient Hindu community to bury the image of a deity, when a part of it was distorted. Of the four hands, two hands and the nose of the Vishnu statute are broken.

Chairman of ASB Prof Sirajul Islam said, “The artefact deserves special treatment which is why we have offered a fellowship to archaeologist Mokammel Hossain Bhuiyan of Jahangirnagar University to do a comparative study on the archaeological value of it.”

Despite locals’ demand of keeping the statue at the National Museum in Dhaka, the artefact was taken to the Mainamati Museum, Comilla Sunday for preservation as per the decision of the Department of Archaeology under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The editor of Smatat Barta said, “When Brahmanbaria police asked a local court to give directions on where to keep the artefact, the additional chief judicial magistrate of Brahmanbaria on June 15 asked the National Museum at Shahbagh, Dhaka to preserve it. However, the Department Archaeology took the artefact from Brahmanbaria Police Station’s custody and placed it in Mainamati Museum.”

“This is a violation of court order. Moreover, the unique artefact deserves to be preserved at the National Museum,” he added.

Director of the Department of Archaeology Shafiqul Alam said, “As per Antiquities Act, 1964 [amended, 1976], it is the responsibility of the department to maintain, conserve and repair protected sites and monuments all over the country.”

“The recently discovered Lord Vishnu’s statute should be preserved at Mainamati Museum at Comilla along with the other artefacts of the region. Moreover, at present the National Museum does not have the space to preserve more statues,” he added.

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