500-year-old temple submerged in Mahanadi found: Experts

 

AN ANCIENT temple that remained submerged in Mahanadi in Odisha has been found, said experts who are leading a documentation project of heritage sites in the river valley. The 60-feet temple, believed to be around 500 years old, was located recently during an exercise as part of the project, said Anil Dhir, project coordinator of the Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in Odisha. The temple was found in the mid-river near Baideswar in the Padmavati area in Cuttack, he said on Sunday.

 

 

The temple dates back to the late 15th or early 16th century, considering the construction style of the Mastaka and the materials used for the construction, Dhir said, adding that INTACH would approach the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to take steps for relocating and restoring the temple. We will soon write to the ASI requesting it to take steps to relocate the temple to a suitable site.They have the required technology to do it. The State Government should also take up the matter with the ASI, he said.

 

Stating that INTACH has so far located as many as 65 ancienttemples intheMahanadi river during its documentation project, Dhir said many of the temples in the Hirakud reservoir too can be dismantled and reconstructed. The temple was dedicated to Gopinath Dev, he said. In the mid 19th century, the deities of the vulnerable temple were shifted and installed in a safer and higher place, which is presently theGopinath Dev templeofPadmavati village, he said.

 

A systemicsurveyofallthetangible and intangible heritage of the entire length of the Mahanadi,fromthesource to the sea, covering a distance of nearly 1,700 km, is in its final stage of completion, he said. A multi-volume report of the nearly800monuments thathave been documented will be released next year, he added. Nearly 50 ancient temples were lost due to the Hirakud dam, he said.