In a densely populated part of modern day Bhubaneswar is a series of temples. These temples, by themselves, are ancient and display fine examples of the Kalinga style of temple architecture (a rounded kalash instead of the pointy vimanams of the South Indian temples, a tiled gradient leading up to the top, and like the other temples of the region, intricate sculptures on the walls).
Excavation has been going on at the location since 2014. A request was placed for permission to excavate more as far back as 2014. Since the area is densely populated, it was not easy to get this permission.
In the excavations that have been going on since 2021 at least, in a much larger area, archaeologists have found many amazing, interesting features that go back almost 1400 years.
Kalinga, now known as Odisha, has seen continuous civilisation for at least 2000 years.
Some of the things that have been found are:
A. The roof of another, earlier temple.
B. Sculptures of Shri Vishnu, Mahishasurmardini (the most recent to be found, 2 days ago), and other pieces of temple ritual scupltures, depicting daily lives as well as dainty statues.
C. Pillars, a sculptural panel, and other temple architecture features.
We bring you an assorted set of pictures from finds over the last 2 years. A picture is worth a thousand words, and in this case, we agree.
Image Credit: New Indian Express reports, Twitter of Prachites Das, Ashish Sarangi, and others.
