Bhubaneswar, Jan 19: Aragarh, a site situated in Godiput-Matiapada Panchayat of Delanga Block of Puri district believed to have many Buddhist relics will throw new lights on Odishan Buddhist heritage after excavation there soon, Tourism & Culture Minister Ashok Chandra Panda has said.
Panda said here on Monday that about Rs 20 lakh will be spent for the purpose to gather more authentic information from the site.
The place is 29 Kms north from Puri district headquarters 256 feet above sea level that carries significant Buddhist Chaitya (Temple).
Discovery of broken Buddhist icons made of igneous rock and carving of ‘ Naga Kanyas’ and Gaja Sinhas’ in the four pillars of the temple provide ample testimony of Buddhism which is believed to have flourished between 1st -2nd BC and 10 th-11th AD.
Odisha State Institute of Maritime and South-East Asian Studies will entrust the responsibility of excavation to Archaeological Survey of India, said Secretary of the Institute Sunil Pattnaik.
