1000-year-old temple excavated

A team of teachers and students of Archaeology department of Jahangirnagar University lead by Professor Swadhin Sen has discovered a navaratha (nine-projection style) Hindu temple in Biral upazila of Dinajpur. The corridor, known locally as Buri thana / Buri Matarani. Temple is 80 meters from east-west and 60 meters in the north-south. 

The excavators seem to think that the mound may extend in litchi gardens on the west and southwest. The invented temple is quite small compared to the size of the mound. It is divided into two parts. The western part is a stable prototype structure (length of 6.25 meters and width of 6.25 meters), in the middle of the Garbhagriha (Wombhouse) (2 meters length and width of 2 meters). A room of 8 meters square is connected to the east. In this chamber, there was a temple Mandap.

It will take more time to understand the size and characteristics of the whole Hindu temple, said the director of the excavation team, Swadhin Sen. The professor stated that the word Rath is a term used to describe ancient temples and architectural styles. The vertical projection of wall exterior is called chariot. 

It is initially believed that the temple has been following the method of establishing the Kalinga Temple in India's current characteristics. Due to the overhaul of the charioteer's house in the charioteer, Swadhin Sen said that there is a seven-sided projection stone altar at the center of the Garbhagriha. 

The lower part of the image was inserted in the semicircular crescent of this altar. However, there was a small clay made in this place during excavation. Many Hindu religious communities worship pots as symbolic representations of the idol. The presence of a brick-built temple similar to the temple architecture of Orissa is not rare in Bengal. Last year, the same party dug a navaratha temple at Madhabgaon in Kahorol upazila.

Professor Dr. Sen said that the above temple was built on the ruins of another earlier structure. As part of that deployment is uncovered, its nature and changes are still not understood clearly. Need more time to reveal those structures.

Associate excavation director Professor Dr. Syed Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan said that these archaeological sites were first identified in Biral upazila in 2004-05 by Khandakar Mehbubul Islam who was a student of Archaeology department of Jahangirnagar University. In his research and subsequent studies, a total of 122 different periodicals were identified in this upazila. 

The excavated archaeological site was part of a human habitation spreading in the linear arrangement on both sides of a river named Parulonga. Excavation Assistant Director and Ph.D. research student Abir Bin Qaisar Shuvo said that the entire site would be required to be excavated and recorded more than four months. He said, understanding the dynamics of digging, they are making every effort to explain the change of human habitation here.

In collaboration with Department of Archeology, the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Bangladesh University Grants Commission, financing this excavation run by Bishnupur village of Ranipukur union of Biral upazila.

Deputy Commissioner of Dinajpur Mir Khairul Alam visited the site and said that the conservation measures would be taken. To find a navaratha temple in this area, the area's enthusiastic crowd of people gathered in the Archaeological site. 14 students from Jahangirnagar University, 15 expert workers from Mahasthangarh and 25 workers from Kaharol took part in excavating the Hindu temple.