Ancient temple found submerged in a pond

Jajpur (Odisha): An ancient miniature shrine has been unearthed in a pond at Khaera village under Barchana block of Jajpur district in Odisha, increasing the enthusiasm among the researchers for further study on the sculpture.

The temple was discovered during renovation work of a 400-year-old ancient pond near Kanakeswar Mahadev temple. The discovered monument is assumed to be a replica of a temple.

“This is a replica of temple. Further archaeological studies will explain more about its period of construction and architecture style,” said eminent sculptor Maheswar Ojha.

According to reports, as the pond was buried for long years, it was causing inconveniences to the villagers. After including the pond under the government’s pond renovation programme, it was under excavation for the past 15 days.

After excavating upto 15-ft deep to remove muck, a rare temple made up of black Muguni stone was discovered from the ground. The idols of lord Budhha were carved in the 2-ft high temple. Along with the shrine, ancient stone diyas (lamps) were also discovered from the site.

“More fact will come to fore if research will be conducted on the rare tiny temple,” said the sarpanch of Khaera gram panchayat, Harapriya Baral.