BHUBANESWAR: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found remains of a rare Asokan column from Praneswara temple in Jharhiamba village of Angul district.The site, located 10 kms south of Talcher town, is surrounded by river Brahmani in the north and Nandir Jhor nullah in south and east. The NTPC is constructing an ash pond a few metres to the east of the site.Informing this to mediapersons here on Monday, Superintending Archaeologist Dibishada B Garnayak said potsherds of red ware, red polished ware, black ware, grey ware and terracotta tiles have also been found near the ash pond site, close to the bank of river Brahmani. All the sculptures might be belonging to pre-Christian era, he added.
Local villagers had been worshipping a portion of the broken Ashokan column for several years at the temple considering it to be a part of Shiva Lingam. Some portions of the column are also lying scattered on the temple premises. When a team of ASI officials visited the temple last week, they came across the structure and found that it was an Ashokan column, measuring 3.47 metres. Locals informed that base of the column is buried 3 m below the present ground level.
“This is the second such column found in Odisha, the first one being at Bhaskareswara temple in Bhubaneswar,” Garnayak said, adding that all features of the sculptures and location of the site on the confluence of river Brahmani and Nandir Jhor suggest that this was also an important Buddhist establishment dating back to pre-Christian era.
He further said since other important Buddhist sites of Odisha like Ratnagiri, Udayagiri and Langudi are also located on lower Brahmani drainage system, there must be some cultural and religious interaction between these establishments. The ASI excavation branch is planning to undertake a trial trench excavation at the site to understand its archaeological significance.Former Archaeology professor of Utkal University Sadasiba Pradhan was a part of the team.