MYSURU: Two broken Jain sculptures belonging to the 11th century were found while digging a drain at Varuna village of Mysuru taluk recently.
Residents who had pressed an earth mover into service to dig the drain found the damaged sculpture stopped the work immediately, and alerted the archaeology department.
A team comprising ancient history Prof Rangaraj, Archeology Department deputy director Manjula Shashidhar, a representative of Dharmasthala Prasanna Kumar and Mysuru resident Vinod Jain visited the spot and took the sculpture to the archaeology museum. Rangaraj said Varuna, Vajamangala, Talakadu, Hemmige, Mugur and T Narsipur were Jain centres and there are too many sculptures in the region.
He said the government must announce a project for excavation which would throw further light on the sculpture. He said there is a lot of scope for excavation and this would be apprised to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who also represents the Varuna constituency. Rangaraj said this would help preserve the history and conserve sculptures for future generations.