ASI to repair Ancient Buddhist site at Kanaganahalli

• Left unattended for 20 years after it was discovered by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) between 1994 and 2001, the ancient Buddhist site on the bank of the Bhima river near Kanaganahalli has finally gotten some attention.

Highlights

• ASI has come up with a plan for the conservation of the site a.
• Antiquities found during excavation were kept in three tin sheds at the same site, while many remained scattered in the open.
• The conservation project will cover resetting the remains of Maha Stupa and reconstructing fallen portions of Ayaka platforms using newly-fabricated bricks of the same size, shape and texture.
• Sannati and Kanaganahalli were small and ordinary villages on the bank of Bhima till 1986 when Kali temple at Chandralamba temple complex in Sannati collapsed.

Accidental discovery

• Ashokan edict was discovered which opened new avenues of historical research on Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and Buddhism in its early years.
• It prompted ASI excavations at Sannati and Kanaganahalli and attracted historians across India and beyond.
• Findings at Kanaganahalli
• Abandoned well: referred to as Adholoka Maha Chaitya (the Great Stupa of the netherworlds) in the inscriptions.
• Stone portrait: the only surviving image of the Mauryan Emperor which had the inscription ‘Raya Asoko’ in Brahmi on it.

Prelims take away

• Stupa
• Ashokan edicts
• Inscriptions
• Mauryan empire - major sites, findings etc.