'Cunningham & 9 feet long lead coffers".....says a puzzled KJS Chatrath

 I have been trying to get rid of my old papers collected since my last 81 years on planet earth. Before tearing off  any paper, I read it. While going through this exercise today, I found the following info noted by me in one of my diaries: 

"Page 82. Cunningham Varanasi. ...north of the Ganges he visited Hodgsons three Ashoka pillars and besides one of them he found burial mounds in which were huge lead coffers, nine feet long, containing unusually long human skeletons, dated to about 1000 B.C...these were the oldest finds ye made on Indian soil"

I do not remember in what context, and from which book I had taken these notes. Would any learned historian friend throw light on this.

'Arthuna temple, 11th-12th century AD, Rajasthan, India' - by K J S Chatrath

Do notice the small figure at the bottom of the photo. The person so depicted has an unusual hairstyle, is sporting a beard, and seems to be carrying something like a 'gadda' (as of Lord Bhima?) in his hand. It may also be noted that both a Buddhist and a Hindu figure are seen side by side in the same temple. 

Any comments please?

'Impressive Morena Museum, Madhya Prdesh, India' - by K J S Chatrath

I spent a feww days in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh in December 2023. I visited some lesser known gems of Indian archeology at Kakanmath, Padavali, Bateswar, Nareshwar and some other places.

I spent the last day in Morena visiting the  "Amar Saheed Ram Prasad Bismil Sangrahalaya".It is located Near Ramjanki temple Jiwaji Ganj or Near Police Station/ City Kotwali in Morena City. I was pleasantly surprised to see a good number of old statues, some were ofcourse  in fairly broken  condition but nonetheless being cared for.

Take a look at some of the artifacts on display- inside the impressive building as well as in its lovely green lawn.

 

 

 

                      #Sadhu (An Indian Holyman), #Morena, #India #Indianheritage #kjschatrath

'Bateswar Group of over 200 temples in Morena -A lesser known gem of India' - by K J S Chatrath

Late last year, I visited the Bateswar Group of over 200 temples in Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, India. These belong to the 8th - 10th century AD. These were lying in broken and delapidated condition till a few years back. Then the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) took upon itself to reorganise and put them back in shape under an initiative led by the ASI Bhopal region's Superintending Archaeologist Mr. K. K.  Muhammed.  As of now about 60 odd temples have been given a new life. 

These photographs show how the place was littered with broken stones and how some of the renovated temples look today.

Kudos to ASI.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kakanmath by K J S Chatrath