Miniature sculpture of Saranath Buddha unearthed near Manipal

Shwetha S

Udupi, May 25, 2021: Historian Prof T Murugeshi and his team have something special to celebrate during this ‘Buddha Poornima.’

The team led by Prof. T. Murugeshi, Associate Professor, Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, MSRS College, Shirva, and his team stumbled on an interesting historical piece near Manipal recently.

During an archeological exploration at Alembi of Badagabettu village near Manipal a few months ago, Prof Murugeshi and team had unearthed a beautiful idol of Sri Janardhana.

Also read: 12th century idol discovered near Manipal

“The removed debris was still beside the well. A few days ago we went there. Due to the rain, the debris was cleaned. When we started sorting out the debris we found a spectacular miniature idol of the Buddha. It is the replica of Saranath Buddha and is the first of its kind found in the state,” Prof T Murugeshi told The Canara Post.

“The stone idol is just 9 cm in height and 5 cm in width. The thickness is about 2 cm. But the carving is spectacular. We have concluded that it dates back to the Gupta period. It is a 5th-century idol,” he said.

Prof Murugeshi narrates that the Saranath Buddha idol is one of the famous ones in Buddhism.

“Buddha is in the ‘Dharma Chakra Vravarthana Mudra,’ denoting the first sermon of Buddha. The finding of the idol may lead to something interesting,” he hoped.

Murugeshi said ancient Tulunadu was ruled by the Kadambas of Banavasi. The Gupta and Kadambas of Banavasi had matrimonial relations and Buddhism thrived during the Kadamba period.

“It is so, therefore, the discovery of Lord Buddha image is not an uncommon thing. But, it has opened up a new chapter in the history of the Udupi district and the study of Buddhism in South India.

Ganesh Raj Saralebettu, Shreyas, Nagaraj, Gowtham, Kavya, Bhavya, Harshitha, and Ganesh were very helpful in this discovery.