All Exploration

Home » Posts filed under South Asia

Tampilkan postingan dengan label South Asia. Tampilkan semua postingan

Five Rajasthani forts may come under UNESCO World Heritage list

The state government is trying to bring forts in the UNESCO World Heritage list. Till now, only Jantar Mantar and Keoladeo National Park has been recognised by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.

Kumbhalgarh Fort in Rajsamand, Rajasthan [Credit: Virendra Mandalia/Picasa]

A visit to the forts of the Amber, Gagron, Kumbalgarh, Sawai Madhopur and Chittor was made by a UNESCO advisor as part of the process to declare them as sites of universal value.

"We wanted some monuments to be included in the World Heritage List of UNESCO. As part of that it had made a visit to five forts in the Rajasthan. They will soon be submitting their reports. Now, it is up to them whether they recognise them or not," said Rajasthan's tourism minister, Bina Kak.

Gagron Fort in Jhalawar, Rajasthan [Credit: Web]

Sources said that an expert from International Convention of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), an advisor to UNESCO, had visited Amber fort in Jaipur along with the four other sites a month ago.

"The expert had a questionnaire about these forts which the expert will fill up and send it to UNESCO after which it will decide whether to include these monuments in the heritage list," said a source.

Amber Fort in Jaipur, Rajasthan [Credit: Web]

A renowned conservation architect, Ratish Nanda, said that these monuments will get an international value after being recognised by the UNESCO. Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) convenor for Rajasthan, Maharaja Gaj Singh, said that he is aware of the fact that the proposal of including these forts is pending with UNESCO.

A source said that these forts are under consideration for being recognised under heritage list as they have unique features. While Kumbhalgarh Fort in Rajsamand has a wall which is the second largest in the world after Great Wall of China, Gagron Fort in Jhalawar is the only fort which is surrounded by water on four sides.

Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan [Credit: Web]

Amber Fort in Jaipur is known for a distinct architectural style which has both Mughal and Rajput influence. Chittorgarh Fort is famous for its historicity. And Sawai Madhopur Fort in Ranthambhore is totally surrounded by forests.

"There are half a dozen monuments in the country which are awaiting a confirmation from UNESCO for inclusion in the list of heritage monuments," said Dr Karan Singh, Rajya Sabha MP as well as an ambassador to UNESCO.

Sawai Madhopur Fort in Ranthambhore, Rajasthan [Credit: Web]

He also said that there are two hundred monuments in the whole world waiting to get recognised as heritage monuments and it might take a long time before the monuments in India get an international recognition.

Source: Daily Bhaskar [November 15, 2011]

Search for the Buddha's maternal home

Nepal's Department of Archaeology (DoA) and Lumbini Development Trust (LDT) in unison are trying to ascertain whether Lumbini-based Devdaha was the maternal home of Gautam Buddha.

Although there are a number of folklores and old travelogues pontificating that Devdaha was the place where Buddha himself and his father King Sudhdhodhan got married, no inscriptions or coins have ever been found in the area to establish this claim.

The matter has shrouded in mystery since the fifth century after an archaeologist named Fasyan first mentioned in his travelogue that the maternal kingdom of Buddha and Sudhdhod-han was the Kwaliyar state (now called Devdaha).

According to Prakash Darnal, chief of National Archives under DoA, archaeologists and travellers including Fasyan (in fifth century), Wehn Sang (in seventh century) and Hoey ( in 1962) have mentioned this fact in their writings.

As cross cousin marriage was popular then, some archaeologists have also dropped a hint that Buddha’s mother Mayadevi and his wife Yasodhara came from the same family in Kwaliyar.

According to ancient scriptures, Kwaliyar was a neighbouring state of Kapilvastu between Lumbini’s Rohini River in the east and Narayani River in the west—an area that matches up with the location of present day Devdaha.

In their efforts to find out the remains of the palace of Buddha’s in-laws and maternal relatives, DoA and LDT had initiated an excavation on March 14 last year.

However, as the excavation process started too late and just ahead of the monsoon, the process got halted on April 14 and was postponed for the next year. Winter season is considered the best time to carry out excavations. The excavation process resumed on October 13 last month.

The "unverified ruins" of old bricks and foundations can be found in four different locations of Devdaha, Kanyamai, Bairimai, Bhawanipur and Khayar Danda, all worshipped as religious shrines by Buddhists these days.

According to Himal Upreti, a archaeologist with the Lumbini trust, who is involved in the ongoing excavation, all four locations have equal chances of turning out as the palace of Buddha’s maternal uncles.

Out of the four locations, excavation is being carried out only at Kanyamai. The Archaeo-logy Department and Lumbini trust will excavate the three other areas after completing Kanyam-ai excavation this year.

"We have unveiled some horizontally erected wall structures and old bricks so far," said Upreti, adding that the evidences gathered so far are not enough to establish that Kanyamai was the place where the Kwaliyar palace located.

Darnal, who is also involved in the excavation from DoA’s side, said the exact palace of Buddha’s maternal uncles can be found with evidences only after successful excavation in all the four locations.

Author: Ankit Adhikari | Source: The Kathmandu Post [November 11, 2011]

Sri Lanka to preserve Anuradhapura era sites

Sri Lankan Cabinet today decided to preserve Archaeological sites in the north central Anuradhapura district.

Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka [Credit: Web]

Cabinet of Ministers arrived at this decision based on a proposal made by Dr. Jagath Balasuriya, Minister of National Heritage, to carry out this conservation program in parallel with the proposed "Deyata Kirula" Programme - 2012 to be held at Oyamadu in the Anuradhapura district in February 2012.

Dayata Kirula is a national program conducted annually to mark country’s Independence Day. Several development programs inclusive of infrastructure development of the area have been earmarked to be carried out before the main event of the program to be initiated by president on February 5 2012.

As advised by President, archaeological conservation in Anuradhapura district including at Mihintale and Thanthirimale in parallel with the Dayata Kirula national programme has already been commenced.

Cabinet approved the allocation of Rs 250 million of which Rs 75 million will be spent this year.

Source: News/Sri Lanka [November 10, 2011]

Cambridge University project on rare Sanskrit manuscripts

Some 2,000 rare Sanskrit manuscripts detailing momentous political and economic events across south Asia and written on fragile birch bark, palm leaf and paper are to form part of a major project undertaken by Cambridge University to document ancient civilisations by studying the language of the time, officially known as “linguistic archaeology”.

Palm leaf manuscript (997 AD) from Cambridge University Library’s South Asian collection (MS Add. 1464, 127v, left panel) [Credit: Cambridge University Library]

The documents, which belong to Cambridge University Library’s South Asian manuscript collection, will be studied individually and catalogued placing them in their broader historical context. They will also be digitised and put on the library’s new online service.

The university said the collection included “the oldest dated and illustrated Sanskrit manuscript known worldwide”.

Dr Vincenzo Vergiani of the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, who along with his colleague Dr Eivind Kahrs will study the manuscripts, described them as “an invaluable and untapped source for understanding the pre-colonial past of South Asia, and therefore its present”.

“In a world that seems increasingly small, every artefact documenting the history of ancient civilisations has become part of a global heritage to be carefully preserved and studied. Among such artefacts, manuscripts occupy a distinctive place – they speak to us with the actual words of long-gone men and women, bringing their beliefs, ideas and sensibilities to life,” he said.

Dr Vergiani explained that one reason the collection was so important was because of the age of many of the manuscripts.

“In the heat and humidity of India, materials deteriorate quickly and manuscripts needed to be copied again and again. As a result, many of the early Indian texts no longer exist,” he said.

More than half of the library’s collection of south Asian manuscripts was in Sanskrit which dominated the literary culture of pre-modern South Asia for almost three millennia.

“The word Sanskrit means refined or perfected. From a very early stage, its speakers were obsessed with handing down their sacred texts intact. Out of this developed an attention to how the language works. A grammatical tradition arose that produced, around the 4th century BC, the work of Pāṇini, an amazing intellectual achievement and arguably the beginning of linguistics worldwide, which made the language constant, stable and transmissible,” said Dr Vergiani.

The university hopes the project would help to further research on South Asia.

Author: Hasan Suroor | Source: The Hindu [November 08, 2011]

Large scale restoration for Hazarduari palace planned

The iconic Hazarduari, the palace of the Nawabs of Bengal at Murshidabad, will get a grand facelift. A massive restoration project, running into several crores, is in the offing for this imposing relic of pre-colonial era Bengal. The National Culture Fund, a wing of the union ministry of culture, is acting as the mediator between the Archaeological Survey of India - which will carry out the restoration project - and the State Bank of India regional head office in the city, which has agreed to fund the prestigious project.

Hazarduari Palace, Murshidabad [Credit: Incredible India]

This and several other conservation/restoration projects for Bengal will be announced by the Fund on November 18 in the city during the first ever road show organized by the Fund here. The aim is to involve corporate houses with the centre to help restore priceless heritage, both built and intangible. Each of the projects on focus is on the public-private-partnership model (PPP) and the road show is being organized in collaboration with the Indian Chambers of Commerce.

Apart from built heritage that will obviously be the focus of attention, the Fund has also invited groups that are working with intangible heritage like baul or Bengali tarja singing, patachitra painters and singers, manuscripts, paintings etc. "The Fund was set up in 1996 with the aim to preserve our rich cultural heritage. In Bengal, the ASI has identified several structures which are under its protection. However, there is a lot to be done because the state alone cannot fund all projects. We want private initiative in this endeavour. Our job is to provide this platform for liaison," explained Shobita Punja, CEO of the Fund.

The Hazarduari is under the protection of the ASI which had alerted the ministry of culture, to which it reports, about the immediate need to start restoring this building which was showing signs of age, in the form of cracks, a weak ceiling, damp on the walls, vegetation at many points on the exteriors, uneven flooring, termites on the wooden beams, windows and doors and of course, a general deterioration in the strength of the imposing structure. The first phase of the project will cost Rs 30 lakh for which funds have already been released by SBI, Kolkata.

"It is a massive structure with extremely high ceilings, thick columns and pillars. So, work will progress very slowly because some portions of the building will be extremely difficult to access. Moreover, indigenous building materials like lime mortar and bricks will have to be used for the restoration job instead of cement and concrete. In those days, concrete was not used. Today, masons skilled at using brick and line mortar are not readily available. We have a tough job ahead of us," said a heritage conservationist from ASI, Kolkata.

The road show will see prominent corporate houses like ITC, Burn Standard, Jalan Carbon and Chemicals, East India Pharmaceuticals, Sanderson and Morgan and Balmer Lawrie, expressing their intent to join hands with the Fund, confirmed ICC chief in the city, Rajiv Singh.

It is believed that the road show is being organized at the aegis of union culture secretary, Jawhar Sircar, a senior IAS officer from Bengal.

Author: Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey | Source: The Times of India [November 09, 2011]

Karnataka's archaeological riches crying for attention

Karnataka's rich heritage of monuments are crying for special attention for effective conservation as well as restoration works, but shortage of funds is a constraint.

Group of monuments at Pattadakal, Karnataka [Credit: ASI]

The state Archaeology Department, which has nearly 800 protected monuments in its jurisdiction also needs staff and funds for conservation acitivities.

In addition to these protected monuments, there are 34,000 monuments and temples under the control of the Muzrai Department, besides 30,000 unprotected monuments across the state.

Karnataka is endowed with more than 64,000 monuments, makng it one of the richest states in terms of archaeological marvels. These are in addition to more than 600 sites of national importance under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The Department of Archaeology and Museums, which oversees maintenance, conservation and restoration of monuments has only eight junior engineers in each of the four divisions, apart from two assistant executive engineers for each division. This is said to be grossly inadequate.

Source: New Kerala [November 06, 2011]