Excavations reveal Buddhist monastery complex at Bharatpur in WB

The site had previously been excavated in the 1970s, when a large Buddhist stupa was found, along with black and red ware pottery from the Chalcolithic Age

Recent excavations at Bharatpur in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district have revealed the presence of a Buddhist monastery. The Kolkata Circle of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) started excavating the site in the second week of January and a structural complex of a monastery has now been partially exposed.

The site was initially excavated almost fifty years ago between 1972 and 1975 when archeologists from ASI and from Burdwan University found a Buddhist stupa at the site.

“The site lay unexcavated for almost fifty years. We were looking at the cultural sequence of the stupa from where black and red ware pottery belonging to the Chalcolithic Age was also recovered. A Buddhist stupa cannot exist in isolation, and the recent excavations have revealed the presence of an extended monastery complex,“ said Shubha Majumder, superintending archeologist of the ASI Kolkata Circle.

Mr. Majumder, who is supervising the excavations, said that archeologists working at Bharatpur will be able to ascertain more details about the monastery complex and its date of construction once the excavation progresses. “So far, we have exposed some structures which appear to be the outer wall of the monastery, containing nine layers of brick and a small circular structure, probably a stupa,” he added. 

According to experts, what makes the site unique in terms of Buddhist sites in the State is the presence of a large stupa along with a monastery complex and black and red ware pottery from the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. In other sites across West Bengal, such as Karnasubarna in Murshidabad, Moghalamari in Paschim Medinipur and Jagjivanpur in Malda, archeologists have found only smaller votive stupas.

A Buddhist stupa is a commemorative monument usually housing sacred relics associated with the Buddha or other saints or priests, whereas votive stupas have similar significance but are smaller structures originating in eight cylindrical structures. 

When archeologists excavated the site in the 1970s, they found black and red ware pottery, associated with the Chalcolithic Age which predates any Buddhist structures. “Excavation is likely to shed more light to understand the earliest occupation of the site and its continuity till the establishment of a Buddhist monastery,” Mr. Majumder said.