India is a land of fascinating tales and enchanting mysteries. Recently, a 4,000-year-old craft village was recently unearthed during an excavation near Varanasi, the city of temples. A research team from the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) found this temple in a village called Bambhaniyav around 13-km away from Varanasi. By Kumar Shree
The research team experts involved in the excavation process revealed the details to the local media. They stated that the ancient Hindu texts suggest, this place found in Bambhaniyav, to be an ancient craft village. The team revealed that they reckon the temple to be built anytime between fifth and eighth century AD. They also feel, the region housing this temple must have been a sub-centre of Varanasi during its prime time.
Professor AK Dubey revealed that while the potteries found at the site are around 4,000-years old, the walls around the place are around 2,000 years old. He also added that, “On the basis of the surface materials we can say, the structure is anywhere between 3,500 to 4,000 years old.” The vicinity of this discovery from Varanasi is what makes it even more interesting. The deposit found at the site is similar in nature to the ones discovered in Sarnath, which is also only 10-km from Varanasi.
BR Mani, the Former Additional Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) was one of the individuals to supervise the initial survey of the region. Reportedly, this is not the first instance of finding such a craft village underneath the earth’s surface in our country. Similar crafts village were also found in Ramnagar, Sarnath, and Tilmapur. An ancient pillar with a two-line text in Kushan-Brahmi script was also found at the site. We will get a clearer picture once the entire excavation process is complete.
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