Bharatpur is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

of Early village farming culture located in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. Construction of the settlement is believed to have started around 1735–1417 BC. The prehistoric settlement at Bharatpur village was discovered in 1971 by the Eastern Circle of

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

and the

University of Burdwan The University of Burdwan (also known as Burdwan University or B. U.) is a public state university located in Purba Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. It was established by the West Bengal Government as a teaching and affiliating university on 1 ...

. Excavations were carried out at Bharatpur in 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74 and 1974–75. Black and red pottery,

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

objects and cut bone weapons were discovered during the excavations.

Archaeology

The Eastern Circle of

and the

jointly undertook a program of survey exploration and excavation in the 1970s. These excavations proved the presence of ancient settlement. Bharatpur was first excavated in 1971 and last in 1975, which establishing the archaeological site as a center of Bengal's early village farming culture. This place is located 6 km (3.7 mi) from

Panagarh Panagarh is an industrial village and an Indian Air Force base in the Durgapur subdivision of the Paschim Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Panagarh is located at . It is 24 km southeast of Durg ...

on the north bank of

Damodar river Damodar River (Pron: /ˈdʌmoˌdaː/) is a river flowing across the Indian states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The valley is rich in mineral resources and is known for large-scale mining and industrial activity. It was also known as the Sorrow o ...

. Archaeologists claim that the settlement was a center of the early village farming and the Black and Red Pottery culture of

. According to the carbon 14 dating of the samples obtained, Bharatpur is one of the archaeological settlements of early village farming culture discovered in West Bengal. More than 3700 years old specimens have been found from the archaeological site. Early village farming culture existed here from 1700 BCE, which was contemporary with the Pre-Harappan, Harappan and Post-Harappan periods.

Excavated Bharatpur

Buddhist

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

and

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

have been discovered at Bharatpur during excavations. Also, evidence of early agricultural communities has been found in the recovered samples.

Buddhist Stupa

The stupa was built between the 7th and 9th centuries during the Pala period. It was built in brick and stone in the ''

Pancharatha A Hindu temple is a ''pancharatha'' when there are five ''ratha'' (on plan) or ''paga'' (on elevation) on the tower of the temple (generally a ''shikhara''). The rathas are vertical offset projection or facets. The name comes from the sanskrit ...

'' style, with a base area of 13 square meters. Today, the base structure of the stupa survives, When the rest of the part was destroyed. Two different sizes of bricks are used in the construction, which are 30 x 8 x 7 cm and 48 x 21 x 6 cm respectively. The facades are embellished with corbelled courses, moldings and chaitya gavaksa motifs of floral designs. The niches of stupa were probably decorated with

Buddha statue Much Buddhist art uses depictions of the historical Buddha, Gautama Buddha, which are known as () in Sanskrit and Pali. These may be statues or other images such as paintings. The main figure in an image may be someone else who has obtained B ...

s. Eleven Buddha statues seated on Vajrasana in Bhumiparsha Mudras – all five fingers of the right hand extended to touch the ground – were discovered in this ruined stupa.

References

Bibliography

* {{Archaeological sites in India Archaeological sites in West Bengal