The excavation site at Telhara. Telegraph picture

Patna, Jan. 7: The second round of excavation at Telhara, located 29km west of Nalanda, would get underway within a week.

To be led by Atul Verma, the excavation and exploration officer of art and culture department, the excavation is likely to continue till May this year.

The site has been identified with Teliadhaka, the Buddhist monastery town. This monastic site, which belongs to Theravada tradition, was first discovered in 1872 by A.M. Broadley, the then district magistrate of Nalanda. The site was commented on with some detail by Alexander Cunningham between 1875 and 1878.

The first round of excavation, which lasted for about five months, had commenced on December 26, 2009, and during this excavation, several important facts came to light.

The excavation had unearthed evidence of a three-storeyed concrete structure. Existence of this structure has also been mentioned in the travel accounts of Chinese traveller Huen Tsang who visited the place in 7th century AD.

Evidences of prayer halls and residential cells for monks in the monastery were also found during the first round of excavation.

Pottery and images belonging to the Gupta age and Pala period were found during the excavations. A small image of Buddha in red sandstone revealed that this monastery was in existence during the Gupta period also.

It also revealed presence of a 34-metre-long floor lined with a number of cells. The floor is dotted with a number of platforms with images of Buddha on them. A four-foot-high blue basalt image of Buddha in Abhay Mudra and another in Dharma Chakra Mudra have also been found on the floor of the hall. These suggest that it was a prayer hall, the presence of which had also been mentioned by Huen Tsang.

Another striking feature of the site, which came to light after excavation, is that a lot of inscription in Protonagari were found on the pottery, which are rare discoveries.

“One of the most interesting finding of this excavation was that one particular layer was complete ash. Even statues found in this layer were broken. This suggests that the place was attacked by Bakhtiyar Khilji, one of the military generals of Qutubuddin Aibak, who had raided Bihar towards the end of the 12th century,” said Verma, who had led the team, which carried out the first round of excavations at Telhara.

He said that there are historical references of Khalji’s visit to this site and its destruction, and finding of ash and broken statues substantiate this fact.

Verma said that there are many more things, which need to be explored for finding the details of this important site and this time his team would carry out the excavation work in 10 new trenches.

Even the bosses in the art and culture department appear to be taking a keen interest in the excavation of this site. “Funds would not be a constraint as far as carrying out the excavation work at this site is concerned as the department is determined to collect all possible details related to this important site,” art and culture department secretary K.P. Ramaiah told The Telegraph.