Bhagalpur: Former Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) director B.S. Verma's long-standing demand to revive the excavation of the half-excavated Vikramshila Buddha Mahavihara has received a boost with the agency evincing interest to complete the pending dig here.

Historians and scholars too support Verma's demand for completing the excavation at Vikramshila, the ancient centre of learning that flourished from about the 8th century till the 13th century AD.

Local historians and research scholars contend that Bhagalpur was the birthplace of Atish Dipankar Srigyan, the renowned Buddhist scholar of Vikramshila Mahavihara. The current theory is that the scholar, who founded Lamaism, was born in Vikrampur in present day Bangladesh.

Even at 93, Patna resident Verma remains energetic and talks about Vikramshila, which was excavated under his guidance in the 1970s. "For some unavoidable reasons, I could not complete the Vikramshila excavation but in my report published by ASI in 2011, Antichak Excavation-II (1971-81), I had mentioned the relevance of completing the excavation which I had to leave in 1981," he told The Telegraph.

Gautami Bhattacharya, superintending archaeologist of ASI excavation branch-III, Patna, confirmed that the ASI has been planning to restart the excavation, mainly at Jangaliasthan mound, near Vikramshila. "I have gone through Verma's report and it is really very important to dig out the truth beneath the earth there before the world," she said.

Asked about restarting excavation in Vikramshila, Bhattacharya said since ASI's excavation branch-III, Patna, has started digs at Uren in Lakhisarai from last December to search out sites associated with Buddha and Pala periods, it would not be possible for them to shift focus to Vikramshila immediately.

"There is a Tibetan reference that the Turks plundered the Mahavihara before building a fort nearby with materials looted from the monastery," Verma recalled.

"During the last phase of the excavation at Vikramshila in 1981, we observed the mound nearby, Jangaliasthan. We found some evidence of the fort being built with extracts of the damaged Vikramshila," said Verma.

Shiv Shanker Singh Parijat, a former deputy director-rank official in the public works department and historian who conducted exclusive research on Atish Dipankar Srigyan, also stressed on the importance of the dig.

"Excavation at Jangaliasthan mound could give the answers and even piece together some missing links. Like some previous scholars, China claimed that Bangladesh is Dipankar's birthplace. China even assisted Bangladesh to establish the birthplace of Dipankar there," he said.

Dr Raman Sinha, a senior professor at the faculty of history in Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University, welcomed the ASI decision and urged it to resume work on a priority basis.