Lakhisarai: The Visva-Bharati University team engaged in excavations at Lalipahari Jainagar claimed to have cracked the mystery of an ancient idol dating back 10-11th century AD that was found here.

"Residents had been worshipping it as Mahisasuramardini (Durga). But it is in fact a rare idol of dancing Avalokitesvara with Manjusri, the Bodhisattva form of Lord Buddha," claimed Anil Kumar, the head of department of archaeology at Visva-Bharati, under whose direction excavation is on at Lali Pahari Jainagar.

The idol was recovered from Lali Pahari in 2000 and placed in a nearby makeshift temple where people began worshiping it. "Chief minister Nitish Kumar was surprised to see the idol during a visit in 2017," Anil said. "On Wednesday , historian-cum-iconographer Claudine Bautze-Picron identified the sculpture as a rare dancing Avalokitesvara," Anil said. "To its left is Manjushri and, perhaps, a third part, which is missing, was Maitreya. This assumption is based on written records."

According to Anil, Picron visited Lakhisarai and observed several archaeological sites in 1990 and wrote several books on Buddhism and the contemporary sculpture. She mentioned some ancient remains at Lakhisarai and other parts of Bihar. "When she visited, this idol had not been found, but she recently saw a picture of it on a Facebook post by Vikash Vaibhav, deputy inspector-general of police, Bhagalpur zone, who was also in-charge of Munger zone till recently. "After going through the details on Vaibhav's Facebook post, she first sought pictures of the sculpture from the DIG and then contacted me," Anil told The Telegraph.

"After continuous discussion with different scholars and review of text books, she confirmed the structure was one of the rarest Avalokitesvara sculptures."

Vaibhav said on Thursday that he had participated in the Dharohar Yatra Anil organised at Lakhisarai in 2016 as part of an awareness drive. "I'd captured some pictures which I uploaded on Facebook. Last year, Picron mailed me, seeking permission to use the photographs and then told me the idol was identified as Avalokitesvara," Vaibhav told.

Picron found similarities in the pictures on Vaibhav's Facebook and some old Buddhist text in Bangladesh. She requested Vaibhav to send more photos, as those on Facebook did not show the remaining portion. "I sent her the photographs concerned from different angles," Vaibhav said. "The sculpture's identification would throw light on excavations at Lali Pahari and elsewhere," Anil said.

Picron and other historians are in touch with Anil in the past three days. "We were told that with such evidence, Lakhisarai can easily be on the world map for Buddhist archaeology," Anil said.