Agartala, March 16: A pair of ancient gold idols of Buddha and Vishnu was recovered yesterday from a pond under construction in West Tripura district.

The idols, which promise to throw light into the peaceful co-existence of Hindu-Buddhist culture in ancient Tripura, were recovered from Taichama village under Bisramganj police station of the district.

The Buddha idol, flanked by two dancers, is six inches in height while the Vishnu idol is eight inches tall. The idols were taken to Bisramganj police station to be registered in the seizure list before being shifted to Agartala museum.

Coming close on the heels of the discovery of archaeological remains of a 450-year-old town in Wari area near Dhaka in Bangladesh, roughly 120 km across the border, the idols found in West Tripura may force the region?s early medieval history to be rewritten.

Sources in Agartala museum said Dulal Ghosh, a resident of Taichhama village and a businessman by profession, was having a pond dug by labourers on his land. Ranjit Paul, a labourer, discovered the two idols placed side by side at the dug up site.

The news spread like wildfire and a large number of people gathered at the spot. Devotees from far-flung areas thronged the area and paid tributes in the form of flowers, fragrant incense sticks and prasad.

Subrata Debbarma, sub-divisional officer of Bishalgarh, rushed to the spot immediately after receiving the news. ?The idol of Lord Buddha is squarish. He is depicted in a meditative posture and flanked by two dancers. The weight of the idol is 954 grams. The idol of Lord Vishnu is eight inches tall with a width of 3.5 inches and weight of 482 grams,? he said.

The state?s leading historian and numismatist Jawhar Acharjee said Tripura had a long history of co-existence of flourishing Hindu-Buddhist culture since the eighth century.

?This is confirmed by the Buddhist archaeological remains in Boxanagar area under Sonamura subdivision and the Pilak archaeological site in Jolaibari area under Belonia subdivision of South Tripura,? he added.

Acharjee said the idols recovered from Bisramganj would help reconstruct the history of Tripura in the ancient and early medieval age. ?The entire region encompassing Dhaka, Chittagong and Comilla districts of Bangladesh and present Tripura had been a seat of flourishing Hindu-Buddhist culture since at least the eighth century. But the Buddhist culture was wiped out with the invasion of Muslim rulers from Delhi and Bengal,? Acharjee said, adding that the history of Tripura and its neighbouring region would have to be rewritten.