Bhubaneswar, Feb. 10: The excavations at Ekamreswar temple near the famous Lingaraj shrine here have revealed another miniature temple on its southeast corner.

Towards the end of January, the crown of a minor temple had been exposed when construction of the retaining wall of the 10th century Ekamreswar temple had been in progress. A week ago, four small Shiv lingams were also discovered on the eastern side of the main temple.

The miniature shrine would be completely excavated within a fortnight.

The find comes two months after the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) excavated the campus of Sari temple and found a huge complex comprising the twin structures of Sua and Sari near the bank of Bindusagar.

Deputy director, culture and superintending archaeologist (in charge) of the state archaeology Bhabani Prasad Ray said: "The first excavation started at the Ekamreswar temple in the last week of August in 2013. Only one miniature temple and a paduka kund (outlet) were unearthed at that time. But with subsequent excavations around the main temple, four more lingams were also found."

As the excavation was more than 12-feet deep and there was every possibility of a landslide, the state archaeology authorities decided to build a retaining wall. Once it is ready, the parikrama (space around the main temple and between the retaining wall) will be developed, so that visitors can go down using a staircase, take a stroll around and return.

To make provision for the drainage for the temple, the culture department has written a letter to the home department, so that a concealed drain can be created and the rainwater accumulated on the temple premises can be drained out through the municipality drain, which starts near the boundary wall of Lingaraj police station.

Ray said the excavation of the Ekamreswar temple, its repair and construction of the retaining wall, drainage provision and the parikrama pathway on the temple premises would cost around Rs 50 lakh for the state archaeology.

"We are going to include more monuments of archaeological importance under this type of repair and maintenance norm, so that people can re-use it for occasion such as Shivratri and other festivities. Already the state archaeology has done such a project near Kantiagarh off Rambha on the Chilika coast," he said.

Curator with the state archaeology Ashwinee Satpathy said: "The interesting fact about the Ekamreswar temple is that it was a miniature model of the gigantic Lingaraj shrine. It appears to be a model first built by the sthapatis (sculptors) when they might have convinced the Somavamshi rulers to go for the Lingaraj temple. It can be compared to the modern architect's version of models before going for the big structures."

Satpathy said the repair of the temple, construction of the retaining wall and finishing touches to the parikrama pathway would take more than one month, and it would be ready for public use by the end of March or first week of April. The location of the top portion of a miniature temple on the southeast corner will delay the construction of the retaining wall, as its design has to be changed.

Old Town resident Sujata Rath said: "The state archaeology must explore other monuments, which are seen half buried due to the urbanisation. It can unearth more interesting facts about the old Bhubaneswar city."

In the backdrop of the new find, those engaged in excavations said that people should have enough awareness about not encroaching land near monuments.