A sculptor digs out the Ganesh statue from the excavation site. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 2: More ancient stone idols have been dug out of the excavation site at the 12th century Ekamreswar temple where a small shrine was discovered while carrying out conservation work last week.

A parswa deula (side shrine) and a paduka kunda (outlet for discharge of liquid offerings to the deity) had been discovered besides carvings on the walls of Ekamreswar temple’s base.

Sculptors engaged in the conservation of the ancient monument are now busy recovering a Ganesh idol with a broken snout from the back of the temple. The broken statue of a damsel was also dug out during excavations.

On the paduka kunda side of the temple, the idol of Kartik is missing. This idol is normally present at most Shaivite shrines in the state.

On August 28, The Telegraph had carried a report on the discovery of a parswa deula and paduka kunda near the shrine. The temple is about 50 metres away from the compound of the Lingaraj temple in Old Town.

The workers and experts engaged in the restoration had started cleaning the exposed portion of the temple, which lay buried for decades. “Over the past two days, we have been trying hard to get the three-foot Ganesh statue cleaned. All the idols were tightly packed in soil and stone particles,” said Galpik Pratihari, a sculptor working at the site.

Superintending archaeologist (in-charge) of state archaeology B.P. Ray told The Telegraph: “We have heard that idols have been found from the soil debris and the temple walls of Ekamreswar. However, an expert committee of the state government will examine all of them to come to a conclusion regarding their association with the temple.”

Old monuments are now being restored or repaired because funding is available. In the past, many old temples were damaged to facilitate the construction of modern buildings,” an elderly resident of the area, Natabara Panda, said.

Showing the different layers of the debris around the Ekamreswar temple, a conservation worker said: “The lower part of the main temple was buried. So, the sculptures in the buried part were severely damaged by moisture and weeds.”

“We are planning to take up excavation on a bigger scale here in future,” said Ray.