The bricks and a black stone slab that were found in Mahakaldham under Bhetaguri gram panchayat. Pictures by Main Uddin Chisti

Cooch Behar, Jan. 15: Workers engaged in widening a road in a Cooch Behar village have stumbled upon piles of bricks and two stone slabs that experts believe date back to time of the Koch rulers of the 16th Century.

The discovery at Mahakaldham, about 20km from here, has generated a lot of excitement among the local people and the workers engaged under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

“We had started the work for widening the road about a week ago. After digging a couple of feet, the labourers unearthed the bricks and the stone slabs,” said local gram panchayat member Chhakimuddin Miyan.

The bricks are being kept along the roadside and the administration had been informed. No official has, however, visited the spot yet.

Mangal Dey, a resident of the area, said large slabs made of black stone and looking like the base of a statue had also been dug up. The slabs had been kept in front of his temple at home.

A professor of history at North Bengal University, Ananda Gopal Ghosh, said the Koch kings used to rule from Bhetaguri — Mahakaldham is a kilometre away — during the 16th Century and the bricks were probably remnants of the buildings that had been built there then.

“The black stone slab is also similar to the one found in the Chilapata fort (located in neighbouring Jalpaiguri district) of the Koch kings. The bricks found at Mahakaldham are thinner and also look like the ones used in palaces and other edifices during the same period,” Ghosh told The Telegraph over the phone from Siliguri.

He said most probably the constructions were made during the reign of Maharaja Naranarayan, who ruled between 1554 and 1557. “The Archaeological Survey of India should be immediately informed.”

Another local resident Suman Sarkar said an old ferry ghat was also dug up in the area recently. “Even though the bricks are somewhat damaged, we are proud that such relics have been found in our village,” he said.

The subdivisional officer of Dinhata, Chiranjib Ghosh, said he had heard about the discovery and had informed the “appropriate authorities”.