The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has found a 1,300-year-old stupa right in the middle of a mining site in Odisha’s Jajpur district from where Khondalite stones were supplied for the beautification project around the 12 th Century Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri.
Key points
- The archaeological asset was found at Parabhadi which is situated near Lalitagiri, a major Buddhist complex, having a large number of stupas and monasteries.
- After discovery of the Buddhist stupa from the mining site, the ASI intervened and asked Odisha government to stop mining through its Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). The mining has since stopped.
- Local people and Buddhist scholars had warned the State government of going in for mining in Sukhuapada hamlet as the site was part of the Lalitgiri Buddhist site. Even local artisans expressed concerns that their livelihood would be hit by the mining of Khondalite stones at industrial scale.
Buddhist Diamond Triangle
- Lalitgiri is the oldest of the Buddhist Diamond Triangle triad built in the 1st Century AD. Diamond Triangle is a collection of three Buddhist sites of Ratnagiri, Udaygiri and Lalitgiri.
Khondalite
- According to the Wikipedia, the Khondalite stone was named after the Khond tribe that inhabits the Baud-Khondmals (now Phulbani) region of Orissa.
- Khondalite is found in the Eastern Ghats between Vijayawada and Cuttack in India. However, the term khondalite is also used to describe other rocks of similar composition found elsewhere in India as well as in Burma, Sri Lanka, the northeastern Helanshan region and the Inner Mongolia region of China.
