Tsunami throws up India relics

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Tsunami throws up India relics

 

By Soutik Biswas

BBC News, Delhi

 

The relics have been buried under the sand for centuries

 

The deadly tsunami could have uncovered the remains of an ancient port city off

the coast

in southern India.

 

Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close

to

India's famous beachfront Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the

26

December tsunami.

 

They believe that the "structures" could be the remains of an ancient and

once-flourishing

port city in the area housing the famous 1200-year-old rock-hewn temple.

 

Three pieces of remains, which include a granite lion, were found buried in the

sand after

the coastline receded in the area after the tsunami struck.

 

Undersea remains

 

"They could be part of the small seaport city which existed here before water

engulfed

them. They could be part of a temple or a building. We are investigating," says

T

Sathiamoorthy of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

 

Archaeologists say that the stone remains date back to 7th Century AD and are

nearly 6ft

tall.

 

They have elaborate engravings of the kind that are found in the Mahabalipuram

temple.

 

The temple, which is a World Heritage site, represents some of the

earliest-known

examples of Dravidian architecture dating back to 7th Century AD.

 

The monument also has gigantic open air reliefs hewn out from granite.

 

The bronze Buddha which floated up the coast at Kalapakkam

 

The tsunami waves have also helped the archaeologists in desilting one such

relief which

had been covered with sand for ages.

 

A half-completed rock relief of an elephant got "naturally desilted" by the

ferocious waves

and is now drawing large crowds at this popular tourist destination.

 

For the past three years, archaeologists working with divers from India and

England have

found the remnants of the ancient port.

 

Archaeologists say they had done underwater surveys 1 km into the sea from the

temple

and found some undersea remains.

 

Legend

 

The myths of Mahabalipuram were first set down in writing by British traveller J

Goldingham, who visited the South Indian coastal town in 1798, at which time it

was

known to sailors as the Seven Pagodas.

 

The myths speak of six temples submerged beneath the waves with the seventh

temple

still standing on the seashore.

 

The myths also state that a large city which once stood on the site was so

beautiful the

gods became jealous and sent a flood that swallowed it up entirely in a single

day.

 

The tsunami has also washed up a 9 inch-tall bronze Buddha on the coast off

Kalapakkam

in the state.

 

"It was lying with some other objects. It must have been carried out to the sea

from Burma

or Thailand," says T Sathiamoorthy.

 

The Buddha has been handed over to the local authorities, and may sound find a

place in

an Indian museum.

 

"We will protect it if nobody claims it," says Mr Sathiamoorthy.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4257181.stm