Abstract
DISCOVEBIES of great interest to archaeologists and students of the religious cults of India have been made in recent excavations carried out by the Archaeological Department of the Government of India at Raigir in the District of Patna, the ancient Rajagriha, in an area adjoining the Maniyar Math, a site investigated some thirty years ago by Sir John Marshall and the late Dr. Bloch. Their investigations brought to light a circular brick structure, which was dated by its stucco figures in bas-relief at about A.D. 500. The nature of this structure has been the subject of much speculation. According to a statement of Mr. J. F. Blakiston, director-general of archaeology in India, reported in The Times of June 1, two earlier strata of buildings underlying the foundations of the circular structure have now been discovered, which carry the dating of the site back at least two or three centuries earlier. A large quantity of pottery and terra-cotta objects, which seems to have been buried purposely, has been found in a brick enclosure to the east of the Math. Among this pottery one type has a series of spouts, in number from four to thirty-four and of various designs. Most of the vessels bear representations of snake-hoods. This fact is taken as a confirmation of the theory that the site was sacred to the worship of the Nagas or snake-goddesses. Pottery with multiple spouts is not known from other sites in India. The popular name of Maniyar Math, it is thought, may preserve a tradition of Mant Naga, the preserver and rain-giver of Rajagriha. If this indeed be so, it is suggested that these vessels with their multiple channels were the votive offerings of suppliants for rain, which were deposited in the compound of the shrine. Serpent worship at Raigir can be traced back to the third century B.C. and still persists as a popular cult. In the course of excavations carried out on behalf of the Raffles Museum, Singapore, on the Phinsoon Estate at Sungei Siput, Malacca, Prof. Van Stein Callenfels, the distinguished authority on the archaeology of the Malayan archipelago, it is reported by Reuter, has discovered a number of human skeletons believed to date from about 2,500 B.C.
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Archæological Discoveries in India and the Far East. Nature 137, 938–939 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137938c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137938c0